Cooking, Food & Wine Books

Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals You Can Make in Minutes

Lifetime Television

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 92 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT LOSING YOUR MIND!

Cook Yourself Thin is a healthy, delicious way to drop a dress size without all the gimmicks. The ladies of "Cook Yourself Thin," a new Lifetime reality show, offer 80 easy, accessible recipes in this companion cookbook that teaches readers how to cut calories without compromising taste.

For some of us, losing weight has always been a struggle. The challenge: figuring out how to cook healthy, low-fat foods that won't leave you hungry, bored, or running for a gallon of ice cream! Cook Yourself Thin shows how to cut calories, change diets, and improve health without sacrificing the foods we love.

Cook Yourself Thin is not a fad diet. It gives skinny alternatives to your cravings. You can't live without your chocolate cake or mac 'n' cheese? You don't have to! (See Deep Dark Chocolate Cake, page 197.) There's never enough time to cook? Cook Yourself Thin keeps it simple─with easy instructions and fun recipes you'll want to make again and again.

What are you waiting for? Cook Yourself Thin!

Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories

Lisa Lillien

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 182 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good stuff! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

We've enjoyed every recipe we've tried from this book. The only downside are all of the processed ingredients, but we eat plenty of fresh and and unprocessed ingredients most of the time. Now, when we want something like fettucine or that Mexican drive thru place, we can find a lower fat/lower points alternative that is just as tasty if not better!

Editorial Review:

Hungry Girl mania is sweeping the nation! The New York Times bestselling phenomenon delivers even more yum-tastic recipes!

An easy-to-use cookbook containing 200 Hungry Girl recipes all under 200 calories.

Recipes include:
* H-O-T Hot Boneless Buffalo Wings
*Sassy Southwestern Roll-Ups
*Cheesy-Good Cornbread Muffins
* Holy Moly Guacamole
* HG’s So Low Mein w/Chicken
* Cheeseburger Lettuce Cups
* Chocolate Chip Cookie Crisp Puddin’ Shake
* Swirls Gone Wild Cheesecake Brownies
* Personal Pretzel-Bottomed Ice Cream Pie!
And many more!

Told with Lisa’s signature wit and sassy style, these recipes are as fun to read as they are to make!

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

Michael Pollan

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Diets & Weight Loss -> Diets -> Weight Loss

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 259 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Amazon Significant Seven, January 2008: Food is the one thing that Americans hate to love and, as it turns out, love to hate. What we want to eat has been ousted by the notion of what we should eat, and it's at this nexus of hunger and hang-up that Michael Pollan poses his most salient question: where is the food in our food? What follows in In Defense of Food is a series of wonderfully clear and thoughtful answers that help us omnivores navigate the nutritional minefield that's come to typify our food culture. Many processed foods vie for a spot in our grocery baskets, claiming to lower cholesterol, weight, glucose levels, you name it. Yet Pollan shows that these convenient "healthy" alternatives to whole foods are appallingly inconvenient: our health has a nation has only deteriorated since we started exiling carbs, fats--even fruits--from our daily meals. His razor-sharp analysis of the American diet (as well as its architects and its detractors) offers an inspiring glimpse of what it would be like if we could (a la Humpty Dumpty) put our food back together again and reconsider what it means to eat well. In a season filled with rallying cries to lose weight and be healthy, Pollan's call to action—"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."--is a program I actually want to follow. --Anne Bartholomew

Eat This, Not That! Thousands of Simple Food Swaps that Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds--or More!

David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 611 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Eat what you want, when you want--and watch the pounds disappear!

Americans spend more than $400 billion a year eating out, and behind each burger, turkey sandwich, and ice cream sundae is a simple decision that could help you control your weight--and your life. The problem is, restaurant chains and food producers aren't interested in helping you make healthy choices. In fact, they invest $30 billion a year on advertising, much of it aimed at confusing eaters and disguising the fat and calorie counts of their products.

All of that has changed with EAT THIS, NOT THAT!. This book puts the entire food industry under the spotlight, and arms you with the savvy tricks and insider information it takes to eat well no matter where you are. With EAT THIS, NOT THAT! you're the expert in every eating situation, from the frozen food aisle to your favorite fast food joint to your local sports bar. You control your food universe--and lose the pounds you want--because, unlike every other customer, you'll know the smart choices to make--instantly!

EAT THIS, NOT THAT! is jam-packed with secrets the restaurant industry doesn't want you to know. For example: * Burger King doesn't want you to know that a BK Big Fish® Sandwich and fries have a whopping 1000 calories--nearly half your daily caloric intake! (Fish is usually healthy, but not this kind. Find out why with this book.) * Pizza Hut doesn't want you to know that a standard pizza in Italy contains 500 to 800 calories, but the same meal at Pizza Hut can top 2,100 calories! (You'd need to ride a stationary bike for more than three hours to burn off this mistake. Instead, eat all the pizza you want by making smart choices. EAT THIS, NOT THAT! shows you how.) * Macaroni Grill doesn't want you to know that a single serving of their Grilled Teriyaki Salmon has more than three times your daily allowance of sodium! (Cut your risk of high blood pressure by making smart choices at the same restaurant. You'll find them inside.)

