Two Appliances Central to my Heart Healthy Kitchen

My favorite 2 appliances that have helped transform my kitchen into "heart healthy enabled": George Foreman Grill and Sunbeam Breadmaker.

George Foreman Grill & Sunbeam Breadmaker
2 appliances central to my heart healthy kitchen

Why am I in love with these two appliances?

George Foreman Grill:

• Easy to use & cost effective.
• Make fresh grilled meals without the mess of a full grill!
• Has allowed me to stock my freezer with heart healthy seafoods & chicken breasts that can be grilled to serve in just 5-20 minutes!
• Tip #1: spray your meats with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray before grilling - this will lengthen the life of your Foreman Grill.
• Tip #2: sprinkle garlic powder on just about anything you are grilling (the spray will keep the powder on the meat). 1 teaspoon of garlic powder adds 33mg of potassium and only 2mg of sodium to whatever you are cooking! 

Sunbeam 5981 Breadmaker:

• Easy to use & cost effective.
• Has allowed me to explore and discover heart healthy (no sodium) breads.
• You cannot be heart healthy on store bought (highly preserved) breads - read the labels, it is not possible. You can make heart healthy, homemade breads without much effort and this Sunbeam Breadmaker is my cornerstone to accomplishing this!

These two appliances have enabled me to bring a whole array of foods I once thought "too hard to make" or "not heart healthy" back into my kitchen and healthy lifestyle!

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!

Recipe for Heart Healthy Garlic & Chili Bread

An "easy to make" heart healthy (high potassium/low sodium/low fat) bread recipe I recently perfected....

Garlic & Chili Bread

Nutrition (per serving, 12 servings per loaf):

• 82mg Potassium
• 9mg Sodium
• 3g Fat
• A 9:1 Health Ratio

Effort: About 10 minutes to collect and prep the ingredients; about 3 hours of "bread machine time".

1 1/4 c Water
2 T Unsalted Butter
3 Garlic Cloves (finely chopped)
2 T Green Chili Peppers (chopped)
2/3 c Frozen Corn
3 1/4 c Bread Flour
1/3 c Cornmeal
2 T Sugar
1 1/4 t Yeast

Place ingredients in bread maker and process on white bread (or basic bread) cycle. Makes a 1 1/2 pound loaf.

This bread makes great sandwich - allowing you to keep sandwiches in your heart healthy diet. It also make a great "soup dipping" bread.

Heart Healthy "Eggnog"!

Heart Healthy Eggnog?!? Impossible, you think (so did I).

Well, look what I discovered: "heart healthy eggnog" via Silk Nog (ok, so it is "heart healthy nog" - but it tastes the same)!

The vital stats on the nutrition content (1/2 cup): 150mg potassium, 75mg sodium, 2g fat. Yes, you read that right - eggnog with a 2:1 health ratio.

Consider this.... a 1/2 cup of Silk Nog and 1 banana yields 687mg potassium, 77mg sodium and 2.5g fat. Wow - a 9:1 heart health ratio with something that tastes so good it feels like you are cheating!

So, ring in the holidays: as amazing as it sounds, I'll be improving my heart health while sipping the eggnog (Silk Nog, that is).

A Banana A Day...

Looking for a way to jumpstart your heart healthy (high potassium/low sodium/low fat) diet?

A banana a day keeps the high blood pressure away!

The nutrition facts behind bananas (1 average sized banana): 537mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 0.5g fat [a 269:1 health ratio]

Consider a meal with 0mg potassium and 180mg of sodium - if all you do is eat 1 banana with this meal you have transformed it from a sodium pit into a heart healthy (3:1 potassium:sodium) fare. Now consider the impact of eating 2 bananas a day - this simple treat transforms 360mg of sodium contribution into a net healthy feast.

How about an even more compelling argument for a banana or two a day? Many people consider a potassium:sodium ratio of 1:1 to be "heart healthy". Well, ok, then eating 2 bananas a day means you can eat 1074mg of sodium in any "potassium poor" food you want and you'll maintain a 1:1 health ratio. Anyway, you get the message: bananas are a super boost to any potassium:sodium diet you are constructing.

