“Low-Salt Cooking” by Linda Johnson Larsen, KNACK Make It Easy

WeightWatchers’ “From Pantry to Plate” Cookbook.

I chose to pick up a salad from the Harris Teeter Salad Bar before going to the book sale. I took the salad with me and ate it in the Library parking lot. I bought mostly cook books again, but did get one Donald Trump parody, “Dumpty” written by John Lithgow. Some very creative verse. Many of these cookbooks were only 25 cents each. A few were $1 each.

It does say ‘City’ doesn’t it? I’m sure that the first time I heard this catch phrase, I probably laughed at Swansboro being called a city. I remember far enough back that Swansboro was a town, not a city. But several years ago, Swansboro stopped being a quaint little town. I think it happened before the Walmart was opened and well before El Catrin or Bamboo House opened. So to argue that some new development should not be built because it would ruin the nature of “the Friendly City by the Sea,” seems ludricous to me.

I have a picture of me, when I was probably about six years old, and I am standing with my new bicycle on my back porch. Mom had bought this bike at the Western Auto in Swansboro. Now Swansboro was a town then. But now if you start at the Western Auto, which surprisingly is still in the same place, and head toward Hubert & Jacksonville along Hwy. 24, you are going to encounter a myriad of businesses, on both sides of the Friendly City by the Sea. You’ve got banks & two credit unions. You’ve got two new car dealerships. Two grocery stores and a bunch of restaurants, Dollar Tree, and that’s before you get to the Walmart.

I ate at the new Burger King the first day it was opened, many years ago now. And their Drive-Thru is located where our old house stood when I was growing up. I don’t think I thought of Swansboro not being a town any longer that Sunday, but as part of the mix now, it helps make Swansboro more of a city than it’s ever been. And finally finish up your tour of all those businesses when you get to the new Bojangles.

Look at all the housing from Google Maps. How many churches?

No. That bus has left a long time ago. We still may be friendly, but small town, I don’t think so.

I was looking to make a shrimp soup with some hot pepper sausage, but had none. I couldn’t tell if a frozen patty of meat was either ground beef or sausage. I think it was ground beef, and pairing that with shrimp is unusual for me, but this soup turned out wonderfully. I would make this again. *And currently am.

Ingredients

• 10 Medium shrimp (41-50 count per pound):
• 3 oz. Ground Beef (or Hot Pork Sausage)
• 3 Tbl. Diced Onion
• 1/3 Cup Red Lentils
• 1 Tbl. Pearled Barley
• 1 Cup Chicken Broth (homemade or GV brand)
• Water to thin soup if necessary
• 3 oz. Assorted Peppers (Aji Dulces, Brazil Starfish, Chilaca, Trinidad Perfume)
• 4 Tbl. Cilantro (chopped and/or raw baby spinach)
• 1 Campari Tomato (medium, diced)
• 2 Cloves Garlic (diced)
• 0.5 Tsp. Cumin (ground)
• 0.5 Tsp. Turmeric (ground)
• 0.5 Tsp. Italian Herbs
• 0.25 Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
• 0.25 Tsp. Fenugreek (ground)
• 0.25 Tsp. Garlic (powder)
• S&P
• 1 Tsp. Bacon Grease
• 0.5 oz. Tortilla Strips (for garnish)

ADDENDUM[]: I have tried adding various items to the above and they don’t make it any better, and maybe even make it not as good. Do not add the following:

• Carrots
• Pasta

[end]

Looks like this makes enough for two servings, but if it’s really good, then maybe a serving and a half.

I did this soup “on the fly” and it turned out really well, and then I had to go back and try to remember all the ingredients I put into it. *I had bought a bunch of peppers at Ronnie Moore’s Stand at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh on Saturday. They finally had all three of the “exotic” peppers I had enjoyed about 3 years ago: Brazilian Starfish, Trinidad Perfume and Biquinho Peppers. All three of these are basically mild and distinctly flavored peppers, but the Brazilian Starfish has sweet flesh, but hot seeds. *It almost looks like a curry, but it’s not. I guess though if you have cumin, turmeric and garlic all in, then you are going to get that appearance. *Odd, I am making this for at least the third time, but this time I had Hot Jamestown Sausage instead of ground beef. Odd? The soup pictured below has an almost milky look to the broth, but the one I am currently fixing has a darker, thinner broth. I double checked and I didn’t add any half-n-half to the original recipe. I just checked, and it may be the turmeric taking over and making the broth look orange. But, this soup is delicious again. Sort of an understated earthiness, with a little heat.

