Now Eat This!: 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods, All Under 350 Calories: A Cookbook

Great book lot of great advice and low calorie recipes

Just received the book and tried the Mac and Cheese and Fried Chicken recipes. The Fried Chicken was Oh My God good and for under 300 calories???? Can this be real? I usually don't like Mac and Cheese...made it for the wife and I really liked it. I am looking forward to trying all the recipes in here!

I have to be honest and say I am not a cook. I am devoted to my takeout menus. There is a reason I laminate them and keep them in a folder. I have tried losing weight eating. I ate low fat, no taste food and it only left me feeling miserable and desiring meat dishes and sweet desserts. My doctor suggested that I get healthy (translation: lose some weight or your heart, kidneys and other organs are going to quit on you.) He compared my body to a toxic waste dump and said the only thing that would help me was a return to eating real food I prepared myself. Enter Rocco's cookbook. Rocco was a guest chef on the Biggest Loser. After that show, he was encouraged and inspired to write a cookbook with real food and recipes that anyone could eat and still lose weight. This book includes all my favorite comfort foods that I tend to eat over and over again at fast food joints, order for takeout and at local shopping malls and restaurants. I am adding one new recipe a week to my meal plan. Here are a few of my favorites and how many calories and fat grams Rocco reduced in each recipe: 1. Chicken Alfredo (made with whole wheat linguine) cut out 920 calories and 65 grams of fat. 2. Chicken Cordon Bleu cut out a 1,000 calories and 75 grams of fat. 3. Filet Mignon Béarnaise with Roasted Cauliflower -cut out over 400 calories 33 grams of fat 4. Loaded Baked Potato Skins - cut out 450 calories and 33 grams of fat These recipes use fresh ingredients, sometimes cooking spray (you could substitute olive or canola oil), and sometimes natural sweeteners like stevia, etc. The taste is incredible. The portions for some recipes may seem small, but I offer this suggestion. Turn off your TV and computer. Sit and eat at your dining room table without distraction. Savor every bite. Not only will you enjoy your food more, you will actually taste it, and realize when you are full a lot faster. Bon Appétit!

I think everyone can relate to the desire to eat fatty, unhealthy, sugar filled foods! Why? Because they taste sooo good! But, in the long run, these foods will ruin our bodies and prove to be very dangerously unhealthy. That's why I decided to purchase Rocco's new book. If we can eat the same foods we love, get the same great taste, and ingest half the calories, why would we not? So far I have cooked a few recipes from Rocco's 'Now Eat This' and I am so impressed. Fried chicken actually TASTES like fried chicken! But, the best surprise of the book are the brownies. I have always had a sweet tooth, and these brownies taste so good that I might actually pick them over the regular. Knowing I am ingesting only 53 calories per serving, and eating NO sugar and NO flour, makes these brownies unreal. I can eat as many as I want and not feel guilty. I am looking forward to making the other desserts as well as the burger and enchiladas. Thank you, Rocco. This book will keep me looking slim, healthy, and feeling great!

I just spent about an hour reviewing Now Eat This! 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods, All Under 350 Calories, by celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito. As a former chef and avid cook, my passion is cooking healthy and delicious meals. So, it was with interest that I read this book, as I wanted to see how Rocco brought flavor--not calories--to America's favorite comfort foods. The trick to cooking flavorful, healthy and low calories meals is using--no surprise--flavorful, health and low calorie ingredients and understanding how to combine them to make a dish that satisfies. Using such ingredients is how Rocco achieves this. He uses aromatic herbs and spices that are packed with flavor, for example. Another great substitute that Rocco uses for butter, sour cream or cream is Greek yogurt--yum! If you haven't tried Greek yogurt, you're in for a treat. I substitute it all the time in dishes and don't miss a thing. Rocco was inspired to write this book after being a guest cook on The Biggest Loser. He was asked to turn traditional comfort foods--laden with fat and calories--into low calorie, tasty and healthy dishes. The book itself is eye candy--bright, beautiful colors and lots of sexy photos of the dishes. To keep the calories at a minimum, Rocco uses cooking spray. Cooking spray is great for faux frying and in some other instances, but I would use a bit of extra virgin olive oil in some of the other recipes. Olive oil is a "good fat" and is good for you. Sure, it adds calories, but it also adds flavor and gives the diner the feeling of satiation and satisfaction. (I can't help but believe that some of these meals are so light in calories that they would lead to hunger an hour or so later later and a possible unhealthy binge! For instance, his macaroni ann cheese recipe calls for 4 ounces of pasta for 4 servings!I do not know any pasta lover who could eat 1 ounce of pasta and be satisfied...) That said, these are terrific recipes if you are trying to lose weight! Instead of the same old boring diet dishes, this book could keep you on track because of the variety in the dishes. If you just want healthy and tasty meals, this cookbook is still fine. You can always eat a bigger portion or add some olive oil! :) Overall, I like this cookbook and have earmarked several recipes to try very soon. Author, HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT & SELL YOUR HOME FAST