You can make Canadian bacon without nitrates, but it will not retain that light pinkish color like you see in cured ham. Today, there are meat products that have no added nitrites and can still be made easily. In the corned beef end, there are red and gray cured briskets. The gray cure is simply salt and spices. Speaking of spices, sage and rosemary goes well with pork. I too have to deal wit diabetes and all the complications it creates. Lately is kidney issues, huigh potassium levels, high cholesterol levels, enemia, heart problems, vision issues (cateracts), and still more nasty things down the road. Taking 20 different meds a day isn't fun, nor is trying to enjoy a simple bowl of low fat ice cream, or sugar free foods that do contain starch that can also raise blood sugars.

Grilled Tomato Sauce From Steven Raichlen Like soup, tomato sauce is one of the dishes you're least likely to think of grilling. But there is a powerful reason to try this sauce. Beyond the mere novelty factor, grilling imparts a gutsy smoke flavor to the sauce and heightens the natural sweetness of the vegetables. Don't take just my word for it. For thousands of years, Mexicans have grilled tomatoes, onions and peppers to make rich-tasting salsas. I have adapted the technique to make an exceptionally flavorful tomato sauce. Serve the sauce over grilled polenta, with any simple grilled fish, or with just about any cooked pasta. Makes about 3 1/2 cups. 5 lucious, ripe red tomatoes 2 - 2 1/4 pounds total, cut in half crosswise, and stem ends removed 1 medium size white onion, peeled and cut into quarters 1 rib celery 4 cloves garlic, peeled and skewered on a wooden toothpick or small bamboo skewer 3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp. oregano 1/2 tsp. hot pepper flakes 1 bay leaf 6 fresh basil leaves coarse salt (Kosher or Sea salt) freshly ground black pepper 1/4 to 3/4 cup chicken stock, vegetable stock or water Cook the tomatoes, onions, celery and garlic in greased and preheated grill (George Foreman grill) until nicely browned. You may need to cook the vegetables in more than one batch. Transfer the grilled vegetables and let cool. Finely chop the onions, celery and garlic by hand or in a food processor. If using a food processor, run machine in spurts. Heat olive oil in large non-reactive sauce pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, celery and garlic, oregano, hot pepper flakes and bay leaf and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Coarsely puree tomatoes and juices with the basil in a food processor. Add the tomato mixture to the sauce pan, with the vegetables. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then let sauce simmer gently until thick and richly flavored 8-10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. The sauce should be thick but pourable. If it is too thick, add a little stock or water. Remove and discard the bay leaf. The sauce can be refrigerated, covered up to 4 days. Or frozen for up to 2 months. Let the sauce come to room temperature then reheat it in a non-reactive sauce pan over medium heat, stirring often.

I find spice blends helpful in cooking low sodium foods for my husband. I like Tony Cachere's Salt Free blend and Penzey's Mural of Flavor along with its Adobo, the Singapore, and the Jerk. I also like Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Salt Free Seasoning. My favorite Chili powder blend is Grandma's, but it's becoming harder & harder for me to find. And I'm another who likes Sun curry powder. I found my favorite and most used blends quite by accident and in an unexpected store. I discovered several really good salt-free blends at Cost Plus World Market. I've been using their Chicago Chop & Steak blend for grilled meats. The Thai Spice blend is great sprinkled on Asian inspired dishes. I've used the Greek Mediterranean blend on roasted asparagus and chicken. I like it a lot better than Cavender's Salt Free Greek seasoning or Penzey's Salt Free Lamb seasoning. I've used the Garlic Pepper blend on all kinds of things, including last week's rib roast. The Cal Mex & the Fajitas blends are great for Mexican inspired dishes. The Jerk Chicken & Fish blend is tasty too. And the Key Lime blend has a spicy & tangy citrus kick to it. To tell the truth, I wasn't expecting much, but I'm really impressed with the flavors.

A friend gave me a boxed set of four Penzeys spice mixes--the Tuscan Sunset, Sunny Spain, Mural of Flavor, and Bavarian. I must say I didn't like the Sunny Spain--too heavy on the lemon peel for my taste and also had some kind of chemical aftertaste, so I dunno, maybe I got a bad jar. I mixed it with some garlic salt seasoning someone gave me in order to use it up. I loved the Tuscan Sunset and of course the Mural of Flavor. I still have the Bavarian seasoning. It's not bad, but mostly a meat/pork or potatoes thing, neither of which we eat very much. Maybe I should give that to my mom, since that's about all my dad does eat, other than bread! I used to use the Penzeys pasta blend as my go-to Italian mix but right now I'm just using McCormick that we got at the grocery store. And I forgot about Penzeys sandwich sprinkle. That was my go-to "dash" seasoning until I started getting Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb. Funny, I seemed to use the sandwich sprinkle on everything BUT sandwiches! I don't order from Penzeys as much anymore, they have switched to a new small glass jar, which is great for the environment since it is recyclable, but it doesn't fit in my spice rack! So I save the old plastic jars and just buy the bulk spices to fill them up again. I might be willing to do another order one of these days though, when I start running out of my favorites. Oh Jessy I forgot to mention that Tajin seasoning you gave me, it is the bomb! It's my secret chili weapon! Would probably be good in Thai and Indian too, to give it a kick. And I do use and love the Aleppo pepper. I like Aleppo and cayenne for my chili heat. I can't get into the chipotle, it's taking me forever to use up my little jar. Same with the hot hungarian paprika, it is too acrid for my taste. A friend gifted me with some mild paprika direct from her trip to Hungary, that is great! Who'd a thunk it, paprika with flavor! I'm going to have to look into some of the jarred curries for Thai and Indian. A friend gave me a jar of thai red curry paste, it's not suppoed to be firey hot, we'll see. I'm trying to pare down my condiment shelf in the fridge, it is over the top! I have some cilantro chutney I got but it is super hot so it is taking me forever to use that up too, since I just use a tiny dab in things. Same goes for the jar of black bean sauce. And I seem to have an inordinate amount of caramel sauce, but that's another story . . .