Heart Healthy Spicy Chicken Soup in a Crockpot

Use this chicken broth to transform
just about any crock pot soup recipe
into "heart healthy"!

Easy to make, tasty to eat, good for your heart - a Crockpot Spicy Chicken Soup!

Ingredients (with potassium/sodium/fat counts):
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth (520/280/0)
- 1.5 cups 505 Southwestern Green Chile Sauce (1520/1520/0)
- 3.5 cups [no sodium added] frozen corn (588/35/3.5)
- 1 4oz can hatch chiles (600/300/0)
- 3 garlic cloves (36/3/0)
- 1 (14-15oz) can [no sodium added] diced tomatoes (2200/40/0)
- 24 baby carrots (576/192/0.3)
- 6 scallion green onions (552/32/0.4)
- 1.5 cups water (0/0/0)
- 1 potato (515/5/0.1)
- 1 large chicken breast (440/120/5)
- 1 cup fresh cilantro (521/46/0)



Preparation:

1. Cook the chicken breast (i.e., toss it on your Foreman Grill and it will be done by the time you process the rest of the ingredients).
2. Toss the water, salsa (green chile sauce), broth, diced tomatoes, hatch chiles and frozen corn into your crock pot.
3. Dice the garlic, carrots, green onions, cilantro and potato in a food processor and add to the crock pot.
4. Shred the (cooked) chicken breast in a food processor and add to the crock pot.
5. Cook on Low for 4.5 hours and tada: Heart Healthy Spicy Chicken Soup!

Analysis - the above recipe makes 8 servings:

• Potassium: 8068mg or 1008.5mg per serving.
• Sodium: 2573mg or 321.7mg per serving.
• Fat: 9.3g or 1.2g per serving
• Total (per serving): 1008.5mg Potassium, 321.7mg Sodium, 1.2g Fat [a 3:1 health ratio]

You will find this soup to really hit a homerun with your taste buds - it is delicious! You can experiment with different salsas to alter the flavor; but I have found the 505 Southwestern Green Chile to be an excellent choice.

Heart Healthy Tuna Fish Sandwich

Imagine... A tuna fish sandwich low in fat & low in sodium with a boost of potassium to benefit your heart! It is possible...

The Tuna Base: Mix 1/2 a 5 oz can of "chunk light tuna in water" with 1 teaspoon of nonfat mayonnaise.

The Bread: 1 serving of your favorite "no sodium" sandwich bread (cut into 2 slices). Plenty of no sodium bread recipes are provided in previous posts, my favorite to use with tuna is the garlic chili bread or the garlic herb bread.

The Preparation:

• Toast 1/8 cup of low fat mozzarella on the sandwich bread.
• Sprinkle 1 tsp of garlic powder on the toasted cheese (while still hot).
• Spread the tuna base on the bread to complete the sandwich.

The Heart Health Facts:

• 345mg potassium: 82mg (bread) + 90mg (tuna) + 120mg (mayo) + 20mg (mozzarella) + 33mg (garlic).
• 341mg sodium: 9mg (bread) + 180mg (tuna) + 60mg (mayo) + 90mg (mozzarella) + 2mg (garlic).
• 6g fat: 3g (bread) + 0.5g (tuna) + 2.5g (mozzarella).
• Total: 345mg potassium, 339mg sodium, 6g fat [a 1:1 health ratio]

 Now, complement the sandwich with any heart healthy side dish and you have a heart healthy meal! Examples:

• Sandwich with a fresh orange: 602mg potassium, 341mg sodium, 6g fat [a 2:1 meal]
• Sandwich with a vegetable medley side: 1233mg potassium, 396 mg sodium, 7g fat [a 3:1 meal]

There you have it - a hearth healthy tuna fish sandwich meal!

Brown Rice & Broccoli - A Heart Healthy Side Dish

An easy & tasty side dish to have with any meal: Brown Rice & Broccoli delivering a 7:1 to 3:1 health ratio!