Bananas taste good, bananas are inexpensive, bananas require no preparation. A banana a day keeps the high blood pressure away!

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...

Recipe for a Perfect "Warm Breakfast"

Fall is upon us, the temperatures are dropping and you want something warm for a heart healthy breakfast...

Combine oatmeal, banana & bran to make a high potassium, low sodium, low fat and tasty warm breakfast entree.


The base recipe:

• 1 serving Quaker Instant Oatmeal: 105mg potassium, 75mg sodium, 2g fat.
• 1 banana (sliced into the oatmeal): 540mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• 1/4 cup Kelloggs All Bran (mixed into the oatmeal): 175mg potassium, 40mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• Total: 820mg potassium, 117mg sodium, 3g fat [a 7:1 healthy meal!]

If the base recipe is too bland for your tastebuds, then you can upgrade to one of Quaker's many flavors of instant oatmeal (e.g. apples & cinnamon, maple & brown sugar, etc). Unfortunately, flavored oatmeals have a 1:1.5 to 1:2 potassium:sodium ratio - changing the recipe's nutrition as follows:

• 1 serving Flavored Quaker Instant Oatmeal: 105mg potassium, 160-200mg sodium, 2g fat.
• 1 banana (sliced into the oatmeal): 540mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• 1/4 cup Kelloggs All Bran (mixed into the oatmeal): 175mg potassium, 40mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• Total: 820mg potassium, 202-242mg sodium, 3g fat [a 4:1 healthy meal]

A 4:1 potassium:sodium ratio is still incredible for your heart; but suppose you are in love with 7:1 nutrition profile of the base recipe yet want more of the flavor of the 4:1 recipe? The answer: use honey instead of flavored oatmeal:

• 1 serving Quaker Instant Oatmeal: 105mg potassium, 75mg sodium, 2g fat.
• 1 banana (sliced into the oatmeal): 540mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• 1/4 cup Kelloggs All Bran (mixed into the oatmeal): 175mg potassium, 40mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• 1 tablespoon honey (mixed into the oatmeal): 11mg potassium, 0mg sodium, 0g fat. 
• Total: 831mg potassium, 117mg sodium, 3g fat [a 7:1 healthy meal!]

7:1 to 4:1 - pick one of these 3 recipes that tastes best to you. In any choice, you have a high potassium, low sodium & low fat warm option for your heart healthy menu through the chilly fall & winter months.

Recipe for Heart Healthy Whole Wheat French Bread

Another easy to make, heart healthy to eat bread for your menu:

Whole Wheat French Bread

• Nutrition Facts (per slice): 104mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 1g fat (52:1 health ratio!)
• Effort: under 15 minutes my time (10 min ingredient prep, 2 min rise prep, 2 min bake attention), 2.5 hrs machine time.

3/4 t yeast
1 1/4 T honey
1 1/4 c water
2 c Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 c Bread Flour

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in order specified by the manufacturer. Process on dough cycle. Remove bread from machine. Shape into a tapered loaf. Place on greased baking sheet, cover with towel and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Cut diagonal slices about 1/4 inch across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Brush with cold water. Bake at 400 until done, about 15-20 minutes.

This recipe makes a pretty "hefty" bread. It is a great with soups or any dish with sauce for dipping a slice of bread. The recipe was adapted from the Low Sodium Cooking website - adapted to add additional flavor & reduce the density of the bread.

Recipe for Heart Healthy Garlic Herb Bread

Following from my recent bread analysis - I claimed it is possible to make heart healthy bread without being an expert chef tied to the kitchen. So, here you have one example:

Garlic Herb Bread 

• Nutrition Facts (per slice): 49mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 2g fat (25:1 health ratio!)
• Effort: under 15 minutes my time (10 min ingredient prep, 2 min rise prep, 2 min bake attention), 2.5 hrs machine time.

1 1/4 c Water
1 T Unsalted Butter
2-4 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped) [increase based on your garlic palate]
3 1/4 c Bread Flour
2 T Sugar
1/2 t Rosemary
1/2 t Oregano
1/4 t Thyme
1 1/4 t Yeast [increase to 1 1/2 for lower altitudes]

Place ingredients in bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Process on dough cycle. Remove and shape into two long loaves. Place on greased baking sheet, cover with towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Pretty simple: less than 15 minutes of my time as a chef, around 2.5 hours of letting the bread machine, nature & oven do all the work. This bread makes great sandwich bread - allowing you to bring sandwiches back into your heart healthy diet.


