This was from Nov. 2005 and was posted here before thought I would repost it being it was lost in the crash. I have made the Bread and Rolls Both were great. Joe LOW SODIUM COOKING Issue 5, Number 25 - Talking Turkey This week's recipes: - Broth Injected Turkey - Turkey Gravy - Stuffing Bread - Stuffing - Green Beans With Caramelized Pearl Onions - Dinner Rolls - Onion Cranberry Relish - Pumpkin Pie Filling 2 - Pie Crust Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone who may have an interest. ======================================= These recipes are available online in Microsoft Word format at http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com/free/Recipes111505.doc Enjoy. ======================================= This week's issue will include additional comments interspersed with recipes as I run down the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, at least in my family. The centerpiece of course is the turkey. And this is also the center of the sodium problem. We can probably blame the "self- basting" turkey which has been around for a long while now, for being the forerunner of all the "enhanced" meats we see these days. It has become quite difficult to find turkeys and chickens that have not been injected with a broth solution to increase juiciness and tenderness. This is a good way to make the breast meat, which has less fat than the dark meat, more juicy, but the solution used raises the sodium level from the 65-80 mg range to 250 mg or more. I did a quick re-survey of some of the local stores here in the southern Maryland area (Giant, Safeway, Food Lion, Shopper's Food Warehouse, McKay's, Woodburn's, Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club) and the news was mostly, but not totally, bad. It was quite consistent with what I found last year, at least, so things don't seem to be getting worse. It's still far enough before the holiday that many stores didn't have a lot of turkeys available yet. The only store that didn't have any pre-injected turkey was BJ's, which carries the Perdue All Natural chicken and turkey. This was again the only frozen turkey I found which was un-enhanced also. The sodium content of this bird was listed as 50 mg for 3 ounces of white meat and 70 mg for 3 ounces of dark. Giant had Shady Brook Farms Fresh and Natural fresh turkey, listed at 65 mg per serving. (Safeway carried this brand last year too, but didn't have any fresh birds out yet last weekend.) Every other turkey I found contained between 190 and 350 mg per serving. My advice is to shop carefully. You may have to buy a fresh turkey rather than a frozen one to get one without added sodium. There are some other good sources of natural turkeys. If you have a local butcher shop or meat market you can probably find one there. Here in southern Maryland there are several farmers in the Amish community who sell fresh poultry. And a store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's that carries organic birds may have some. There are probably as many people claiming to have to best way to cook a turkey as there are people cooking turkeys. I happen to like the recipe below. It gives you a nice juicy bird with crispy skin. Other methods probably work just as well. We've also done fried turkey, and we will probably do that again this year for Christmas, where the time savings lets you get the meal done earlier even if you are busy in the morning. ===================== Broth Injected Turkey You can get the same kind of extra juiciness that the commercial meat packers do while saving lots of sodium by injecting your own turkey. Using a low sodium chicken broth adds very little sodium per serving. You can find injectors in the gadget aisle of many large supermarkets. Often they are with the barbecue equipment. YOu can also buy one online somewhere like cooking.com for only a few dollars. Starting the cooking at a high temperature seals in the juices and gives you a nice brown skin. 12 lb Turkey 1 c Low Sodium Chicken Or Turkey Broth Preheat oven to 500F. Using a hypodermic needle or baster- injector inject the broth into the turkey, concentrating mainly on the breast. Put turkey in the oven. Let cook for 20 minutes or until the exterior is crisp, but not golden brown. Reduce heat to 375F. Let bird roast until finished. Yield: 24 Servings Per Serving: 256 Calories 49 g Protein 6 g Total Fat 2 g Saturated Fat 2 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g Monounsaturated Fat 0 g Carbohydrates 0 g Fiber 83 mg Sodium 685 mg Potassium 154 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 0 Starch 0 Fruit 0 Milk 0 Other Carbohydrates 