08/23/25: Yet again, and I get better at making it, and it is so delicious. I had some wonton strips and some blue corn tortilla chips and both were good. Some ciabatta bread would go well also. The pearled barley gives a chewiness. Added both cilantro and some fresh baby spinach.

09/08/25: Again, but with hot sausage, and didn’t add any spinach. I had a poblano so I roasted that in the oven and then chopped it up and put it in the broth. Not sure, but might work with garbanzo beans to provide more heft and maybe doesn’t need the shrimp. I think the secret to this soup is the turmeric. That provides the earthy bite for the soup. The little bit of pearled barley provides some chewiness. I also think the small amount of tomato is necessary.

Yesterday, Saturday, was the end of “Move In” Week for the NC State students so the Farmers Market was packed with people and few parking spaces. They were even parking on the unpaved areas.

After the Farmers Market I headed to Wegmans, but took the route I normally do, just not stopping in at Whole Foods (very unusual not to stop there). I think it was about the time I was turning on to Wake Forest Road, that I brushed my eye with my hand and some of the Capsaicin from the Brazillian Starfish pepper that I had eaten got in my left eye. Almost immediately it closed and I tried to make sure I didn’t close the other one too.

I went into Wegmans and as I did I noted that not only was my eye irritated, but my nose was beginning to run and be irritated. I walked my short look through the vegetable section and picked up a package of “Flavor Bombs.” I then went around to the bakery section, and first chose a Ciabatta Roll and put it in it’s own bag. Then walked down to the bagels and got a Blueberry Bagel and put it in a bag. Then on with a brief tour of the cheese counters, and around to where the Wegmans White American Cheese is located and got a package that was a little more than $3. I think the $3 range is what they shoot for in slicing and packing this cheese. I think it has better flavor than the Harris Teeter brand.

As I passed by an aisle display, I picked up one can of Garbanzo and one can of Cannellini Beans @ $.79. I didn’t need them, but it’s habit and they were only 79 cents a can. I walked down a couple of other aisles, but really wasn’t looking for anything and then headed over to the aisle that had the Zero Sugar Snapple Peach Tea. It’s only $2.99, I like the flavor, and the first time I bought it, I was looking for a cheap drink to have out in my car, for lunch as I made a sandwich from my Wegmans purchases. A little Dukes Mayo on one of their Ciabatta Rolls, then add some deli meat (Pastrami, Ham or Turkey) and then some of their White American Cheese. Just that makes a good sandwich.

As I was at the checkout, the clerk, a tall youngish black man, asked if everything was alright. I don’t think he meant anything about my appearance, but just the way he said it, and there was a man behind me in line, I said, “Well actually, if I hadn’t bought some peppers and then stuck my finger in my eye, I would be alright.” That gave me the opportunity to briefly share that I had bought some peppers at the Farmers Market, and then got the heat in one eye. The man behind me spoke up about not being able to get that off your hand, and I agreed that no matter how much you washed your hands some still stayed on them. As I started to walk off, I looked back and both he (the other customer) and I wished each other a “Have a good day.” *That was probably the most rewarding part of this visit to Wegmans. It’s nice to find friendly people to “play with” during recess. The World would be a better place if we all could get along as well.

I was watching a commercial and the announcer asks the question, “What’s the difference between opening a giant can of Whup Ass and a tiny can of Half Assed?” I was thinking about this phrase yesterday and couldn’t quite get what it was. Glad I just saw it again about 12:25 am.

As I started to browse through the book I soon realized that you could probably get the gist of the book by only reading the headings. That would reduce the number of pages of the book from about 190+ to perhaps 27 – 29 pp and you would still know all that you needed to know. And on a really positive side, I only paid 25¢ at the Friends of the Cumberland County Library today. *Maybe it was one of the books that cost $1.

Chapter 1: The Basics

• 10 The Many Faces of Diabetes
  • LIFESTYLE CHANGES REALLY WORK
    • WEIGHT LOSS + EXERCISE = 58% FEWER CASES OF DIABETES
    • SOME COUNTRIES HAVE IT WORSE
      • China #1 Today 114 Million Cases
      • India #1 2045 134 Million Cases
  • 9 OUT OF 10 Cases of Diabetes Could Be Prevented By
    • Keeping weight under control
    • Exercising more
    • Eating a healthy diet
    • Not smoking
  • SOME PEOPLE ARE MORE AT RISK
    • Native American/Alaskan Native
    • Black, non-Hispanic
    • Hispanic
    • White, non-Hispanic
  • WALKING CAN DO WONDERS
    • A brisk 30 minutes walk each day can reduce the risk of developing diabetes by 30%
• 12 Diabetes 101
• 20 How to Talk to Your Doctor
• 24 Don’t Do It Alone
• 28 The Secret to Dropping Pounds
  • STEP 1 Think About What’s in Your Way
    • What time of day do I usually go off my plan?
    • What is the biggest time-drain in eating heathfully?
    • How would you family and friends describe you?
    • Do emotions drive you to eat?
  • STEP 2 Pick One Thing to Work On
  • STEP 3 Outline Three Things You Can Do
  • STEP 4 Figure Out When You’ll Do Each
    • The simple act of planning can be a game changer for your success.

