Low Salt Carrot and Coriander Soup

Another recipe for leftovers. I made this with some carrots which were looking a bit tired in the bottom of the fridge, and some droopy coriander left over from a curry I made last week. Use olive oil/yoghurt instead of butter/cream to make it a bit healthier.

I made some croutons to go with this with some stale bread (it goes off quickly with no salt in it) by cutting it into cubes, drizzling in olive oil and putting it in a hot oven for 8 minutes (turn halfway through, and season with black pepper at the end).

Serves 2

Ingredients
25g unsalted butter
4 carrots, peeled and diced
400ml low sodium chicken stock (from a stock cube, or ideally home made)
1 large handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Red chilli to taste (I used about 1tsp from one of those jars of pre-prepared stuff)
110ml double cream
black pepper

Method
1. Sauté the carrot for 5-6 minutes in the butter to soften.
2. Slowly add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes.
3. Add the coriander, chilli and cream and season to taste.
4. Blend the soup with a hand blender until smooth.
5. Return the soup to the saucepan and over a low heat stir to heat through.
6. Season and serve

Low Salt Corn Chowder

We've just been given a kitchen bin from the Council for recycling kitchen scraps, and I have been shocked at the amount of food we throw away, so I'm trying to get into the habit of using up odds and ends instead of throwing them away. I had almost a whole tin of sweetcorn left over from doing something for the kids today, so quickly knocked up one portion of this soup with it and put it in the freezer. The spices mean you don't notice the lack of salt. It's adapted from a Lesley Waters recipe - for a healthier version you can use olive oil and yoghurt instead of butter and cream.

Serves 2

Ingredients
Half an onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
25g butter
12 baby sweetcorn, chopped, or 2 small tins of sweetcorn, rinsed of salt
4 cherry tomatoes, halved
300ml low sodium vegetable stock
Half a baking-sized potato, diced
Splash white wine
1 tsp cumin
Seeds from 2 cardamom pods
1 tsp turmeric
150ml cream

Method
1. In a large saucepan sauté the onion and garlic in the butter (adding the garlic for the last minute only)
2. Add the corn and potato and cook for 1 minute
3. Add the spices and stir
4. Add the wine and stock and cook for 5 minutes
5. Add the cream and cook for a further 5 minutes, adding the tomatoes
6. Whizz up with a hand blender, leaving plenty of chunks
7. Season to taste with black pepper

Sandwich Fillings

Some ideas for low sodium sandwich fillings, to be updated on an irregular basis. My husband loves salad, but not in sarnies, so there is an unashamed meat bias here. My top tips are to make sure your Sunday roast is big enough to leave leftovers, and to buy fillets to cook and slice yourself - those "delicatessen" meats in the supermarket are chock full of salt.

- Pork & apple sauce

- Chicken breast with chilli and lime (marinade in chilli and lime juice, then char grill - slice the chicken before or after, depending how much crispy edge you like)

- Emmental and sliced tomato or chutney (much lower in sodium than pickle)

- Roast beef and mustard (make your own mustard - the powder has no sodium in it compared to ready-made mustard which has 3g per 100g)

- Lamb and mint sauce

Bento - Laptop Lunches

Since we started on this low-sodium thing, I have been trying (and, with a couple of excusable exceptions, managing), to make Mr C a low sodium sandwich for his lunch every day. However, as there are only so many things you can put into a sarnie, it has started to get a little boring for him. I'm also keen to wean our eldest off her salty sandwiches which she has at the childminder's three afternoons a week, and so have invested in bento lunchboxes.

After the Muji website let us down (our order disappeared down a black hole), and a search of eBay turned up some cute boxes which were perhaps not entirely appropriate for a grown man working at an investment bank (although I found it hard to resist this lion), I stumbled across Laptop Lunches, from California, stocked by Becky and Lolo in the UK. I've bought a pink one for the little one, and a sensible manly navy blue one for the husband.

Although Japanese food is often salty (all that soy sauce...), I have lots of other ideas, and our daughter enjoyed plain rice, chicken, carrot sticks and hummous, and some fruit today. The boxes come with a little book of ideas and recipes which, although a little American, is already providing inspiration.

Pizza Stones

La vegan pizza del diavolo
Originally uploaded by sonicwalker

I got a pizza stone a few weeks and haven't regretted it. It's basically a big slab of stone-like stuff that goes into your oven, and gives you a crispy base like a proper pizza oven. Ours was £10 which isn't bad considering how much you would spend on one takeaway pizza. It also doesn't need washing up which is a bonus - you just scrape it clean.

Of course, the other great thing about pizzas is you can put anything you find in the fridge on them, so they're great for using up leftovers. The only tip I'd give is to use the little mozzarella balls, as they won't have a watery middle like the large ones.

The one I got comes with a metal stand and a pizza slice - I think it's this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Pizza-Stone-12in/dp/B000SM0AS2

We have used it lots for pizza, but also for naan bread too. I need a few more tries until I get the naan right (I'm trying to do it without sodium bicarb) - fresh homemade bread is always delicious, even when it goes a bit wrong, but the recipe could do with more work before I post it here!