0 Vegetable 4 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 2 Fat ===================== Mashed Potatoes and Gravy First on your list of side dishes is probably mashed potatoes and gravy. Making your own mashed potatoes from scratch isn't too difficult, the usual recipe seems to be about 1 1/2 cups heated milk and 3 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine per 6 large boiled potatoes. If you buy the instant ones, make sure you check the label (as with any processed food). Some contain added salt. The "complete" ones are usually worse. Also be aware that the milk contains naturally occurring sodium, so take that into consideration. You can substitute some chicken broth or broth from the turkey pan for some of the water or milk to add a little flavor if you like. Gravy made from a turkey without added sodium should also be relatively low in sodium. The following recipe will give you a gravy with a little more flavor. It will probably also be too thin and you'll have to dissolve some more flour in water and add it. At least that's what always happens to me. ===================== Turkey Gravy If you go out and do a search for turkey gravy recipes online, you'll come across some with 20 ingredients and a full page of instructions. Seems like a bit of overkill to me. Basically what you need is the broth in the bottom of the roasting pan and some flour to thicken it. I will go a *little* further than that though. One trick I learned some years ago to add some additional flavor to the gravy is to put half an onion, a cut up carrot and a few stalks of celery in the bottom of the roasting pan. A more recent trick I read is for separating the fat if you don't happen to have one of those measuring cups with the spout at the bottom designed for that purpose. Pour the pan juices into a zipper baggie, then snip a small triangle off a bottom corner and let the broth drip out until nothing is left but the fat. The recipe below is for 2 cups of gravy (not *nearly* enough). Use a tablespoon of flour for each cup for a fairly thin gravy. 2 c Turkey Broth 2 T Flour 2 T Turkey Fat Pour broth from roasting pan, allow to settle and drain off fat. Add 2 tablespoons of fat back to the pan. Heat, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom. Add flour, stir until it begins to form a ball. Add broth, cook and stir until thickened. Yield: 8 Servings Per Serving: 38 Calories 1 g Protein 3 g Total Fat 1 g Saturated Fat 1 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g Monounsaturated Fat 1 g Carbohydrates 0.1 g Fiber 15 mg Sodium 2 mg Potassium 3 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 0 Starch 0 Fruit 0 Milk 0 Other Carbohydrates 0 Vegetable 0 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 0.5 Fat ===================== Stuffing Stuffing (or perhaps more accurately dressing for those like us who don't actually stuff it in the bird) is another tradition. Unfortunately, even the "lower sodium" Stove Top mix is pretty high is sodium. I had hoped the Bell's mix would be lower in sodium, since their seasoning mix is salt free. Unfortunately the stuffing mix isn't, it has 510 mg per serving. I started baking stuffing bread a few years ago, patterning it after a loaf that one of the local stores sells of the bread that usually would be cubed and bagged. This gives you a head start on the flavor you want. It also makes great sandwiches. This is another area where everyone has a different idea of what should be in stuffing, so feel free to experiment. Stuffing Bread This was inspired by a local store that used to sell loaves of sliced stuffing bread around the holidays. It makes great sandwiches with leftover turkey as well as stuffing. You may want to make this a few days in advance, slice it and let it dry out. 1 1/4 c Water 1 T Unsalted Margarine 3 1/4 c Bread Flour 2 T Sugar 1/2 t Tarragon 1/4 t Rosemary 1 T Poultry Seasoning 1/2 t Parsley 1/2 t Minced Onion 1 3/4 t Yeast Place ingredients in bread machine in order specified by manufacturer. Process on large white loaf cycle. Yield: 12 Servings Per Serving: 153 Calories 5 g Protein 2 g Total Fat 0 g Saturated Fat 1 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g Monounsaturated Fat 29 g Carbohydrates 1 g Fiber 2 mg Sodium 53 mg Potassium 0 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 2 Starch 0 Fruit 0 Milk 0 Other Carbohydrates 0 Vegetable 0 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 0 Fat ===================== Stuffing This is kind of a framework for making stuffing. Almost everyone has different herbs and additives they like. Feel free to change the seasonings