I have a secret...

Ready for it?!

...

I don't add any salt to my food.

:::GASP::: I know.

Don't get me wrong, I used to, but after being told by the doctor that I had high blood pressure, she strongly recommended that I reduce my sodium intake. Salt is like a religion to me but let's be honest, there is an unnecessary amount of sodium in a lot of foods out there. Everything contains sodium: bread, eggs, milk, everything! It is so difficult to find low sodium/sodium-free foods. Per the doctor's orders, I tried staying away from sodium for a couple of weeks and by the end, I felt so much better. Not only did I lose a little weight, but I didn't feel blah and sluggish. Since then, I have completely changed my way of cooking. I believe that if you use good ingredients and sprinkle in a dash of creativity, you will not miss it at all.

I know my culinary teachers would faint at the mere thought of not adding any salt to their food, but I am not one to jump on the bandwagon. I think it's time to throw a new and refreshing idea out there! Cooking with no added salt doesn't mean completely staying away from salty foods, but limit their use and get creative. This takes me back to my Girl Scout days. If I remember correctly, one of the Girl Scout commandments is: "use your resources wisely."

To be honest, the thing I was having the hardest time not adding salt to was my guacamole. Guacamole NEEDS that salty bite to break up the buttery avocado. Therefore, I had the idea of adding blue cheese crumbles to it resulting in the perfect marriage. Why am I so obsessed with marrying things? I must have been a Jewish grandmother in my past life.

I did a little research and 1/4 tsp of Morton's Kosher Salt contains about 480 mg of sodium. Realistically, you're going to use more than that when making guacamole; probably closer to 1 tbsp. That's over 1900 mg of sodium! Substitute the salt with a 1/4 cup (roughly 2 oz) of blue cheese crumbles and you have just drastically cut your salt intake. I use the Wisconsin blue cheese crumbles from Sprout's and each oz contains 390 mg of sodium.

This guacamole recipe is very close to my heart. It has been there with me through many a taco night. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Guacamole with Roasted Corn and Blue Cheese Crumbles

Yield 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 ear of corn

1 tomato

1/2 an onion

10-12 sprigs of cilantro

5 ripe Hass avocados

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup of blue cheese crumbles*

Red pepper flakes TT (optional)

Directions

Start out by removing the kernels from the cob and throwing them in a skillet. Pan-roast the kernels on medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring 2-3 times max. Remove from stove top and set aside to cool.

Clean and dice your tomato. Don't forget to remove the seeds. Toss diced tomatoes in a large bowl.

Dice your onion. I'm not one for the taste of raw onions so I like to soften the intensity of the bite by submerging my diced onions in some water for a few minutes (if you like the taste of raw onions, throw them in with your tomato as is). After about 10 minutes, strain them and toss them in your bowl.

Twist the sprigs of cilantro tightly and rough chop them. You don't want to chop the cilantro too finely or else it will come out looking like mush. Cut everything, including the stems and put them in the bowl.

Slice the avocados in half, remove the seed and with a large spoon, scoop out the avocado and put them in the bowl.

Squeeze lemon juice over everything: tomatoes, onions, cilantro and avocados.

At the point, you can either take a hand blender and blend everything together or you can mash it with a potato masher. I like my guacamole to be both chunky and smooth, but you can choose to have whatever texture you want. Once you have reached your desired consistency, fold in the corn and blue cheese crumbles*. For some heat, you can add in some red pepper flakes TT.

*If you are not a fan of blue cheese, you can substitute shredded Monterrey Jack, Oaxaca, Cotija cheese or just omit the cheese altogether... but that's just crazy talk!

Serve with tortilla chips, veggies, warm tortillas... the guacabilities are endless!

1st post and a 1st birthday!

My friend Jen gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Maya. That was a year ago and the little nugget of joy just turned one! I was given the honor of being hired for her birthday and was asked to create four dozen cupcakes (flavors of MY choosing) and her smash cake! For those of you that don’t know what a smash cake is, it is a miniature cake made for the child to… well, smash!

From the second I was hired for said gig, I had been texting Jen non-stop about different flavors we should go with. She had only one request: the smash cake MUST be in the shape of a turtle. I had a total Steel Magnolias moment and wondered how morbid it would be to make the cake out of red velvet to creep the kids out as Maya hacked and ate away at it. But of course, I would NEVER do such a thing! I opted for rainbow colors instead!

Being a September birthday party outdoors, of course I was worried about the heat and whether or not the buttercream would hold up. I thought about making the smash cake from marshmallow fondant but I didn't want Maya to have trouble eating it, so I decided an all-buttercream cake was the way to go! After a couple of emotional breakdowns, I'm happy to say the cake was a complete success. Maya happily ripped the leg off and nibbled away! Poor turtle didn't stand a chance.

Now, for the cupcakes. After much deliberation, we decided on the following flavors: red velvet with cream cheese frosting, chocolate with Callebaut chocolate buttercream, banana with caramel buttercream and vanilla with vanilla bean buttercream... and sprinkles!

Tips for the perfect buttercream!

A tbsp or 2 of cream goes a long way. Whip it in at the end if your buttercream is too sweet, too stiff, or you just want to make it fluffy and creamy. It will work wonders and will spread/pipe nicely.

Sift your powdered sugar! If not, it will clump up quite easily. Once you have lumps in your buttercream, you will have a very difficult time trying to get them out.

1 to 2 sticks of unsalted butter should be the norm for buttercream. I have come across some recipes which call for up to a pound (4 sticks) of butter. In my opinion, it ends up tasting like whipped butter.

Stay away from buttercream "fillers" like shortening. It will produce a heavy and greasy buttercream. Keep it simple.

If you are going to be on a time crunch, you can make your buttercream ahead of time and store it in the fridge but don't forget to rewhip it before putting it to use.