Relevant History, As Always!
I know when you think of me you likely don’t think of wow that Nichole, what an awesome cook she is, because this blog isn’t a cooking blog or anything like that.. I know that at one point in life I knew so little about making anything that wasn’t in the microwave that I swore I could burn water- this was a comment to my ex boyfriend and my still best friend Jason who is in fact now a chef, so it is even more funny when you think about it. Of course, back then I had no clue that he would end up being a chef. I can remember hanging out with him between classes at his house and he would be making hot pockets so…:)
I have evolved over the years thankfully- I just kind of threw myself into things and tried to teach myself- and my mom actually wrote several things down in a book for me! I need to actually find that book because I know there are a few things in there that I would love to make that I haven’t just yet. She also had cleaning information and all kinda little tid bits in it and then she gave it to me when I went away to college!
Hello There, Broth Friend of Mine!
Something I have always been a fan of whether I was sick or not is broth. Now, I have a delicate taste for broth as far as eating it straight out when I am sick verses when I cook with it. When I am just eating it , it has to be premium and not a store brand. Now , as far as cooking goes I have in the past been known to use an off brand -but I still prefer something a little bit better than that. I have in the past used Swanson broths A LOT so when they offered me up some of their two newest sets of broths to review I couldn’t say no, especially with how much broth I use with cooking in my instant pot and in general like mashed potatoes (because it really is rare that I would have milk in the house unless David is on one of his Cereal binges,and even then we would likely be out! 🙂
I was lucky enough to receive products from their two newest lines of products: Swanson Bottled Broth which is available in chicken and natural goodness chicken, and Swanson Unsalted broth which available in beef and chicken varieties.
Oh, The ways I Use Broth!
Now like I mentioned before I use broth in about anything you can think of- from heating stuff up, to cooking stuffing and potatoes and in my canned veggies and all of that good stuff. I use it a lot for soup bases as well. Actually using it in mashed potatoes and for reheating purposes is something I Started doing back in the early part of last year at the suggestion of my mom. I mean who knew? surely not me! It just randomly came up one day in talking with her- I was like wow, have i been missing out.
Then she was telling me what did I think she used in her mashed potatoes and what not? I was like I don’t know MAGIC? lol.I guess I should have guessed something always makes her food different than mine but well- she is my mom and .. it is always going to be better than mine you know? Even if I do use scrummy broth 🙂
I also do tend to get Nauseous more than the average person for some reason… so when I do get like that you’ll usually find me sitting around with broth and ginger ale (warm) and crackers.
Another recent use of broth that has became common place to me is using it in my instant pot 7 in 1 pressure cooker that I got last fall. Of course you all know how much I adore it by now! To bring it to pressure when you are pressure cooking things you have to use at least one cup of liquid. Now, a lot of people just use water but I find that to be BORING- I have resorted to using broth each time with mine except with my hard boiled eggs and when I make meat loaf (because I make it in a silicone pan and there is no need to use more than water that way) I just think it is a better choice personally!
Swanson Bottled Broth:
So lets get back to these 2 new lines of broths! First up we have the swanson bottled broth in the two chicken varieties! now the awesome thing about these being available in a bottle are that they have this awesome easy measure strip so you can just pour what you need and also know how much is left! That is really handy to me for when I don’t want to have to dirty up a measuring cup 🙂
The major difference in the Swanson Bottled Broth in Chicken Broth Vs Swanson Bottled Broth in Natural Goodness chicken broth is the sodium content. We are talking about 860mg vs 570 in a 1 cup serving! That is a pretty awesome difference, and I know that sometimes I will try to work in things that are low sodium and when it comes to broth you aren’t going to really notice in something like soup you know what I mean? I know that some people just don’t find information like that fascinating or relevant but I sure do! Believe me, I will get more into why I am concerned about these things in the next section!
Swanson Unsalted Broth
Swanson Unsalted Broth – now what is better than this? I know you are probably like ew broth with no salt ? seriously? but listen to me- sometimes salt can get overpowering in certain dishes – especially with other things that you might use that are in a recipe. Then you are dealing with all that sodium all over again! This way you can just bring out the flavor of your dishes and lets the natural flavor come through, instead of a salt overload that can sometimes happen!
The no salt variety is available in both beef and chicken! For an example of the reduction in sodium in the regular chicken broth that was in the bottle there was 860 mg of sodium. ON the unsalted chicken? 45mg! WOW!!!
I know that david has had issues with high blood pressure, and that I tend to be a salt feign in general. I think people should be responsible for adding the salt to their own food. I know that we use sea salt but.. I can also remember one time being at my great grandmas and she had made my favorite things- one of which was fried potatoes- which YES IS DIFFERENT THAN FRENCH FRIES if you didn’t know already!
Anyways I forgot how much she LOVED to salt food. ..and I re-salted and..lets put it this way…it was almost to the point of BURN!
SO this is why i don’t salt when cooking and think everyone should salt their own food- just leave it up to the person who is eating it you know? so this way everyone is in control of how much sodium /salt and in this case even more so! I just like being more healthy when I cook when I can!
Summing It Up!
I am VERY MUCH SO enjoying cooking with these broths! I wish I had a bit more beef- but in general- I don’t have a a lot of beef to make things with .. and while i’m on a similar subject what is the deal with when there is a really chicken recipe it asks for beef broth and if it is beef it asks for chicken? I think it is totally weird and when i make chicken i use chicken and when it is beef i use beef- I just wonder why it is is usually like that! I can’t wait to keep using Swanson Broths in ALL varieties in the future!
