DAVITA RECIPE COOKBOOKS
Today's Kidney Diet
Davita.com offers a wide inventory of kidney friendly cookbooks you can download, available in PDF format. I recommend you download onto your computer any cookbooks you are interested in since I will not be including the preparation instructions.
This site is reviewing the Davita recipes only. I was going to include cost in the review, but with grocery prices in such a volatile state, not to mention the cost can vary significantly from region to region, providing my cost will not help you much in your local area.
Click on the Davita Recipe Cookbooks link above to go directly to their cookbook inventory section. Each review will include the Davita cookbook title so you can easily find the recipe. This Davita recipe review site is a work in progress, so check back for recent reviews. The images on each recipe review are my actual dishes unless otherwise noted. |  |
 |  Individual Frittatas
Davita Cookbook: Cooking on a Budget
These Frittatas are a delicous breakfast treat. This is another dish I prepared some of the ingredients the night before and stored in the fridge, ready to bake the next morning. Ingredients include hash brown potatoes, cooked lean ham, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, onion, eggs, low-fat milk, black pepper, and shredded low-fat cheddar cheese.
This is not a recipe to take on if you're on the go in the morning, even with preparing the ingredients the night before. It takes a fair amount of attention to prepare them for baking. The extra Frittatas I stored in freezer bags for later. Once thawed and heated, not quite as good as freshly baked, nothing can beat that, but they are still really good. |
 | Grilled Salmon Sandwiches
with Chipotle Mayonnaise
Davita Cookbook: Sandwiches, Burgers, and Pizza
I challenge you to find a salmon sandwich better than this. I have yet to compile my top ten favorite Davita recipes because I still have hundreds to explore, but this recipe would likely be in the running. Unfortunately, the nutrients values are higher than a lot of other Davita recipes I've tried. So I cut these servings in half and wrapped them in foil to reheat in the toaster oven later.
Ingredients include extra-virgin olive oil, lime juice, salt-free lemon-pepper seasoning, salmon fillets, sourdough bread, chipotle mayonnaise, arugula, and roasted red peppers. Nutrient values - , Sodium: 384 mg, Potassium: 640 mg, and Phosphorus: 268 mg. |
 | Buffalo Chicken Dip
Davita Cookbook: Slow Cooker Recipes
A delicious and spicy chicken dip that also features excellent nutrient values. Preparation requires both stove top and oven or slow cooker. This recipe calls for up to four teaspoons of Tabasco sauce. Add one teaspoon and mix, then taste. Continue until it meets the heat you desire. For myself, I used all four teaspoons. It definitely had some bite, but not overpowering.
Ingredients include cream cheese, bottled roasted red peppers, reduced-fat sour cream, Tabasco hot pepper sauce, and cooked shredded chicken. Nutrient values - Sodium: 66 mg, Potassium: 81 mg, and Phosphorus: 47 mg. |
 | Sliders Dijon
Davita Cookbook: Brunch Lovers Recipes
Every bit as good as White Castle Sliders! The challenge is eating just one per day. Before going on a kidney friendly diet, I could eat a handful of these. I froze the remaining servings for later without the mustard and pickle so I can reheat them in the toaster oven.
Ingredients are real simple - large onion, Hawaiian sweet dinner rolls, ground beef, canola oil, Dijon mustard, and bread & butter pickle chips. The nutrient values are not super low, but they are not exactly real high either - Sodium: 180 mg, Potassium: 227 mg, and Phosphorus: 143 mg. |
 | Red, White and Blue Pie
Davita Cookbook:
Healthy Summertime Recipes
A rich and creamy pie that is really easy to make. Once it has chilled a good while, the cream mixture firms up nicely. The Davita image showed the blueberries and raspberries all placed at the edge of the crust, but I chose to distribute the fruit evenly so each bite includes a taste of blueberry and/or raspberry.
Ingredients include light cream cheese, low-sugar red raspberry preserves, Reddi-whip fat-free dairy whipped topping, graham cracker crust 9" size, fresh blueberries, and fresh raspberries. Nutrient values - Sodium: 220 mg, Potassium: 162 mg, and Phosphorus: 91 mg. |
 | Davita Nutrient Data
I frequently use Davita's Food Analyzer tool to look up individual ingredient's nutrient values. This handy tool searches for brand names, vegetables, fruits, snacks, drinks, soups and more. This is especially helpful in tailoring my monthly needs and limitations regarding sodium, potassium and phosphorus values.
The problem is I found myself looking up an ingredient repeatedly because I would soon forget the numbers. So I recorded the numbers in lists so I can reference quickly later rather than doing a search again. You can see my list by clicking here: Davita Nutrient Data. So far I have collected nutrient data for fruits, vegetables, and meats. I add to this list as I accumulate more data, so check back for updates. |
 | Ingredient Preparation & Organization
My kitchen was lacking the essentials to take on the vast number of Davita recipes. With a fair amount of monetary investment, time, and research, I upgraded my kitchen to take on many of the Davita recipes on any given day. My kitchen tools and inventory is now at a level that I need only to pick up one or two ingredients such as fresh produce and the rest is waiting in my pantry or freezer.
I took notes on my steps to stocking my kitchen properly, such as spice inventory, processing tools, and more. You can explore those notes by clicking here: Ingredient Preparation & Organization. |
 | Exploring Recipes Beyond Davita
While Davita offers a vast number of recipes, I have tried a few other recipes that are not designed to fit a kidney friendly diet. Keep in mind, even a few of the Davita recipes call for ingredients that are not kidney friendly, albeit usually very small amounts.
As I made more and more Davita recipes, I picked up the pattern on the common ingredients Davita dieticians tend to focus on. With the help of Davita's Food Analyzer tool and using good judgment, I have explored recipes beyond Davita that produces similar nutrient values not all that different from kidney friendly recipes.
The more experience I gained making Davita recipes, the more I learned the volume amount (usually very small) of an ingredient that is not kidney friendly that even the Davita cookbooks include. |
Substitutes is the key word here when making recipes beyond Davita. If I come across an ingredient that is not kidney friendly, I use judgment in determining:
1) Is this the only ingredient in the given recipe that is not kidney friendly or are there a number of other ingredients in that recipe that are also not kidney friendly?
If the recipe contains a number of other ingredients that are not kidney friendly, I skip over that recipe and move on to another to explore. If it's the only ingredient not kidney friendly, I refer to question 2 or 3.
2) Can I reduce that ingredient down to acceptable nutrient values?
If I can reduce the ingredient down to acceptable nutrient values without significantly impacting the recipe, I do so. If it's too much of an impact, I refer to question 3.
3) Can I completely omit that ingredient or use a kidney friendly substitute without significantly affecting the recipe?
I proceed with making the recipe if omitting it or using a substitute does not make a significant impact. Using Google search is a quick way to find substitutes for just about any ingredient. I then use Davita's Food Analyzer Tool to see if the substitute options are more kidney friendly. If neither option is viable, I move on to another recipe to explore.
While Davita's Food Analyzer Tool provide nutrient values for a vast number of food items, there's also quite a few they do not have the complete values. If I can't find it online from other sources (a food item's manufacturer sometimes have detailed nutrient values displayed on their official websites), I side with caution and skip over that substitute suggestion or skip that recipe entirely. |
|