Chapter 2: Eating Strategies

• 36 “I Reversed My Diabetes With Diet”
• 40 Change Your Meal Mindset
• 44 Your Sweet Stuff Playbook
• 52 Your Body on Sugar
• 54 Tasty Food: No Sweets Needed
• 56 The Final Drinking Issue
  • How much sugar are you sipping?
• 58 A Better Breakfast
• 64 Make Over Your Snacks
• 68 Fall in Love With Vegetables
• 74 Make Your Meals Mindful
• 80 Pills to Pop
• 86 Your Easy Guide to Food Tracking

Chapter 3: How to Play

• 94 Why (You Think) You Don’t Like to Be Active
• 100 Getting a Workout Habit to Stick
• 106 Your Body on Exercise
• 108 Your No-Weights Strength Routine
• 114 Make Any Walk More Interesting
• 120 The Importance of Physical Activity

Chapter 4: Learn to Thrive

• 128 5 Things Diabetes Pros Wish You Knew
• 132 Improve Your Sleep
• 138 Your No-Burnout, Manage-it-All Plan
• 146 The Upside of a Diabetes Diagnosis

Chapter 5: Diabetes-Friendly re

• 152 Breakfast
  • Green Avocado Smoothie
  • Almond Pancakes with Raspberries and Cream
  • Egg Avocado Nest
  • Broccoli and Cheddar Mini Frittatas
  • Chocolate Coconut Smoothie Bowl
  • Shredded Eggs with Smoked Salmon
  • Blueberry Basil Smoothie
  • Egg Avocado Nest
• 160 Lunch
  • Chicken Caesar Salad with Arugula
  • Tuna Nicoise Salad
  • Shrimp Salad Stuffed Avocados
  • Beef and Cabbage Cups
  • Turkey Tostito Bowl
  • Spicy Chicken with Seared Avocados
  • Pao Thai Noodles
  • Grilled Salmon and Romaine Caesar Salad
• 170 Dinner
  • Mediterranean Lamb Chops
  • Garlic and Caper Pan-Seared Tilapia
  • Oven BBQ Shrimp
  • Southwestern Skillet Chicken with Seared Avocados
  • Cauliflower Mash with Toppings
  • Chicken Curry with Green Cauliflower Rice
  • Italian Wedding Soup
  • Beef Pho
• 180 Dessert
  • Vanilla Pudding with Cream and Mixed Berries
  • Chocolate Mousse
  • Easy Chocolate Truffles
  • Individual Strawberry Shortcake Triffles
  • Mini Brownie Bites
  • Coconut Custard with Toasted Coconut

I have used an AI to modify the below graph. The book generated it’s graph for a 1.5 Cup serving size.

1 teaspoon of granulated sugar is approximately 4 grams

The above chart caused me to rethink “Bill’s Drink Mix” which is something I have drank each day for perhaps a year. I have a 35 oz. glass carafe and I combine the following four drinks or drink flavors into one beverage: Orange Juice, Cranberry Juice, GV Flavor Packet: Pomegranate Lemon Aid, GV Flavor Packet Iced Tea.

When making this mixture I normally fill a tall glass carafe (maybe 32 oz.) about 2/3rds full of water and then add the contents of the two Walmart GV Flavor Packets. I then “eyeball” the orange and cranberry juice (sometimes adding more of one of them). In my review, I see that each flavor packet is supposed to be added to 16 oz. of water, so I’m probably adding both packets to less water than I should, and then adding the other juices. But if I added 4 oz. each of the cranberry & orange juices (which is not possible in this size carafe) I would still be adding a bunch of sugar.

AI – Gemini:

“Combining a cup of cranberry juice and a cup of orange juice would result in a total of:

52.7 grams of sugar, which is equal to about 13.2 teaspoons of sugar”

When I finally realized that I was using far less water for the two GV flavor packets, I started to look for an alternative container to mix everything up. I honestly can’t recall what the 52 oz. plastic jug had in it, and I just peeled off the front and back labels today at lunch time. My thought was that I needed 16 oz. of water for each flavor packet. That would be 32 oz. of water. That would leave me with 20 oz., maybe a little less, for the two fruit juices, cranberry and orange. If a cup is 8 oz. then I could add one cup each of orange and cranberry (low sugar) juice and still have about 4 oz. of space left.

