Skip the Salt, Shake on the Herbs, and Feel Your Heart Do a Happy Dance

It’s no news flash that reducing your salt intake can offer many health benefits, especially for your heart.  But how many people want to give up the full-bodied flavor that salt (sometimes) brings out in foods?  Nobody.

Good news!  Passing up the salt shaker doesn’t mean you have to endure a bland food diet that’s usually reserved for post-stomach flu recovery.

The American Heart Association (AHA) created a delicious alternative to sodium-loaded table salt.  Its rich flavor tantalizes your taste buds while enriching the flavor of the foods it graces.  Make up a batch of this AHA Herb Mix and it may convert you after one use.

AHA HERB MIX

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper*

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 1/4 tsp. each dried thyme, savory, mace, onion powder, and black pepper

1 1/2 tsp. each dried basil, parsley, and sage

Place all in blender jar and whiz up until mix is powdered.  Store in glass shaker jar with tight-fitting lid.  Use with eggs, steamed veggies, rice, pasta, on salad greens and cheese toasties…let your imagination run wild!

*If you don’t have all of the named ingredients, substitute others that you like or omit those that just don’t strike your fancy.  Adjusting the combination of herbs changes the flavor up and makes each batch unique.

I suggest buying the dried herbs from a bulk section in the grocery store.  This allows you to purchase the quantities you want and need instead of an entire jar of something you’ll never use again because you don’t like it.  Foods in the bulk section tend to be fresher than those packaged and sold in the central aisles of the store.

Get out your dancing shoes and celebrate the goodness of herbs!  Your heart thanks you.