Today we are focusing on how to boost the
flavour in food without adding salt. Sodium is an essential mineral that our body
needs. It helps control blood pressure and to maintain
a normal fluid balance. Many people are not aware that most foods
contain natural sodium. As a result there is no need to add salt to
boost the flavor. There are healthy alternatives. Eating too much sodium may cause high blood
pressure, which increases the risk of getting a stroke, heart disease and kidney disease.
So, how much sodium is in a pinch of salt? On average a pinch is about 1/8 of a teaspoon
which contains about 300 mg of sodium. According to the Canadian Hyper tension Education
program, consider reducing your sodium intake towards 2,000 mg per day to decrease blood
pressure. If you add a small amount of salt to your
meals, taste your food first. An important point to remember is that while
there are different types of salt which vary in flavour, coarseness and even colour, they
all contain the same amount of sodium.
Over 75 percent of the sodium we eat comes
from processed foods, restaurant meals, fast foods and packaged and ready to eat meals. They include deli meats, pizza sauces, cheese
and soups. Even, breads, breakfast cereals and bakery
products contain sodium even though they may not taste salty. Not to worry, there are lots of lower sodium
alternatives to add to your favourite everyday foods. We are going to feature some recipes and tips
that will help enhance flavor without the use of salt. That way you can enjoy some delicious food
the salt free way! Pizza’s a favourite food for many. Unfortunately when we buy pizza that is prepackaged,
frozen, from a fast food outlet or a restaurant they are high in sodium. Today were going to show you how to make a
delicious and healthy homemade pizza! And we’re going to show folks at home how
they can make it healthily and easily.
And we’re going to start off with our dough. So we’re going to start off, I got a little
of a head start because yeast you got to get it o work a bit. And so what I’ve done over here 1/3 of warm
water, 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp of honey, and a little bag of yeast and
that’s the base.
Add 2 cups of whole wheat flour that’ll
some fibre to the dough. The key thing is in making the dough don’t
throw the whole jug of flour at once, you need to start incorporating it. And that’s what I’m about to do. It’s staggering how high the sodium is of
ready to go pizzas. So that’s great we’re doing it ourselves. Yes, absolutely. It is possible to get a low sodium dough ready
to go from a supermarket. So you don’t necessarily have to go from
ground zero as we are today. But, for those that want to start with a healthy
base that is possible. So with the mix, we got to get the hands dirty. We got to get in there. Once this has been completed and put this,
put the dough on a baking tray with parchment paper and just let it rest as we are going
to make the sauce.
So David now that our pizza dough is ready
we’re going to start off with our tomato sauce. Absolutely, some people might purchase the
canned sauce ready to go. We’re going to show this is easy to make
at home make your own sauce from scratch jazz it up a bit more with our seasonings. But I’m putting together something that
I think will work with most people. I’m going to start off with our favourite,
extra virgin olive oil. So extra virgin olive oil is a great choice
because it’s an unsaturated fats it’s a healthy fat and helps lower LDL cholesterol. I’ve got cut up Spanish onion that I’m
going to sauté here, together with some fresh chopped up garlic. So we’re going to sauté here for a few
minutes and then we’re going to add fresh ripe tomatoes.
So this is a good opportunity to lower the
sodium content of your tomato sauce by starting off with fresh ripe tomatoes. Having the fresh ripe tomatoes you can’t
meet the flavor of the fresh tomatoes. And tomatoes are a great source of lycopene
as well. Now I’m going to add some great flavor. This is the enhancer. Using my Greek oregano, just pure oregano,
fresh oregano that you can get at the supermarket. And then I’m using my all purpose, it’s
called David’s special steak rub, but really could be used on everything. I’ve used a tablespoon of the oregano, tablespoon
of the all-purpose steak rub. This is going to take a little bit of time
because it has to get soft and mushy, and a sauce, but that will happen as we begin
to compile our pizza.
And the herbs and spices are nice because
they add such great flavor and you don’t have to add salt to this great meal. The added ingredient here is just some tomato
paste. And again you can get them in a low sodium
version, lower the sodium content of this recipe. The added ingredient here gives just a little
bit of sweetness a teaspoon of sugar. And as you can see here the sauce is coming
together very nicely. I think we are done, and we can now let it
rest and cool down before we make our pizza.
Now that our sauce is cooled down, and we’ll
put our beautiful sauce on our homemade pizza. So from here, I’m going to sprinkle mozzarella
cheese. So now an option can be, either use a small
amount of block mozzarella, or if you want to reduce the sodium content use fresh mozzarella
balls also known as bocconcini. So from here because we want a nice healthy
pizza, decided to come with an array of peppers. We’ve got green yellow and red that I’ve
cut up. And I’ll get these on the pizza as well. So they look really colourful, and it’s
important to always remember to have lot of fruits and vegetables throughout the day. So this is a good way to load up on vegetables. So that’s the benefit of making your own
pizza you get to choose your favourite vegetables and load them up. Yeah, and that’s what I’m doing now I’m
really loading up with the peppers. I guess another option could be some steamed
rapini or broccoli rabe, or spinach. Zucchini, yup that would be gorgeous.
Now meat, we’re going to use chicken breast
I think. Yes, I’ve got two grilled chicken breasts
that I’ve sprinkled some of my steak rub on it to give it some added flavor. And so I’m going to put slices of the grilled
chicken, so this is a better alternative to processed meats that are typically used on
a store bought prepared type of pizza. They’re high in sodium, high in nitrates,
other preservatives so this is a great way to reduce the amount of sodium and preservatives
that you would typically get in a prepared pizza. I have the oven on convection, set at 475
F, because we have a lot of on top and the dough is thick it’s going to take a good
half an hour to bake. Well, our pizza’s ready. It looks delicious. There we are. We’re going to put some final touches on
it. We got some baby arugula, it smells and looks
amazing.
Thank you very much, we are done! Enjoy everybody!.
