HEALTHY ITALIAN .....

Pizza is Italian, right Phil and friends?

Hubby and I are making our own pizza now. It has to be LOW SODIUM PIZZA. I can not have any more than 2000 mg of sodium per day. Because of the salt restriction, I can't eat our usual yummy pizza. I found a new one!! it has good reviews!!

It is called Namaste Foods, Sugar Free Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix, 16-Ounce Bags (Pack of 6)
http://www.amazon.com/Namaste-Foods-Sugar-Gluten-16-Ounce/dp/B000LKZA1I

I have CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE now. here is jest of it. I came down with severe FLU Virus end of Dec and thru Jan. the virus caused me to get pneumonia & significantly weakened my heart. i had blood work etc & dr said i had fluid in my lungs. next morning she called and said i had mild case of heart failure & she prescribed a water pill. today i had an ecocardiogram. a heart specialist read it and said my heart only pumping at 25%. tomorrow morning i'm being admitted to hospital for tests etc.
i was hospialized for 3 days and had 10 tests.

I PUT IN AN ORDER FOR IT ON Swansonon.com .... i get my vitamins etc there and came across it on their website.

Phil and friends .... have you ever made pizza before??? I need ideas for crust. i really don't want to do the yeast rising etc. and i think yeast has high sodium. i am just investigating all this food stuff. I have gotten pretty depressed over all this food restriction I can tell you..... I used to be healthy & now I'm not!!

Let me know okay?
Hugs from Pat

Hi Pat,

Pizza is a popular comfort food in our house as well. Unfortunately, one of the vices of delivered, frozen, or even semi-homemade pizzas can be sodium. It’s in the processed crust, cheese, and in the tomato sauce. Then, I started to buy semi-prepared crusts, thinking that the sodium content wasn’t too high, and then one day I looked at the nutrition facts panel, and realized that there are 3520 mg of sodium per pizza crust which equals 440 mg per serving, since there are 8 servings per bag.

Anyway, so yes, I do make a lot of pizza crusts these days, especially since I've been watching my Sodium so closely. Fortunately, as for the yeast that you mentioned, I don't usually worry too much about the sodium in the yeast, since one envelope of active dry yeast contains only 4 mgs of sodium. Or, sometimes I use Hain Foods Featherweight brand that I get from Healthy Heart Market. I sent you an Invitation to their Facebook page as well.

Meanwhile here's my favorite recipe for Low Sodium Pizza Dough, which I originally found at the Low Sodium Blog.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon active dry yeast

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 1/2 cup warm water

3 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (or white flour if you prefer)

1/2 teaspoon sodium-free baking powder

Olive oil for brushing on the crust.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the warm water; let sit for approximately 10 - 15 minutes to proof.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and the sodium-free baking powder together
4. Once the yeast has proofed; add the flour mixture, one cup at a time - gently knead until the dough becomes a consistent texture. If we've decided to add extra flavors/seasonings to the crust, we add them at this point and knead the seasonings into the dough
5. For deep-dish pizza: let the dough rise until it's roughly doubled in size (approx. 1 hour). Punch down the dough. Allow the dough to relax before rolling out (a minute or two).
6. Roll the dough out, and brush on the olive oil on the top and sides before layering on your choice of sauce/toppings*.
7. Bake the pizza for approximately 15 - 20 minutes, or until the cheese/crust have turned golden brown and the crust has been fully cooked. Yields 4 - 8 Inch Crusts

* List of Low Sodium Toppings/Sauces

- Arugula
- Basil and Low Sodium Basil Pesto
- Broccoli
- Chicken (precooked – barbequed, broiled, etc.)
- Cilantro
- Eggplant
- Garlic (roasted)
- Mint
- Mushrooms
- Mozzarella (low sodium)
- Peppers: sweet/bell, jalapeño, pasilla chiles, pepper flakes, etc
- Pineapple
- Sage
- Shallots
- Spinach
- Rosemary
- Tomatoes and Low Sodium Tomato Sauce
- Onions: sweet Maui, red, yellow, white (caramelized)
- Zucchini

Hope this helps my Friend. I can vouch for the extreme difficulty with maintaining a level of only 1,500 to 2000 milligrams per day of Sodium. Sometimes it seems impossible!

Have A Blessed Sunday My Friend,

Phil

P.S. Here's a BQ Pizza Kit with only 15mg of Sodium per 2 slices (1/4 of a Pizza) http://healthyheartmarket.com/bbqpizzakit.aspx and it's delicious.