with such things as thyme and basil. You can also add other things like chestnuts or other nuts, mushrooms, chopped turkey giblets, etc. if this is something you would normally do. The longer you let the bread cubes dry out before making the stuffing, the more broth you will need. Many recipes also call for melted butter or margarine, or butter pats on top during baking, but I've left these out in the interest of reduced fat. This mixture can of course also be used for stuffing the bird. 8 c Stuffing Bread,Cubed Or Crumbled 2 c Low Sodium Chicken Or Turkey Broth 1 c Onion,Chopped 1/2 c Celery,Chopped 2 t Tarragon 1 t Sage 1 t Poultry Seasoning 1 1/2 t Black Pepper Combine all ingredients and toss lightly. Place in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350 until heated through, about 30 minutes. Yield: 12 Servings Per Serving: 186 Calories 8 g Protein 3 g Total Fat 1 g Saturated Fat 1 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g Monounsaturated Fat 46 g Carbohydrates 18.5 g Fiber 51 mg Sodium 907 mg Potassium 1 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 2 Starch 0 Fruit 0 Milk 0 Other Carbohydrates 0 Vegetable 0 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 0 Fat ===================== Green Beans With Caramelized Pearl Onions This makes a nice alternative to the usual green bean casserole and has become an annual addition to our meal. It's easier to make and lower in sodium and the sweet flavor goes well with the traditional meal. If you don't have a steamer, you can boil the vegetables. 2 lb Fresh Green Beans 1 lb Pearl Onions (fresh, not canned) 1/3 c Unsalted Margarine 1/2 c Brown Sugar Arrange beans in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam 15 minutes; set aside. Place onions in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Cut off root ends of onions and peel. Arrange onions in steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam 5 minutes. Set onions aside. Melt margarine in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add sugar, and cook, stirring constantly, until bubbly. Add onions, cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add beans, and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly heated. Yield: 8 Servings Per Serving: 176 Calories 3 g Protein 8 g Total Fat 1 g Saturated Fat 2 g Polyunsaturated Fat 3 g Monounsaturated Fat 26 g Carbohydrates 4.9 g Fiber 14 mg Sodium 376 mg Potassium 0 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 0 Starch 0 Fruit 0 Milk 0.5 Other Carbohydrates 2.5 Vegetable 0 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 1.5 Fat ===================== Rutabaga There will also be rutabagas at our house, traditional in my wife's family. I haven't any idea what heritage that comes from, but at 20 mg per serving, feel free to indulge yourself in a large helping. ===================== Dinner Rolls I like fresh hot rolls with my Thanksgiving dinner. This recipe is actually the same as the one I use for hamburger buns. The only difference will be in the shaping. 1 c Water 2 T Unsalted Margarine 1/4 c Egg Substitute 3 1/4 c Bread Flour 1/4 c Sugar 1 T Yeast Place in bread machine in order specified by manufacturer. Process on dough cycle. At end of cycle remove to a floured board. Pull into 16 pieces. Shape each into a rounded, roll and place in greased 9x13 pan or in individual muffin cups. Cover and let rise until double, about 1/2 hour. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven 12-15 minutes or until golden brown Yield: 16 Servings Per Serving: 131 Calories 4 g Protein 2 g Total Fat 0 g Saturated Fat 1 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g Monounsaturated Fat 24 g Carbohydrates 0.8 g Fiber 8 mg Sodium 56 mg Potassium 0 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 1 Starch 0 Fruit 0 Milk 0 Other Carbohydrates 0 Vegetable 0 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 0 Fat ===================== Onion Cranberry Relish Regular canned cranberry sauce, either the jellied or whole berry variety, has nothing in it that would be a problem for most diets. It has minimal sodium, no fat and is perfectly acceptable as is. However, this recipe I came across just sounded so good that I had to try it for Thanksgiving a few years ago. Now I end up making it every year. 1 lg Onion,Vidalia Or Other Sweet Variety 1 T Unsalted Margarine 1/4 c Raisins 1/4 c Red Wine 3/4 c Brown Sugar 4 Cinnamon 12 oz Fresh Cranberries 1 c Water Chop onions. In a skillet cook onion in margarine for 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add raisins, wine, and salt. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Remove from heat and set aside. In a medium saucepan combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and 1 cup water; heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add 2 cups of the cranberries and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining cranberries; cook 3 to 5 minutes more or until berries pop, stirring occasionally. Remove cinnamon sticks. Stir in onion mixture. Transfer to a medium bowl. Cover and chill at least 2 hours or up to 3 days Yield: 12 Servings Per Serving: 163 Calories 1 g Protein 1 g Total Fat 0 g Saturated Fat 0 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g Monounsaturated Fat 99 g Carbohydrates 1.4 g Fiber 10 mg Sodium 307 mg Potassium 0 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 0 Starch 2 Fruit 0 Milk 0.5 Other Carbohydrates 0 Vegetable 0 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 0 Fat ===================== Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin pie the traditional ending for the big meal. This is my favorite filling recipe. The good news is that Cool Whip is low in both fat and sodium ... *grin* ===================== Pumpkin Pie Filling 2 This is the creamiest, best flavored pumpkin pie filling I've ever tried. You can also bake this as a pumpkin custard and skip the fat and carbohydrates in the crust. Just pour it into oven proof custard cups or soup bowls that have been sprayed with vegetable oil spray. No custard cups? What about oven proof coffee mugs and serve it right in the mug. 1 3/4 c Pumpkin,Cooked And Pureed 1/2 c Brown Sugar 1/2 c Sugar 2 T Maple Syrup 1/2 c Sour Cream 1/2 c Half & Half 1/2 c Egg Substitute 1 t Cinnamon 1/2 t Ground Ginger 1/8 t Ground Cloves Preheat oven to 425. Dump all the ingredients into a blender and pulse until thoroughly combined. Pour the mixture into greased custard cups or ovenproof soup bowls, or unbaked pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes at 425, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 minutes, or until set. Allow to cool for 1 hour before serving. Top each portion with whipped cream or Cool Whip, if desired. Yield: 8 Servings Per Serving: 196 Calories 3 g Protein 5 g Total Fat 3 g Saturated Fat 0 g Polyunsaturated Fat 2 g Monounsaturated Fat 35 g Carbohydrates 1.7 g Fiber 48 mg Sodium 264 mg Potassium 12 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 0 Starch 0 Fruit 0.5 Milk 1 Other Carbohydrates 0 Vegetable 0 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 1 Fat ===================== Pie Crust I find this oil based pie crust easier to work with than with solid shortening. And it seems to stay flaky through more handling. 1 1/3 c Flour 1/3 c Oil 2 T Water,Cold Add oil to flour and mix well with fork. Sprinkle water over and mix well. With hands press into ball and flatten. Roll between two pieces in waxed paper. Remove top waxed paper, invert over pan and remove other paper. Press into place. For pies which do not require a baked filling, bake at 400 until lighted browned, about 12-15 minutes. Yield: 8 Servings Per Serving: 156 Calories 2 g Protein 9 g Total Fat 1 g Saturated Fat 5 g Polyunsaturated Fat 2 g Monounsaturated Fat 16 g Carbohydrates 0.6 g Fiber 1 mg Sodium 22 mg Potassium 0 mg Cholesterol Diabetic Exchanges 1 Starch 0 Fruit 0 Milk 0 Other Carbohydrates 0 Vegetable 0 Lean Meat 0 Very Lean Meat 2 Fat ======================================= Publisher's Ranting So there you have it ... a wonderful example of American excess. I won't add up the calories, but let's take a quick look at the sodium and see how we've done. Turkey (3 ounces each white and dark) (166 mg) Mashed Potatoes (30 mg) Stuffing (51 mg) Gravy (15 mg) Rutabaga (20 mg) Green Beans With Caramelized Pearl Onions (14 mg) Hot Roll with unsalted margarine (8 mg) Onion Cranberry Relish (10 mg) Celery and carrot sticks (20 mg) Pumpkin pie with cool whip topping (49 mg) Total sodium 383 mg Dick Logue Webmaster, http://www.LowSodiumCooking.com
Thanks for posting these great recipes. This will help people with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.
After reading this, I'm starved! Thanks for posting that, and the stuffing bread--I bet my kids would love that, they could live on stuffing. I was seeing Thanksgving for all the "I can't haves"...this helped.
Glad it helped. I was glad when I recived it last year. I have made some of the items last year also gave a copy to my mom. and she made the pumkin pie. So I was able to have a great thanksgiving dinner last year. If you like sausage in your stuffing see the sausage recipe I posted also. I make my own breakfast sausage for the stuffing. Joe