Note: this recipe was adapted from the Low Sodium Cooking website (modified for more garlic emphasis and high altitude cooking).

Need a great bread machine without breaking the bank? Try the Sunbeam 5891 Breadmaker. I use this for all my breads - the price is great, as is the machine itself.

The Truth About Bread

I'll make a bold statement and then back it up with facts: it is not possible to maintain a heart healthy diet if you frequently eat commercially prepared breads.

I will not make any friends in the commercial bread industry with that statement, but it is true. Proof by example: Wonder Breads has tried to fool the market by introducing a product called "smart white" which has focused on reducing sodium. What wonders have they created? Each slice of bread has 100mg of sodium. All the technologies and resources of a large commercial enterprise and 100mg of sodium per slice is the best they can come up with? So, a sandwich has at least 200mg of sodium from the bread alone! Two slices of toast has at least 200mg of sodium! etc. etc. etc.

Maybe I am just making fun of Wonder Breads, you think? Go to your pantry - read the labels on your bread. Go to the grocery store and read the labels on your bread. Use the internet and search for nutrition facts on various brands & types of bread. I guarantee you will conclude the following: 100mg of sodium per slice of bread is the best the industry has reached and you are typically at 200+ mg of sodium per slice from your average commercially prepared loaf!

• Do you need to remove commercially prepared breads from your heart healthy diet: YES
• Do you need to remove breads altogether from your heart healthy diet: NO
• Is it possible to have as little as 2mg of sodium per non-commercially prepared slice of bread: YES
• Do you need to be an expert chef slaving for hours in the kitchen to prepare heart healthy breads: NO!

With that cliffhanger, I will sign out and leave you curious. Heart healthy & easy to prepare bread recipes coming your way - stay tuned...

The Perfect (Heart Healthy) Baked Potato

Looking for a great recipe for your heart healthy diet? Bring baked potatoes into your menu.

The USDA nutrition facts on a (raw) baked potato: 610mg potassium, 8mg sodium, 0.16g fat - that's a whopping 76:1 potassium to sodium ratio with almost zero fat! Incredible!

Ok, I know, eating a raw baked potato is not that exciting. So, let's dress up a baked potato into a heart healthy (high potassium, low sodium, low fat) treat with some of the following additional ingredients:

• Add an 1/8 to 1/4 a cup of low fat (2%) mozzarella cheese.
• Add a tablespoon or so of a low sodium salsa of your choosing.
• Add a 1/2 to 1 cup of steamed broccoli.
• Add a 1/2 to 1 cup of potassium rich vegetable medley.

Note: DO NOT add butter to your baked potato - you may as well kiss your heart goodbye by destroying the potato in this way. Add the low fat mozzarella cheese directly to the potato (before the other ingredients) and it will serve the same purpose as butter (but taste better and feel better).

Topping your baked potato with a selection of these ingredients gives you a ton of flavor with a wonderful potassium:sodium gift to your heart:

Ingredients	P(otassium)/S(odium)/F(at) Counts
Baked Potato	610mg P, 8mg S, 0.16g F	610mg P, 8mg S, 0.16g F	610mg P, 8mg S, 0.16g F	610mg P, 8mg S, 0.16g F
1/4 cup Low Fat Mozzarella	40mg P, 180mg S, 5g F	40mg P, 180mg S, 5g F	40mg P, 180mg S, 5g F	40mg P, 180mg S, 5g F
1 TBSP Low Sodium Salsa	40mg P, 43mg S, 0g F	40mg P, 43mg S, 0g F	40mg P, 43mg S, 0g F	40mg P, 43mg S, 0g F
1/2 cup Steamed Broccoli	130mg P, 10mg S, 0.1g F
1 cup Steamed Broccoli		261mg P, 20mg S, 0.2g F
1/2 cup Vegetable Medley			424mg P, 6mg S, 0.6g F
1 cup Vegetable Medley				848mg P, 12mg S, 1.2g F
Nutrition Facts	820mg P, 241mg S, 5.26g F	951mg P, 251mg S, 5.36g F	1114mg P, 237mg S, 5.76g F	1538mg P, 243mg S, 6.35g F
Potassium:Sodium Ratio	3.4:1	3.8:1	4.7:1	6.3:1

Summary: dress up a baked potato with low fat mozzarella & salsa for flavor, veggies for flavor & potassium and wind up with a tasty 3:1 to 6:1 high potassium/low sodium/low fat treat for your heart healthy meal.

