Fast Food Fix: 75+ Amazing Recipe Makeovers of Your Fast Food Restaurant Favorites [Paperback]

Devin Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 18, 2006

Indulge your fast food cravings without guilt--with recipes that deliver the same great taste without putting your health at risk or inches on your hips

Americans all want to "eat healthy," but when they yearn for the fast foods they love, what they want most are the fabulous flavors that have made them favorites in the first place. That's what makes this collection of recipe makeovers so exceptional. Los Angeles food writer, chef, and caterer Devin Alexander specializes in low-fat, high-flavor, scrumptious cuisine. In Fast Food Fix, she shows the reader how to transform 75 fast food favorites into healthier versions that are even more flavorful than the originals. Fast Food Fix:
• demystifies the special seasonings and secret sauces of choice fast foods--showing how to reproduce their flavors quickly and easily from common ingredients
• teaches how to lighten many dishes with new cooking techniques, such as the oven-frying method that yields incredibly crunchy popcorn chicken with 35 fewer fat grams than the original version from KFC
• reveals simplified cooking methods that save time in the kitchen, proving that "fast food" can still be fast even when prepared at home

For Americans hooked on fast food flavors, these recipe makeovers by a chef with an impressive repertoire of culinary tricks will quickly become a kitchen staple.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Is it possible to make fries that taste just like McDonald's with no trans-fatty-acids? Yes, but it's not easy. Blessed with an obsessive, analytical mind and cursed with a craving for Burger King, Alexander offers healthier (but not necessarily healthy) substitutes for brand name burgers, milkshakes, fries and pizza. In true fast food fashion, recipes are single servings, but some are generous enough to serve two. Though substitutions are included (use a whole wheat for a white bun or turkey for pork), Alexander reminds readers the goal is to "cut fat and calories...without affecting taste." This takes precision: though the Popeye's Cajun Battered Fries are still spicy and delicious and relatively straight-forward to make, the recipe for Hardee's 1/3-lb Western Bacon Thickburger has steps for breading onion strings, frying bacon, forming and grilling the burger, preparing the bun and making barbeque sauce. Luckily, her directions are clear and her comments are funny-in the KFC Popcorn Chicken recipe she tells of dissecting 38 popcorn pieces and finding chicken in only 20, then explains how to make the recipe "drive-though" style by preparing ahead and freezing batches. And the fabled McDonald's French Fries? They aren't quite the same and they're a pain to recreate, but they taste great. Fast food addicts with moderate kitchen savvy may find themselves hooked.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

DEVIN ALEXANDER is the owner and executive chef of Café Renée Catering in Los Angeles. Having lost 55 pounds herself (and kept it off), she specializes in delicious, flavorful, low-fat cuisine. Devin has made numerous television appearances and has written more than 60 food-related articles for popular magazines. She lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (April 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594863105
• ISBN-13: 978-1594863103
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.6 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Media Personality, Healthy Comfort Food Chef, Weight Loss Expert, and New York Times Bestselling Author, Devin Alexander, is the Host of the "America's Chefs on Tour" which will be airing on National Public Broadcasting stations beginning this November 1st. Devin's unique approach to healthy cooking and her motivational personal story have landed her appearances on more weight loss and fitness shows than any other food expert or nutritionist in America. Having maintained her 70-pound weight loss for over 16 years, she lives and eats her message: you don't have to deprive yourself to be fit and healthy.

Devin has shared her secrets for unbelievably decadent yet healthy foods as the host of "Healthy Decadence" on Discovery Health and Fit Tv from 2007-2011 and through frequent appearances on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Biggest Loser, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, The Doctors, Dr. Drew, The View, Celebrity Fit Club, Discovery Health's National Body Challenge, FOX, CNN, HGTV, USA, Style Network and others as well as through over 400 magazine features including Prevention, Women's Health, Men's Health and Shape. She has served as Culinary Advisor to Men's Fitness Magazine and Cooking Expert to Women's Health.

Devin is the author of eight cookbooks. Her first cookbook, "Fast Food Fix" (Rodale, 2006) was featured as an editor's top pick in USA Today and her follow-up "The Biggest Loser Cookbook" (Rodale, 2006), a companion to the hit NBC show, spent months on The New York Times Bestsellers List as did her "The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook" (Rodale, November 2008). Devin's "The Most Decadent Diet Ever!" (Broadway, 2008), revealed her secrets to living healthy without sacrificing the foods we all love and "I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening" (Broadway 2010), provides the answer for people who think they are too busy to cook. It sold out on QVC. Devin recently released "The Biggest Loser Dessert Cookbook" (Rodale, November 2010), "The Biggest Loser Flavors of the World Cookbook" (Rodale, March 2011) and "The Biggest Loser Quick & Easy Cookbook" (Rodale, 2011), which also already spent weeks on The New York Times Bestsellers List.

After 9 years as the Owner and Executive Chef of Café Renee Catering, Devin now travels the country lecturing and consulting for major U.S. food and cookware companies. She's on the Advisory Board of the American Culinary Federation's Chef Child Foundation, Larry King Foundation's Go-To-Chef to speak on "Obesity in America," and she recently returned from the White House as part of Michelle Obama's, Chefs Move To Schools Program. Her food line, Devinly Delites™, is currently in the works and later this year she plans to launch a major charity initiative.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Yummy and Easy Recipes June 4, 2006

By Mayflower Girl TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I ordered this book after seeing an excerpt in Women's Health. I've been really surprised by the quality of the recipes (and the fat content and calories of the originals!) The first thing I made was the Big Mac sauce to dress up some burgers. It was yummy... and tasted just like the original. To be honest, you could easily put this stuff on anything... including veggie burgers.... and it would taste great. This book even inspired me to purchase my first kitchen scale. You don't need it to do the recipes, but in reading how she recreated the fast food favorites I thought I could do the same with other restaurant favs. My only complaint is that I still can't find a potato curler anywhere (online or off) to make the Curly Fries... unless it's part of a $50+ garnishing set. I'm thinking about taking a 3 month break from all fast food restaurants for myself and my family and resorting to this book instead. Note: You can find lots of these recipes online for free if you'd like to try one. But I think once you have, you'll buy the book!

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Amazing June 2, 2006

By Angee

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have absolutely no complaints about this book. The recipes are easy to understand. Alexander describes them clearly and simply. As for the taste, absolutely delicious. Even if all the recipes don't taste exactly the same as their fast food counterparts, they come quite close and the money and calories that you'll save more than makes up for it. I highly recommend this book. I'm still amazed at how right on the money some recipes are, like the Big Mac Sauce. The recipes are quick and easy and I guarantee you'll use this book again and again.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Got my husband into the kitchen! May 31, 2007

By F. Taylor

Format:Paperback

I've gotten really into healthy cooking after watching Devin Alexanders' cooking show on the Discovery Health Channel. I decided to look up any books she had and found this one. This is a keeper. My husband loves to brag about the book to his friends and colleagues and it actually got him into the kitchen to cook! The recipes are simple to follow and they taste amazingly similar to the fast food items we love. The only downfall is that it takes longer than getting fast food especially if you count the grocery shopping time, which is sort of the point of fast food...

I don't have kids yet but I will be using this book to get my kids to be more health conscience when making food choices and get them into the kitchen to help. If my husband was willing, anyone will be.

Some of our favorite recipes are In N Out burgers, Carl's Jr Six Dollar Burger, Taco Bell Soft Taco Supreme, Burger King French Toast Sticks, Tommy's Chili Burger, & Starbuck's Banana Pound Cake. There are recipes from all over the US that I don't even know of but I'm sure they'll become favorites as well.