The Ingredients:

1. 1 cup (after cooked) Brown Rice - try any of the "10 minute boil in a bag" varieties for easy prep.
• 115mg potassium, 0mg sodium, 1g fat.
2. 1 cup steamed Broccoli.
• 261mg potassium, 20mg sodium, 0.2g fat.
3. [optional] 1 tbsp Heart Healthy Salsa.
• 40mg potassium, 40mg sodium, 0g fat.
4. [optional] 1/8 cup Low Fat (2%) Mozzarella.
• 20mg potassium, 90mg sodium, 2.5g fat.

The Results:

• Brown Rice & Broccoli: 376mg potassium, 20mg sodium, 1.2g fat
  19:1 health rating!
• Brown Rice, Broccoli & Salsa: 416mg potassium, 60mg sodium, 1.2g fat
  7:1 health rating!
• Brown Rice, Broccoli & Mozzarella: 396mg potassium, 110mg sodium, 3.7g fat
  4:1 health rating!
• Brown Rice, Broccoli, Salsa & Mozzarella: 436mg potassium, 150mg sodium, 3.7g fat
  3:1 health rating!

I like adding either mozzarella or salsa (or both) to the brown rice and broccoli mixture. While the straight rice & broccoli is a 19:1 health gem, I find I need the salsa and/or mozzarella flavoring to make this taste great.
Easy to make, tastes great and a potassium:sodium health rating worth adding to any meal. This 7:1 to 3:1 side can join with any healthy main dish to deliver a meal your heart will love!

Healthy (Tilapia) Fish Tacos

When you see fish tacos at a restaurant, you probably think: not heart healthy. Here's a way to make great tasting fish tacos with a 3:1 heart healthy potassium:sodium ratio.

Fish Preparation:

• Spray both sides of a (4 oz) filet of frozen tilapia with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray (or similar spray) and sprinkle a teaspoon of garlic powder on the top of the filet.
• Cook the filet for 6-8 minutes in your George Foremann Grill (or similar grill).

Tacos (2 total):

• Start with 2 soft corn tortillas (slightly warmed in a toaster oven or microwave, if desired).
• 1 teaspoon of heart healthy salsa on each tortilla [2 tsp total].
• Split 1/8 a cup of low fat (2%) mozzarella across both tortillas.
• Split the (just cooked) tilapia across both tortillas [just cooked means the fish is warm and heats the salsa and mozzarella].

That's it, you have 2 great tasting tilapia fish tacos! The nutrition profile:

• Potassium (mg): 40(tortillas) + 26(salsa) + 20(mozzarella) + 424(tilapia) + 33(garlic) = 543mg.
• Sodium (mg): 10(tortilla) + 26(salsa) + 90(mozzarella) + 64(tilapia) + 2(garlic) = 192mg.
• Fat (g): 1(tortilla) + 0(salsa) + 2.5(mozzarella) + 2.8(tilapia) + 0(garlic) = 6.3g.
• Total: 543mg potassium, 192mg sodium, 6.3g fat - a 3:1 potassium:sodium ratio.

Note that the potassium:sodium ratio is technically 2.83:1 - I'll round that to 3:1 given how good these tacos taste ;-)   Seriously, though, what I do is add a serving of my Vegetable Medley to the 2 tacos to make a complete meal. The nutrition profile of the meal (2 tacos + salad) is as follows:

2 tacos + vegetable medley (w/out mozzarella) meal:

• Potassium (mg): 543(tacos) + 888(salad) = 1431mg.
• Sodium (mg): 192(tacos) + 55(salad) = 247mg.
• Fat (g): 6.3(tacos) + 1.2(salad) = 7.5g.
• Total: 1431mg potassium, 247mg sodium, 7.5g fat - a 6:1 healthy meal!

2 tacos + vegetable medley (w/ mozzarella) meal:

• Potassium (mg): 543(tacos) + 908(salad) = 1451mg.
• Sodium (mg): 192(tacos) + 145(salad) = 337mg.
• Fat (g): 6.3(tacos) + 3.7(salad) = 10g.
• Total: 1451mg potassium, 337mg sodium, 10g fat - a 4:1 healthy meal!

Good tacos, good salad ... Happy & healthy heart! Enjoy...