Little Reviews: Scrumptious Sandwiches, Salads and Snacks {The Fitness Gourmet}

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Making fun, healthy and easy to prepare snacks and meals is a challenge I face every day. It’s so easy to fall into a processed, prepared food rut, especially when sports schedules and school activities are ramping up. That’s why I was eager to read Scrumptious Sandwiches, Salads and Snacks by Patricia Greenberg and Gabriella Grunfeld. I was hoping to find new recipes for healthy meals that can be made quickly and easily with ingredients I already have on hand, and I found that this book delivers delicious dishes the entire family will love.

Although simple food combinations are very popular with my family, sometimes we crave something, well, a little more sophisticated or flavorful. That’s where this book comes in handy with recipes that use simple (and natural) ingredients layered with flavors, textures and appealing food group combinations. The dishes are colorful, delicious and nutritious. I could easily make something new every day from this book.

I’ve found including my kids in the meal process is a great way to interest them in trying new and healthy foods. The attractive, colorful photos in this book made it easy for my daughter to select a few recipes that piqued her interest. Each recipe also features a easy to read nutrition label, just like the ones on food purchased at the store. This makes it easy to find recipes that are calorie dense, specific nutrient-rich or lighter in calories, depending on your meal planning goals. To be honest, there are so many great recipes in this book, it was very hard to choose just a few to test. We selected a salad, a savory snack and sweet snack to test at our home.

We started with Double Deviled Eggs, a savory snack, which is a healthy rift on the classic deviled eggs recipe with the addition of avocado and lemon. Feedback was positive from the household food committee, and the Double Deviled Eggs lasted less than 10 minutes on the table. The freshly squeezed lemon juice adds a delightful citrus flavor profile to this snack.

The Black Beans, Corn and Red Pepper Salad looked and sounded delicious, and I am happy to report it exceeded our expectations taste-wise, too. This salad was eaten as an appetizer, a side dish with grilled chicken, and directly out of the bowl as an after-school snack. Need I say more? This version is dressed with fresh lime juice and olive oil, and we mixed extra chopped cilantro into the salad. I love how the recipes in this book are very easy to adapt to any family’s tastes and dietary requirements.

Frozen Chocolate Banana Bites were selected as the sweet snack. Even my teenage son joined in the fun to make these treats, and there were barely any left for me to taste. We improvised a bit with this recipe and added a pinch of colored sprinkles (and perhaps a little extra chocolate, too) to the final product, as well as omitted the suggested nut toppings.

Scrumptious Sandwiches, Salads and Snacks by Patricia Greenberg and Gabriella Grunfeld has earned the seal of approval in my home. I’m already planning to make several of the sandwiches and salads for lunches for myself, and I have plenty of new ideas for after-school snacks, weekend lunches and even breakfasts after perusing this book. With 50 recipes curated by a chef, nutritionist and mom (and her teenage daughter), I know that this book full of healthy, nutritious and family-tested recipes will be used often at my house.

Scrumptious Sandwiches, Salads and Snacks
Writtenby Patricia Greenberg and Gabriella Grunfeld
Published by The Fitness Gourmet, 2017
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Disclosure: The writer received a complimentary copy of the book in order to facilitate the review. All thoughts and opinions are her own and no further compensation was received. Some links provided in this story are affiliate links. Little Lake County will earn a portion of the purchases made through these links to support the site. Thank you for clicking!