Trick the Tastebuds

There are many options for flavoring your food without missing the salt,using no or little sodium. I’m learning different spices and foods to cook with, not only for me, but to share with you all to live a healthy heart lifestyle.

I love spicy foods, since my HA I’m needing to pull back a little on the heat. Spices with a little heat will trick your tongue, so you will not miss the salt flavor. With that said, a favorite is jalapeño dust. The first time I had this was at a nearby pizza establishment, Pepperoni Bills in Camdenton, MO. One day I was discussing the dust with a friend, she mentioned how her and her husband make it at home! I use a dehydrator and love to use my Oster Dehydrator all of the time. Now, just because I’m going to explain how to make your own dust, doesn’t mean you skip out of Pepperoni Bills, if you’re in the area, go, you can still enjoy outings, just not every day.

This is very simple to make and worth having on hand.

Jalapeño Dust

2 pounds jalapeños

Dehydrator

Spice Grinder

Sealed Jar

Clean and slice the jalapeños in half (remember, when cutting jalapenos you may want to use gloves to keep the jalapeno oils off your hands). You can choose the heat level here with the amount of seeds - the more seeds, the more heat. I leave all seeds in, you can scoop half out. You will need some seeds in, you need a little heat. This is part of seasoning to trick the tastebuds.

Lay your sliced jalapeños on the trays and do not crowd the jalapeños. This will help in drying the jalapeños out.

Time can vary a bit here, 4-6 hours. Also, you might want to do this in your garage if you are sensitive to spices. I do a full batch (4 trays) in our kitchen. Once they have been dehydrated, you may pull some off. If there is any softness leave it in the dehydrator for longer. The jalapenos will snap in two as they are dehydrating. Place the dried jalapenos in your spice grinder.

You will need to pulse a few times to get to the desired dust consistency. Here is another tip to save your sinuses, let your grinder settle the dust before taking lid off. Trust me, from experience, also, don’t rub eyes until you wash your hands, this is from experience too... In the picture below, you will notice two colors, I use a variety of jalapeños, you can also use any other spicy pepper to make this dust, habanero would also be great as a dust.

Once you have all jalapeños ground, place in a seal tight jar. This will keep in a dry cool place for 1 year, but you will make more before a year. I put this on a lot of different foods, from roasted vegetables to homemade pizza.

Here is another simple keep on hand dehydrated seasoning. I will usually buy a bag of lemons to do this.

Lemon Zest

6 Lemons

1 cup White Vinegar (for cleaning)

Vegetable Peeler

Dehydrator

Spice Grinder

Sealed Jar

Place lemons in a water and white vinegar mix in sink to clean.

This is important, wash well to get chemicals off that are sprayed on produce. Ignore the vinegar if you’re lucky to have a lemon tree in your backyard. For some reason lemon trees do not like to grow outside here in Missouri, where we start with summer of a morning and end with winter in the evening, lets not forget spring and fall during the afternoon.

Once they are cleaned and dried you will use the vegetable peeler to peel the skin of the lemon here. Try to stay off of the rind (white pithy pat) as much as possible. Get your dehydrator out and place peels on trays, again do not crowd.

Of course dehydrating time varies, this is due to humidity in your area/home. You definitely want to do this in you’re kitchen, the lemon will produce a fresh smell. Once they are dehydrated to a brittle stage place in your grinder to get a nice zest. You will not pulse as much as the jalapeno dust. You want it more zesty like and less dusty. When you have reached the desired texture, place in a seal tight jar and store in fridge up to 6-9 months.

I haven’t ever needed to store lemon zest this long because I use it. Sprinkle on chicken, fish and it’s a must to use in my homemade pesto, it makes it nice and fresh with less sodium.

STH Pesto

5-6 cups fresh Basil

1/2 cup roasted Pine Nuts or Walnuts

2 TBS grated Parmesan

3-4 cloves Garlic minced

1/4-1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 TBS Lemon Zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash your Basil and strip from the thick stems. Place you pine nuts or walnuts on a baking sheet. Roast in your oven for 5-7 minutes. They will roast fast, so watch them. I used pine nuts for this batch, but walnuts are great too. Once roasted, place basil and nuts in food processor along with Parmesan and garlic, Use the Chop setting on you food processor. Drizzle olive oil in. In the picture below you will see where I have whole pine nuts added over some already chopped. I had made a larger batch this time. This is where I added the lemon zest towards the end of chopping with added basil to keep it vibrant to enhance the freshness of this pesto. When you are making a regular batch and drizzling the olive oil in, add the lemon zest right before you finish chopping.

I have had my Farberware processor for a while now and love it. When you have incorporated all ingredients, put in a sealed jar. You can keep in fridge for a few weeks. This will make up quite a bit, probably more than what you need in the next few weeks. I recommend storing what you need in a seal tight jar in your refrigerator, place the rest in a ice tray and freeze, cover with Saran Wrap while freezing. When they are frozen remove and place in a freezer ziplock to keep and use when needed. I’m telling you, try this as your base on the pizza from Slice of Life post.

This pesto has more garlic then most traditional pestos, we want the extra seasoning to make up for the lower sodium. In a normal batch you will average 2,160 mg of sodium in a 1/2 cup of Parmesan that is normally in an average pesto. In the STH Pesto you have a total of 540 mg in the whole batch. One TBS of STH Pesto will be around 40 mg of sodium compared to a basic pesto of 135 mg in a TBS. Yes, 100 mg makes a big difference when you are talking tablespoons/teaspoons and on a heart healthy diet of 1500 mg a day.

How spicy do you like your food?

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