Consider this... If you use 1/8 a cup of mozzarella (instead of 1/4) and do not find this as a sacrifice to taste, then your baked potato treat is a whopping 5:1 to 10:1 treat!

Revised Nutrition with 1/8 cup of Mozzarella instead of 1/4
Nutrition Facts	800mg P, 151mg S, 2.75g F	931mg P, 161mg S, 2.86g F	1094mg P, 147mg S, 3.26g F	1518mg P, 153mg S, 3.85g F
Potassium:Sodium Ratio	5.3:1	5.8:1	7.4:1	9.9:1

Heart Healthy Seafood

So you want seafood to be part of your high potassium/low sodium/low fat heart healthy diet. As I demonstrated in my salmon analysis: not all seafood is as good as we have all been lead to believe. Thus, I will enumerate the types of seafood you should allow in your heart healthy diet:

1. Pink Salmon (1/2 fillet or 124 g): 513mg potassium, 107mg sodium, 5.5g fat [5:1 potassium to sodium] - remember pink salmon is the only salmon that qualifies as heart healthy!
2. Yellowfin Tuna (4 oz): 645mg potassium, 53mg sodium, 1.4g fat [12:1 potassium to sodium]
3. Halibut (4 oz): 653mg potassium, 78mg sodium, 3.3g fat [8:1 potassium to sodium]
4. Cod (4 oz): 586 mg potassium, 103 mg sodium, 0.9g fat [6:1 potassium to sodium]
5. Tilapia (4 oz): 424mg potassium, 64mg sodium, 2.8g fat [7:1 potassium to sodium]

Keep any or all of these 5 types of seafood in your fridge or freezer and you have a high potassium/low sodium/low fat hearth healthy seafood contribution to your diet.

It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: serve any of these seafoods breaded or sauteed in butter and they are no longer heart healthy - the fat you introduce via breading or sauteing cancels out all the positives.

The best way to prepare seafood and preserve the "heart healthy benefits": grilled (consider a George Foreman Grill for ease & simplicity). Feel free to add any sodium free spices before grilling; but grilling your seafood is the only way to prepare it in a heart healthy manner.

The Truth About Tortillas

Tortillas always seemed like and innocent & healthy food to me. Then I read the labels from a heart healthy viewpoint - wow! I'll summarize and then explain:

The only form of tortilla that is heart healthy is soft corn tortillas.
Every form of flour tortilla does more harm to your heart than good.


That's it - soft corn is what is allowed in a heart healthy diet. Here are the facts to back this up from Mission Tortillas (it is the same for all other brands, I just have the mission facts handy):

• Mission Medium-Sized Flour Tortillas (1 tortilla): 440mg sodium, 3.5g fat.
• Mission Medium-Sized 96% Fat Free Tortillas (1 tortilla): 330mg sodium, 1.5g fat.
• Mission Yellow Corn Tortillas (2 tortillas): 10mg sodium, 1g fat.

Look at those sodium counts! Consider an average meal uses 2 tortillas (2 tacos or 1 quesadilla) and, then, 2 standard flour tortillas have 880 mg of sodium. What is humorous is that Mission marks their "96% fat free" tortillas as "heart healthy." You cannot call an ingredient "heart healthy" when it contributes 660 mg of sodium to your meal - that is ludicrous!

Anyway, the good news is corn tortillas ROCK - not only do 2 tortillas contain a measly 10 mg of sodium, but they also contain upwards of 40 mg of potassium (e.g., corn tortillas are a 4:1 potassium:sodium food vs flour which are a 1:5 potassium:sodium food). Corn tortillas add nothing but pure positives to your high potassium/low sodium/low fat heart healthy diet.