Simple Cooking

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.

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.

A combination of mango, cantaloupe, and banana creates a taste of paradise with just the swirling of the blender.

A wonderfully moist cake (partly because of baby-food prunes), it’s perfect all on its own—no icing required!

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.

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.

Just a few minutes of standing time brings out the delectable flavor of the fresh basil in this easy-to-prepare soup.

Ready in no time, this chunky and spicy soup requires very little cleanup.

This hefty snack cake gives you a double dose of carrots—such a scrumptious way to eat your vegetables!

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.

Adding fresh apple gives this gingerbread a deep sweetness.

You’ll know the holidays have arrived when the spicy aroma of gingerbread cookies fills your home!

Pair this smooth, cumin-rich soup with unsalted baked corn tortilla strips and a deep green salad for a simple, hearty meal.

A rustic whole-wheat biscuit topping complements the lightly sweetened fruit of this homey dessert.

For a flavor change, replace beef or chicken broth with this tasty, so-easy-to-make broth. If you have extra broth, see the Cook’s Tip on Freezing Broth (page 51).

Beef broth is good “as is” and for adding flavor to many dishes. Roasting the bones adds both flavor and color to the broth. Keep some broth in the freezer so you’ll have it whenever you need it (see Cook’s Tip on Freezing Broth, page 51).

With this big batch of broth, you’ll have plenty to serve as a first course and to freeze for later use in a variety of recipes. Save the cooked chicken for Chicken Salad (page 91) or Chicken, Barley, and Spinach Casserole (page 160).

Sliced almonds add crunch to the crumbles topping plump slices of sweet, firm-fleshed nectarines in this fragrant dessert.

Spoon sliced peaches or nectarines and caramel topping over these extra-creamy flans for a special treat.

Get hooked on this crunchy, low-salt snack mix and use it to replace high-sodium potato chips.