You never know what kind of treasures are waiting for you around the corner.  As I was shopping in Shoppers Drug Mart for my all natural toothpaste last week I also stumbled upon a great new recipe book on their discounted book rack.

The book is called 100-Calorie Snack Cookbook by Sally Sampson.  It’s filled with hundreds of recipes, accompanied with colourful pictures and serving ideas and has a breakdown of the calories in fats, carbohydrates, protein, sodium and dietary fibre.  The book is further organized into different chapters form soups, to protein snacks, to tasty healthy deserts.

It is a well establish fact that small frequent meals throughout the day and incorporating snacks into your diet between meals is the key to stabilizing blood sugar, reducing stress, enhancing energy and losing weight!

For those that want to start eating healthier or for those that are looking for new and exciting snack options this is the perfect book for you!

Say good-bye 100 Calorie Thinsations and all other processed low calorie, nutrient void foods and say hello to a library of tasty, healthy, low glycemic snack options.  It’s one thing to reduce calories lose weight, but if you are doing it by filling your diet with low calorie highly processed foods stripped of nutrients and pumped with artificial this and chemical you may lose weight but do you gain health – NO.

If losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight is important to you check out this book.  Here a few of my favourite recipes from the book so far – Enjoy!

Ps. you can pick yourself up at a copy at Amazon by clicking this link: 100-Calorie Snack Cookbook

Peanut Butter- Banana-Apple Bites (1 serving)

• 2 thin slices of apples
• 2 teaspoons peanut butter (can substitute with almond or other nut butters)
• ¼ banana, sliced
• ½ teaspoon honey
• 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 14 blueberries (optional)

Place the apple slices on a flat surface and spread the peanut butter.  Top with the banana.  Sprinkle with honey, cinnamon, and if desired add blueberries.

Beet Chips (4 servings)

• 8 beets, boiled or roasted until soft, peel and slice as think as possible
• 1 teaspoon salt (if you’re reducing salt in your diet, use less salt or try low sodium alternatives such as Herbamare spice by A.vogel)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Place beets, salt and oil in a large bowl and toss until beets are well coated.  Pour the beets in a single layer onto the baking sheets, transfer to the oven, and bake until they are beginning to brown on the edges and are just crisp, about 40 minutes.  Set aside to cool and then transfer to a jar or for up to 3 days. If they become moist, simply pop them in a 300 F oven for about 5 minutes.

Vegetable Cottage Cheese (1 serving)

• ½ cup nonfat cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped English cucumber
• 1 tbsp chopped tomato
• 1 tbsp chopped carrot
• 1 tbsp chopped chive
• ½ tbsp chopped red ions
• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Place everything in a mixing bowl and gently combine.  Cover and refrigerate for at least ½ hours and up to 4 hours.

Berry Fro-Yo (4 servings)

• 2 ½ cups strawberries, sliced and frozen
• 2 cups blueberries, frozen
• ½ cup plus 2 tbsp frozen plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Place frozen berries in the food processor.  Process until smooth.  Gradually add the yogurt and lemon juice and process until completely incorporated.  Serve immediately or cover and freeze in individual portions for up to 2 weeks.  If you freeze the portions, let them sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before eating.