Cooking with Flavor Without Adding Salt for My One Year Old

Hi M.! I used coarse sea salt in small amounts when my kids were babies. I also flavored their food with garlic powder, basil, onion powder, cinnamon, stevia (sugar substitute), lime juice (great for cooking chicken in!) and whatever herb sounded good to me at the time.

And....post what you like! That's what this site is for! I learned great things to feed my kids from women here!

I would use real garlic. I know what you mean, salt is so hard to avoid, it's even in the toasted o's I give my one year old. When I cook, I never add salt. But several things I make are cooked in olive oil with fresh chopped garlic. Sometimes I chop fresh basil in too. Sometimes mustard (natural, not yellow colored). She loves the herbs in all the A.'s Organic soups which I mix with pasta to stretch since they're expensive-but much easier than actually making lentils and chili and barley soups. Remember, babies dont' NEED the same flavors we like. It's not bland to him. I only give garlic because it's nutritious. If you use garlic powder, read the label and make sure it doesn't have salt and chemicals in it like some do. When in doubt, serve plain.

I buy as much as I can without salt cause I want to add my own to it. A little salt is good for you and I like to buy sea salt. I season my pasta with it and my sauces. You could also try using fresh garlic, I have a garlic press from Pampered Chef and it is one of my fav kitchen gadgets! You dont even have to peel the garlic! Throw it in the press, push it down and its minced! When cooking with garlic though put it in a stir fry towards the end cause if it burns it gets really bitter. You could also try some fresh herbs or other none salt spices. Mrs Dash is also really good for flavorful products without salt. You could also try to roast the turkey. Put celery, carrot, onion, garlic, lemon and rosemary all over the turkey little salt and pepper and bake it till its done! Some salt is good for you and your body needs some, just like getting in so many healthy oils.

A little salt is needed for adults – not sure what the requirements are for babies, but I'm guessing a little is probably good, too. But you're wise to avoid the heavily-salted prepared meats – they have the additional negative effect of spoiling an appreciation for simpler foods.

A trick that I use in my own low-sodium cooking is to add a very small sprinkle of salt to the finished, or nearly finished dish. That way the taste buds encounter the flavor right on the surface of the food, and a little goes a long way.

Lemon juice or powder applied very lightly is also fabulous for adding a somewhat similar "zip" to foods. My daughter and grandson may be odd, but they loved sour flavors from early ages, so lemon was always a big hit.

My kids screamed their heads off if I gave them anything too bland. Especially at a year old.
You can use lemon juice to flavor a lot of things.
A little bit of salt really isn't bad. I use course sea salt or kosher salt for flavoring. A little goes a long way. We eat garlic on everything, but it doesn't have the same flavor as salt.
Try lemon juice or lemon pepper. I can't say off hand which brand I buy, but it's not too peppery at all and has that little zip.
Baked turkey is good, juicy and flavorful.
You can use any drippings to make a gravy out of milk, flour and butter.

Best wishes.

I use Mrs. Dash. It is salt free and adds flavor. I will slow cook beef or chicken so it is super tender and set aside some for lo then make mine and hubbys dish seperate. If your lo likes sweet potatoes or plain potatoes cut them into chunks then make an olive oil, mrs. d, garlic and onion mixture and toss in potatoes (not peeled) and bake in 450* oven till lightly browned and tender. cut into bite size pieces I bet your lo will love the flavor. There is so much vits in potatoes they are great.

You didn't say why you didn't want to use salt, but it seems salt has gotten a bad rap. I'd gone to very low salt for years only to wonder why. I don't have high blood pressure which was the big claim for years and I've read recently that even then only about 5% of those with high blood, that salt is not a problem. One thing to keep in mind as well is that salt has iodine in it which is VERY important that we get enough. I wasn't. So I'm back to salting food. - Just something to consider. You'll find what is best for you.

Maybe a tiny bit of garlic powder and a little onion powder. You could also try powdered oregano and other single ingredient spices. My only guess is to go with powdered and steer clear of things like cinnamon. The reason I say no cinnamon for now is that I do know a few people allergic to it, though i don't think its at all common.

I would try Mrs. Dash. If I remember correctly it doesn't contain salt. You can also buy lower sodium lunch meat. Sara Lee makes this and it is really good.

A little bit of salt is needed in almost everyone's diet (a very tiny little bit). For turkey, sage is a great herb. Garlic goes well with just about anything Tarragon is a very mild flavor (I like it on fish and scrambled eggs) and might go well with turkey. A very light sprinkle of freshly ground pepper (along with garlic and sage) is not spicy, but adds a good flavor. Onion powder is popular, too. Parsley, basil, oregano, marjoram are all good flavors. Although some mustards can be spicy, a little Grey Poupon mixed with some honey is a great honey mustard sauce that will work well with a lot of meats.

The good thing about cooking up your own turkey is that, unlike the cold cuts, you can control the amount of salt that you put on the meat so that you have just enough to enhance the flavor and not so much that it is going to cause your taste buds to be out of whack. Why not flavor it with a sprinking of a little bit of sea salt and some ground pepper, and also add some crushed garlic (much better than garlic powder IMO since garlic is a superfood and helps with immunity), and some dried tarragon or rosemary. This is the combination that I use when I cook roasted chicken so I think it may work for turkey as well. Also, I always coat my meat with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil before I season it.

If you roast it this way, it should be flavorful but not a slab of salted meat like lunchmeats usually are. Hope this helps.

http://www.wholesometoddlerfood.com/

I never cut out salt altogether, I just asked for low sodium everything (like cold cuts) and when I cook myself I don't add salt instead I would stir fry with minced garlic. In fact we never add salt even when the recipe calls for it so I don't worry about the little bit of salt in processed foods that we eat.

I cook with a lot of chicken broth. I cook mostly all of my veggies in that instead of water. And I will use that for cooking meats too.

I think garlic powder, onion powder and paprika are OK too. I've always used those seasonings with both of my kiddos and they like it.

Depending on what you are cooking, I would suggest maybe adding a little Cider Vinegar, as it is healthy, and adds a hint of a sweet flavor, balanced with a slight zing from the vinegar. Other than that, many citric juices will work, but I would stay away from bottled citric juices, for a couple of reasons.

Reason 1) Citric is acidic, and you don't want your baby to ingest chemicals from the plastic (if it is in glass, that is another story).

Reason 2) The closer to nature you can get, the healthier it is.

Reason 2 also applies to other options you might try, such as garlic, onion, or any herbs or spices you may choose to use.

i was worried about this also, but I have found that my daughter eats such a small amount of table food - usually just a few bites that there was no way she was gettting too much salt. You could try poutry seasoning or italian seasoning.