Some good german cooking!

Publix Supermarkets have a nifty program called Apron's Simple Meals. They create meals, have someone prepare them right in the store and hand out samples and recipe cards. Everything needed to prepare the dishes is available nearby. I have always just assumed from looking over the ingredients that it was all too high in sodium for me to use any of the meals until recently when I was tempted by the wonderful smells of the recipe for that day - Pork Schnitzel, German Potato Salad and Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage. I took one of the small plates that held samples of all three dishes and it was so delicious. I picked up the recipe card and yes, there were ingredients that were out of the question for the Feedin' Mama dinner table. But with a few adjustments I thought I could make it work. The schnitzel was easy, I just left out the salt completely and used Progresso Panko bread crumbs (plain). Some bread crumbs are high in sodium so you have to watch that. The potato salad wasn't hard either, I left out the bacon and used 1/4 packet of Goya ham flavoring and used more than a pinch of pepper. Instead of canned potatoes I sliced fresh and parboiled them. That just left the sweet & sour cabbage. Instead of prepared sweet & sour cabbage from a jar I sliced a half a head of red cabbage instead and added about 1/4 cup of cider vinegar and 1/4 cup of sugar in the bowl before cooking it.

The results were fantastic. It wasn't that much extra work and it sure was worth it. Mama loved it and I did too. I was so pleased that the next time I was in Publix I picked up some more recipe cards with meals that will lend themselves to a little adaptation and I'm starting a new binder of meal ideas and recipes. I have to say it one more time - a low sodium diet does NOT have to be bland and boring. Do some experimenting and enjoy a good meal.