Roslyn’s Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Soup

This soup is filling, nutritious and is low in calories.  It includes a number of spices that are excellent for digestion with antioxidant properties. You can experiment with different amounts or omit spices that you aren’t fond of.  It also contains garlic and ginger which have many healthful qualities as well. If you aren’t as crazy about garlic as I am, try putting less.  Start your meal with a bowl of this soup or use it as a snack when you need a little something to fill you up.  This is a featured recipe in Roslyn's book, The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living.

1 sweet potato cubed
2 onions diced
1 tbsp light tasting olive oil
1 carton reduced-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
4 cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp curry
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (low sodium if possible)
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp light peanut butter

Boil the sweet potato till tender about 15 – 20 minutes.   Drain.  Mash potatoes, add the grated ginger and stir well.  Put aside.

In a large pot, heat the oil on medium high heat and fry the onions and garlic till softened. Add the curry, turmeric, pepper, cumin and coriander and stir for 1 minute.  Add the chicken broth and crushed tomatoes and stir.  Allow to boil.  Add sweet potato and ginger mixture and peanut butter.  Turn heat to low and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.  Freeze leftovers in individual serving size containers for quick additions to your lunches or for snacks.

Roslyn’s Mexican Style Bean Dip and Spread

Here is one or Roslyn's most popular recipes included in her book, The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living..  It's a great alternative to the usual cream based and cheese dips and spreads that are high in fat and loaded with calories.  This recipe has minimal calories and fat per tablespoon.   Keeps up to 5 days in fridge. 

1-1/2 cups canned beans (kidney or black beans) drained and rinsed 3 tbsp water
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp hot red pepper sauce (optional)
Pinch of ground cinnamon

Using a food processor or blender, blend the beans, water, tomato paste, lemon juice, cumin, oregano, red pepper sauce, and cinnamon for 1 minute or until smooth. Serve as an appetizer with tortilla chips, pita bread or cut up raw vegetables.  It’s a great dish to bring to your next potluck or BBQ as well. You can also use it as a sandwich spread.  Makes approximately 1-1/2 cups.

Roslyn's Low Fat Cinammon Lemon Peanut Butter Spread

In this recipe peanut butter is mixed with low fat cream cheese to reduce the amount of calories and fat per serving.  Try it on whole wheat toast for breakfast or on high fibre low fat crackers for a nutritious snack. If you love the rich flavour of peanut butter and the creamy texture of cream cheese you'll love this healthy combination.

4 tbsp Ultra Low Fat cream cheese
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/8 tsp cinammon
1/4 tsp grated lemon rind
Sliced apples, pears or other favourite fruit (optional)
Jam (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and blend till smooth.  Spread evenly on toast or crackers and top with fruit slices or jam.

Roslyn's Dijon Fruit Snacks/Appetizers

If you're looking for a quick and easy snack or different type of appetizer to serve your guests, try this recipe.

Low fat, high fibre crackers
Dijon mustard
Low fat cheese
Sliced apple or pear

Roslyn's Pear and Herb Pasta Toss

This recipe is quick and easy to prepare while very tasty, nutritous and low in fat and calories.  Serves 4. 

2-1/2 cups whole wheat pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 green pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
2 pears chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp dried dill weed
2 tsp basil
2 tbsp dried cranberries (optional)
Feta cheese crumbled (optional)

Cook pasta in boiling water till tender. 

While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  

Add garlic and peppers and cook till softened. 

Add pears, lemon juice, dill, basil and cranberries and cook till heated through.

Drain pasta and put into large bowl.

Add the sauce and toss till well mixed.

Serve 1-1/2 - 2 cups of mixed pasta toss per person.

Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese.

Roslyn’s Fast and Easy Beans and Couscous

This recipe can be used as a side dish or as a main course.   Because it combines a starch with beans it actually forms a complete protein. It can be served hot or cold. You can prepare a large amount ahead of time and then bring leftovers for your lunch the next day.  It is also a great snack in between meals.  It is highly nutritious, high in fibre, low in fat, low in calories and combines foods from 4 of the 6 main food groups including grain, vegetable, meat and healthy fat. The only things missing are the dairy and fruit. You can always top off the meal with some yogurt with fruit and presto you’ve covered all your food groups. It is also very easy and fast to prepare. You can experiment with different ingredients according to your tastes and also play with different spice combinations for a nice variety in flavours.  Instead of beans you can use diced cooked leftover chicken or turkey without skin.   You can even try it with canned tuna or salmon.

Roslyn’s Quick and Easy Chicken Recipes – Doesn’t get faster than this!

These recipes shouldn’t take you longer than 5 minutes to prepare and an hour to cook. I suggest making them in larger quantities so that you can freeze leftovers for quick lunches and dinners.   The beauty of these recipes is that you can use the chicken in different ways.  You can unfreeze leftovers and make a chicken salad or cut it up and mix it up with rice or add it to a soup or slice it up for a quick sandwich with mustard, lettuce and tomato on whole wheat bread.

Find more great healthy recipes including those listed below in the book that is changing lives one bite at a time - The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living, by Roslyn Franken.  ORDER NOW!

Do you have a great healthy recipe you'd like to share?  Please contact us today.

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