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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Great book! Oct 14, 2009
I took this book out of the library and ended up buying it because I had marked so many of the recipes for use. Great ideas in book. I have enjoyed what I have cooked from book.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 This book is AMAZING! Sep 30, 2009
This morning, I had chocolate peanut butter pudding for breakfast. I just finished eating a bacon cheeseburger with parmesan seasoned fries for lunch. And I'm planning on having pasta with meat sauce for dinner, followed by a little chocolate molten lava-style cake. How many calories does all this add up to? 1,211! And this isn't nothing but "diet" and "low-fat" and "fat-free" fake food either! That should give you an idea of what this cookbook is like.
I never heard of Devin Alexander before getting this book, but now I'm very thankful for her, because she's done the work of figuring out how to make lower-fat, lower-calorie, lower-sodium versions of all kinds of dishes that you don't think of as "diet food." If you're frustrated by dieting because you just can't deny yourself things like chocolate, burgers, sausage, cheese, potatoes, rice, or just food with some FAT in it, it's Devin to the rescue!
Her recipes make it easy by telling you exactly what's in each serving in terms of calories, protein, carbs, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, fiber and sodium. All you have to do is figure out how many calories you need to take in each day to lose weight based on your current weight and activity level, plan your menus using Devin's recipes, get into some regular exercise, and you can do this without feeling deprived! Or if you're on a different kind of diet--say, watching your cholesterol or sodium intake--you can adjust your menus to reflect that.
Some caveats: 1. If you're like me, you will need to buy a lot of new groceries. Plan your menus to use up certain ingredients at the same time so you have everything you need for, say, a week of recipes and can thus shop for less stuff at once. 2. It will not always be cheaper to buy reduced-fat this and low-fat that; be prepared. But rest assured that Devin tells you when to use reduced-fat/sodium products vs. the fat/sodium-free products to ensure the texture and flavor of the dishes stays good. This is NOT food that sounds and looks good but tastes inedible! 3. You may not like every dish, but some of them will blow your mind (try the Chocolate-Not-Only-In-Your-Dreams Cake, for example), so try them! Chances are you will love most of them. Maybe even your picky kids will!
Some people think Devin's recipes use too much sugar. I don't, but if that bothers you, use Splenda where she calls for white sugar. Some of the sugar she uses is brown or raw, and I don't overall find it too much. I mean, she's watching the carbs so she can't add too much of it, really.
In short, this cookbook is a godsend for those who can't stick to a diet that requires them to eat "rabbit food" or give up all fat and/or carbs, and who could only tolerate that kind of stuff if it were loaded up with fatty dressing and cheese (and they know they're just kidding themselves if they do that). Get this book, cook from it, and enjoy what you like instead of feeling like you're in Food Prison!
Great food even the kids will eat Aug 25, 2009
I use this cookbook so often I just leave it sitting out under the glass of my cookbook holder (a great stainless steel and glass holder from Williams Sonoma). The recipes are really good, and they're more than regular recipes with lower or non-fat substitutions. Alexander has clearly gone to a lot of trouble to create the same tastes and feel as full-fat recipes.
There's nothing your average cook can't handle in this cookbook. The recipes often call for a lot of ingredients, and sometimes some obscure ones. For example, I'd never used chipotle peppers in adobo or panko bread crumbs, but the beginning of the book has a helpful section explaining where to find the items in your grocery store. That's part of why I like this cookbook so much - some of the recipes are quite different from what we normally serve in our home so it's an adventure using it.
Surprisingly, my picky eater children like the recipes too. First time I made Chicken Enchilasagna I had the hot dogs and buns out...my kids aren't fans of really spicy, saucy foods (pasta with butter is a favorite with them). They all liked it, and two of them had seconds, so if that's not a recommendation I don't know what is.
My favorite recipe: the mediterranean layer dip. Or maybe the "Chocolate not-only-in-your-dreams" cake, a flourless cake with only 200 calories, keeps and reheats well, and tastes like it has 5x the calories.
What can I say? It's a great cookbook not only filled with excellent recipes but you'll pick up some tips about modifying recipes yourself too. Definitely a great value.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 not so pleased Aug 18, 2009
Too many microwaved eggs! Doesn't she know how to do them on a stove!
Diet was not clear.......The information was very disorganized.
not happy at all with this cook book.(plus not a lot of vegetable recipes)
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
not what i expected Aug 14, 2009
I just recieved this cookbook today, and although the recipes look like they will all taste good, I'm very dissapointed. I thought I was getting a book that would show me how to subsitute fatty or high calorie ingredients with creative alternatives. Instead, it's basically the same recipes that you would normally cook except they all use "light" or "low fat", like cheese, butter and milk. Well of course! I was doing that already! It seems like just a very common sense concept. I was stuck between buying this, or "Cook Yourself Thin", and now I know which would have been a better choice. Like I said, the recipes look good, but unless you are an extremley poor eater, it won't be of much use to you as a health cookbook.
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