Lower Your Salt and Lift Your Flavor

Bonus: Want a healthy drink to wash down these tasty treats? Try this delicious Cranberry Mint Spritzer recipe from Chef Daniel.

Do you want to lower your sodium intake, but worry about having flavorless meals? Not to fret — removing excess salt from your diet is easy, as long as you're willing to spice up your recipes!

Use Mustard as a Replacement

Whether you go with Dijon, whole grain or just plain yellow, mustard is a perfect rub for almost any protein — chicken, fish, beef, you name it. It tastes good. When cooked, it'll give your meat a great salty flavor without adding more sodium to your meal.

Swap Canned Vegetables for Frozen

Canned vegetables are usually packed with salt to preserve them for longer periods. Frozen vegetables, for the most part, are cooked to a very high temperature before being quickly frozen for flavor and color conservation, so salt and preservatives aren't necessary. If you don't want the hassle of cooking fresh vegetables, frozen ones are a solid, quick option to include in your meals. They're great to include in smoothies, too.

Make Your Own Salad Dressing

The average salad dressing at a grocery store contains around 5,000 mg of sodium per serving. If you make your own dressing, you can reduce your sodium intake by up to 95 percent — depending on the vinegar and mustard you choose — while also saving money.

For a basic dressing, you need three ingredients — oil, vinegar and an optional teaspoon of mustard, which acts as a combining agent. Whisk three parts oil to one part vinegar. If you want more of that tangy flavor, reduce to two parts oil, one part vinegar.

Create a No-Salt Seasoning Mix

Here's my go-to seasoning mix that is great for adding flavor to any vegetables, fish, meat and poultry.

1 tablespoon thyme

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons oregano

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 teaspoon dried lemon peel