If only you knew the industry secrets, you could eat at any of your favorite restaurants--or chow down on everything from the company vending machine to your kids' Halloween buckets--and know that every decision you made was smart, healthy, and the best possible choice for you. For example, did you know: * At McDonald's, an Egg McMuffin® is actually a healthy choice, with just 300 calories. (The Hotcakes pack more than double that amount!) * At Krispy Kreme, all you need to do is order the Very Berry Chiller instead of the Mocha Dream Chiller, and you'll save 500 calories! (Do that once a week and you'll drop more than 7 pounds this year--without trying!) * At Chipotle, you can cut 570 calories out of your Chicken Burrito just by ordering it as a bowl (without the tortilla) and asking them to hold the rice. (Same great taste, but with 94 fewer carb grams!) * Choosing a cinnamon roll at Au Bon Pain over Cinnabon will save you 463 calories and 20 grams of fat! * In the freezer section of your local supermarket, a turkey pot pie from Swanson's has 610 fewer calories than a turkey pot pie from Pepperidge Farms. * In the produce aisle, you'll get twice the vitamin C--and nine times as much vitamin A--simply by picking red bell peppers over green ones. (Who said eating healthy was difficult?)

And that's why EAT THIS, NOT THAT! is going to change everything. It's time to level the playing field. We're all tired of sneaky calories adding to our waistlines, and having to starve ourselves or spend hours on the treadmill trying to burn off the damage. Now--for the first time--you're in charge. With this simple illustrated guide to thousands of foods--along with the nutrition secrets that lead to fast and permanent weight loss--you'll make the smartest choice every time!

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Michael Pollan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 526 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Corn, Grass, & the Government 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Corn. Corn. Corn. Corn everywhere. After muddling through the first few chapters, the reader may arrive at the feeling that this book will focus entirely on corn. Mercifully, the author moves on to other mundane topics, like grass, cattle, and mushrooms.

In between these main topics, the author, through liberal use of unique phrasing and uncommon words, uses his personal experiences to elucidate how the modern meal arrives at your dinner table, courtesy of governmental regulations and the agricultural-industrial complex. One phrase, "cheapness and ignorance are mutually reinforcing," bespeaks the findings of his quest.

Pollan long-windely traces super market-bought, food products from the corn fields in Iowa, to the slaughtering feed lots of Kansas, to the grain elevators, and then to countless food products where corn is used. These applications run the gamut, such as cattle feed, various meats, food fillers, emulsifiers, nutraceuticals, and eventually into various forms of sweetened products. His view is that "corn sweetner is to the republic of fat what corn whiskey was to the alcoholic republic." His bottom line assessment of today's mass market, food industry is that it exposes the consumer to unhealthy foods, as well as increases the probability of someone succumbing to contaminated food.

The author also takes the "organic" food industry to task in that its use of mass production and transportation techniques barely elevates that industry in food quality above the agricultural-industrial complex." He abundantly illustrates the relative glibness of how the adjective, "organic," is used by organic food growers and sellers to prey on the naiveté of the organic food afficiendos.

For the best quality and healthiest foods, the book promotes the concept of buying only grass fed meat products. In short, one should buy fresh---buy in season---and buy locally, like from farmers' markets, farm co-ops, the farm itself, or your own backyard.

The author makes some great points in this treatise, and with some exceptions, takes you where the action is in the food industry. However, to obtain those insights, the reader has to muddle through an inordinate amount of Pollan masticating and digesting his thoughts, as well as his detailed digressions, like into hunting pigs and mushrooms.

Editorial Review:

A national bestseller that has changed the way readers view the ecology of eating, this revolutionary book by award winner Michael Pollan asks the seemingly simple question: What should we have for dinner? Tracing from source to table each of the food chains that sustain us— whether industrial or organic, alternative or processed—he develops a portrait of the American way of eating. The result is a sweeping, surprising exploration of the hungers that have shaped our evolution, and of the profound implications our food choices have for the health of our species and the future of our planet.

Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat

Martha Stewart Living Magazine

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Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Book Description
There’s no better authority on delectable desserts than Martha Stewart. She and her ingenious team of editors have consistently created the most delicious recipes, and their dedication to simple instructions, how-to photographs, and beautiful styling is unparalleled. And there’s no more in-demand dessert right now than cupcakes.

Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes also includes templates and clip art for decorative flourishes, an equipment glossary, and step-by-step instructions for basic and advanced decorating techniques, plus ideas for presenting and packaging the cupcakes in Martha’s trademark style.

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: Martha’s Meyer Lemon Cupcakes

The mild and sweet flavor of Meyer lemon is one of Martha’s favorites; these zest-flecked cupcakes are filled with Meyer lemon curd, which peeks out from the tops. The fruit, which is actually a lemon-orange hybrid, is generally available at specialty stores in winter and early spring. If you can’t find Meyer lemons, use regular lemons instead. The recipe yields a lot of cupcakes, so you may want to consider these for a bake sale or large gathering, such as a shower or special birthday celebration.

Cupcake Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 2 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice (from 1 to 2 Meyer lemons)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 7 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
• Lemon Curd (made with Meyer lemons; ingredients and directions below)

(Makes 42)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, zest, baking powder, and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in cream cheese. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, beating until just combined after each.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

4. To finish, dust cupcakes with confectioners’ sugar. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a coupler and a medium round tip (#8) with curd. Insert tip into top of each cupcake, and squeeze some curd below top to fill the inside, then lift the tip and squeeze more curd in a pool on top. Filled cupcakes can be kept at room temperature up to 1 hour (or refrigerated a few hours more) before serving.

Lemon Curd
A high proportion of lemon juice gives curd its intense flavor. As an acid, the juice also prevents the yolks from curdling when heated (unlike when making pastry cream, which requires the extra step of tempering). You can substitute an equal amount of juice from other citrus, such as lime, grapefruit, or blood orange.

Lemon Curd Ingredients

• 2 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature

(Makes about 2 cups)

Directions

1. Combine whole eggs and yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl, and cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).