Easy
Vegetable Beef Soup
Making this soup with roast beef you’ve saved from another meal (maybe Easy Roast Beef, page 170) cuts down on both prep time and cooking time. Even people who think they don’t like leftovers will enjoy this soup, which gets lots of flavor from fresh produce.
Curried Split Pea Soup
Curry powder and ground cumin add an unexpected flair to traditional split pea soup.
Chicken, Vegetable, and Barley Soup
A garden of vegetables teams up with barley and lean chicken to make this “souper” nutritious. The cooking water from the chicken serves as a flavorful low-salt base for the soup.
Lemon-Dill Chicken and Rice Soup with Carrots and Asparagus
Fresh asparagus and dill turn this soup into a flavorful celebration of spring.
Pancakes
Whether you serve these pancakes for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, they’ll soon become a family favorite.
Oatmeal-Banana Waffles with Strawberry Sauce
With this recipe in your repertoire, you’ll be tempted to start a weekend tradition of serving waffles for a special breakfast treat. Double the recipe when you have guests or so you’ll have waffles to freeze for quick breakfasts later on.
Turkey Vegetable Soup
Here’s a good way to use up some of that leftover holiday turkey!
New England Fish Chowder with Thyme
This creamy chowder boasts chunks of potato and your favorite mild white fish. For a little crunch, top it with crumbled no-salt-added pretzels.
Minestrone
Enjoy a bowl of this soup for a light lunch, or pair it with a dark green or spinach salad or Balsamic-Marinated Vegetables (page 78) for a heartier meal.
Overnight “Apple Pie” Oatmeal
Assemble the ingredients for this oatmeal in the slow cooker before you go to sleep, and a heart-healthy breakfast reminiscent of apple pie will await you in the morning. Unless you have a large family, you’ll even have enough left over for another breakfast later in the week.
Soup to Go
Here’s how to have a quick cup of soup that won’t eat up your sodium limit for the day. Keep this mixture on hand at work for an easy lunch or take it on a camping trip—in fact, you can use it wherever boiling water is available.
Paradise Smoothies
A combination of mango, cantaloupe, and banana creates a taste of paradise with just the swirling of the blender.
Chocolate Cake
A wonderfully moist cake (partly because of baby-food prunes), it’s perfect all on its own—no icing required!
Gazpacho
When the dog days of summer arrive, turn to this no-cook chilled soup. It is low in sodium and calories, contains no fat, and is quite refreshing.
Thai Sweet-Potato Soup
A touch of spicy curry paste makes this sweet-potato soup sing. It is an obvious choice to serve with Asian food, but don’t overlook it for other meals as well. Try the soup with roasted turkey for Thanksgiving, serve it tonight with Pork Chops with Herb Rub (page 196), or warm up a fall picnic by sharing some of it from an insulated container.
Fresh Basil, Spinach, and Tomato Soup
Just a few minutes of standing time brings out the delectable flavor of the fresh basil in this easy-to-prepare soup.
Corn and Green Chile Soup
Ready in no time, this chunky and spicy soup requires very little cleanup.
Carrot Cake
This hefty snack cake gives you a double dose of carrots—such a scrumptious way to eat your vegetables!
Creamy Carrot Soup
Beautiful in color, this soup is creamy without using dairy products. The crunchy pumpkin seeds provide a nice texture contrast. Serve the soup hot in the winter and chilled in the summer.
Gingerbread
Adding fresh apple gives this gingerbread a deep sweetness.