I peeled the label off, and used a permanent marker to mark the 1 Cup and 2 Cup lines. I pour one juice up to the 1 Cup marker, and then the other juice up to the 2 Cup marker, and then fill the rest with water, and add my two flavor packets, shake and it’s ready.

• Pyridoxal 5-Phosphate
• Chromium Picolinate
• Zinc picolinate

I am taking a daily supplement, Centrum Silver MEN 50+, which includes both Zinc and Chromium.

Nuts 2 U

• Almonds
  • Low GI = 0 – 15
  • Magnesium
  • Manganese
  • Copper
  • Phosphorus
  • Calcium
  • Iron
  • Zinc
  • Potassium
• Brazil Nuts
  • Low GI = 10 – 20
• Macadamia Nuts
  • Low GI = 10
• Peanuts
  • Low GI = 12 -14
  • Manganese
  • Magnesium
  • Phosphorus
  • Zinc
  • Iron
  • Potassium
  • Calcium
  • Selenium
• Pecans
  • Low GI = 10
  • Copper
  • Manganese
  • Zinc
  • Magnesium
  • Potassium
  • Phosphorus
  • Iron
• Pistachios
  • Low GI = 15 – 28
  • Potassium
  • Magnesium
  • Phosphorus
  • Copper
  • Manganese
  • Zinc
  • Iron
  • Calcium
  • Selenium
• Walnuts
  • Low GI = 15
  • Copper
  • Manganese
  • Magnesium
  • Phosphorus
  • Zinc
  • Iron
  • Calcium
  • Potassium
  • Selenium

Nuts Against U

• Cashews
• Chestnuts
• Pine Nuts
• Flavored or Coated Nuts

My two latest purchases from Dollar Tree were a purple foam noodle and a Jot Magnetic Locker Box Pocket. I used the noodle (cut down to a shorter length) to store my Ball Jar bands (the part that holds the lid on). They stack snuggly on the tube and then go into a plastic storage shoebox.

When I saw the Jot I immediately realized, if the magnet was strong enough to hold the holder, and some of the things you put in the holder, that I could put it on my fridge and store some of the small kitchen tools that I often reach for in a drawer. I’ve put a small pair of scissors, a pen-type box cutter, vegetable peeler, a zester and a shredding tool to make shredding (chicken or veggies) easier in it. I stuck the magnet on the side of the fridge and it makes it easier to get these often used tools. *Unfortunately, the glue holding the magnet on the back of this holder, didn’t hold. After it fell off of the fridge twice, I took it off.

Recall that when I decided that I wanted to try sprouting beans, and saw a grease splatter guard in Ollie’s, I immediately realized that I could buy one at Dollar Tree for $1.25. So, I went to $T and bought one, and for “a then unknown reason” I also bought a pair of kitchen shears. I had no conscious reason for the scissors, but next day when all the scissors/shears I had would not cut the metal mesh of the splash guard, I looked down into the shopping bag and saw the new shears I had bought. I tried them and they had just enough teeth on their blade to catch the metal mesh and cut it easily. That really is one of those “God provides” moments. I had no reason to buy them the day before. *Ha! So I wanted to make some more of these sprouting top filters, but couldn’t find my McCormick shears, so I bought another pair. Just got to get a more organized approach to where I store things… not that I don’t already put many things in plastic shoe box storage boxes.

I think I managed to cut eight round mesh screens out of the one splash guard, and because I used the Ball Jar lid to trace the outline on the mesh, they fit snuggly in the band without being glued. I’ve made several sprouting jar lids and all have worked repeatedly, and successfully, and I saved about $3 per lid.

$T sells various food products and one of them is Libby’s Pineapple for $1.25.

I buy milk at LIDL and Half-n-Half somewhere else too. The Peperoncini has gone up in price and I haven’t made a Greek Salad in some time. *I was making them quite often for a while.

A Food Lion is the nearest grocery to where I live. I buy some vegetables there such as Gala apples, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans (fresh), sweet bell peppers, Campari tomatoes, and berries. I normally buy roasted pumpkin seeds and cashews (although I’ve stopped buy these at least for now.).

They have Greek Gods Yogurt, but not the Plain flavor. I have emailed them requesting that they carry the Plain flavor, but I haven’t checked to see if they have.