Customer Reviews

Getting Thin and Loving Food: 200 Easy Recipes to Take You Where You Want to Be

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kathleen is not only an excellent chef and host of a motivational Food Network show (Cooking Thin), but an inspiration. She has lost a lot of weight and kept it off. Her cookbooks aren't JUST cookbooks. In the first section of each book, she has a "heart-to-heart" with her readers about her philosophy on healthy eating and her own keys to weight loss.

I have lost 30 pounds so far using Chef Kathleen's warm yet no-nonsense philosophy. More importantly, I have maintained a healthy lifestyle (and my weight loss) for over 2 years now. If you want to get off that diet roller coaster once and for all and make changes you can live with for life, this book is for you.

Kathleen Daeleman's new, second book deals with exactly the same issue, with exactly the same solution, as her first book, `Cooking Thin with Chef Kathleen'. The message in a nutshell is that you can loose weight and you can keep it off and still eat delicious food. The solution in a nutshell is that you take small positive steps each day guided by an instinctual knowledge of what is good for you and what is not, aided by a systematic study of packaged foods' nutritional labels.

So why buy another book with the same message? The first consideration is that the book's list price is well below that of most other celebrity chefs, including most of her Food Network colleagues. From Ina Garten, you will typically get 30% fewer recipes for a 25% higher price, and no feel good healthy eating pep talks. That leads to a second reason. While Ms. Daelemans' 52 pages of introductory material may repeat a lot of her message from her first book, it still has punch, much like a heart to heart pep talk from an wise older sister. This is basically old wine in a new bottle, but still good wine.

On Kathleen's principles for loosing weight, I can argue with only one. This is the reliance on that little inner voice of conscience that tells you that a certain indulgence, such as the remainder of a rich German chocolate cake she takes home after her birthday, is simply not good for you. As a one-time professional philosopher trained in the nature of knowledge, I can tell you this intuition is a myth. This knowledge is built up from a lifetime of reading, listening, and connecting things in your own mind. This means that there are a lot of food land mines out there of which you simply are not aware. My favorite is the Jewish soul food dish of oversized bagel, cream cheese, and lox. At one time, I could easily down two of these dietary blockbusters at a sitting without realizing I was eating enough calories for two days at my level of (in)activity. Another surprise is the nutritional danger of eating excess carbohydrates from highly processed foods such as white flour. I applaud Ms. Kathleen's grouping the low carb plans with other fad diets with their danger of failure through boredom. But, I contend that `that little internal voice of intuition' is not robust enough to support the path to a healthy lifestyle. This does not kill Daelemans argument. It only means that while you are following Ms. Kathleen's culinary techniques, read books such as `Superfoods Rx' by Dr. Steven Pratt and `Nourishing Traditions' from Sally Fallon and `Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy' from Dr. Walter Willett. These books will feed your little voice of conscience with information while Chef Kathleen feeds your tummy.

Following the introductory pep talk on building your motivation, Ms. K has a chapter on pantry and kitchen equipment. All pantry lists have the same problem. They talk you into buying things with a limited shelf life and you have no immediate recipe in which to use the ingredients, so something ultimately goes bad. Even such robust looking foods such as fish sauce and rice wine can loose their punch. Buy only what you will use THIS WEEK. Stock up on only stuff you yourself actually use routinely in recipes. Note to the publisher's proofreaders: The pantry list is missing a heading somewhere between Soy sauce and baking powder. Tsk, Tsk.

Ms. K's list of kitchen equipment is much better. I think even Alton Brown would admire its sparseness, yet full attention to essentials. I use everything she mentions. I would only go with AB's suggestion to stick with inexpensive nonstick pans with ovenproof handles. These would be midrange priced, not high end priced.

The recipe chapters in Ms. K's first book were very familiar. Kathleen has gone in an entirely different direction in this book. Chapter titles are based on a mish-mash of different ideas.

The first chapter is for fast dishes when you have little time and the urge to hit the takeout window is strong. Embedded in this chapter of fast at-home meals, a la Rachael Ray are a number of very clever tactics for making dishes more healthy by combining prepared foods with fresh vegetables. I like these ideas a lot.

The next chapter is for foodies who what to spend Sunday afternoon cooking, but need to avoid all those calories in classic French, Italian, and Chinese dishes.

The third chapter is for `Barely-Any-Meat' meals. This section is filled mostly with soups such as Rice and Tomato, Potato, Potato and Green Bean, Broccoli-Parsnip, Corn Chowder, Corn and Tomato, etc. You get the picture. All seem to be first rate recipes with the role of fat being filled by that perennial lipochampion, olive oil.

The fourth chapter is Ms. K's answer to Mezes and tapas. This is the world of flatbread, dips, salads, and eggplant.

The last four chapters have more conventional titles covering breakfasts, Side dishes, condiments, and desserts (Fruit and Chocolate).

The recipes in the first book were centered in the western Mediterranean. This book wanders further afield, including a lot of eastern Mediterranean, Mexican, and Oriental dishes. For this variety alone, I endorse this book. The dessert chapter is especially inventive, giving some very creative combinations such as Plum and Rhubarb and Rhubarb and Apple. Warms my Pennsylvania Dutch heart to its core.

The low list price, the perky advice (and picture) of Ms K., the creative food tinkering advice, and the broadened range of recipe sources makes this book a worthy tool in taking it off and keeping it off.

Highly recommended for all sorts of lipidly challanged couch potatoes.

Chef Kathleen's approach to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle through portion control, regular exercise, and moderation, not elimination has helped our entire family to make necessary changes to our whole lifestyle. And between my husband and I we have lost a combined 40 pounds so far!
The recipes in this book are quick, tasty, and easy. Even my 11 year old has made some of them! Our favorites so far are the Chicken Taco Casserole, and the Strawberry Cheesecake Mousse. YUMMY!

The sidebars are very helpful also! Chef Kathleen and her mother offer great tips for substitutions, recipe morphs and how to choose the best ingredients.

Kathleen is full of energy and passion on her show and in her cookbooks. And it is contagious! Both for her show and for her approach to dieting and cooking. There is so much good stuff in here, both motivational and cuisine.

Here is a sampling of the good cuisine: Ahi Tuna with Napa Cabbage Salad; Tex-Mex Chicken and Barley Soup with Avocado; Eggplant, Chicken and Basil Stir-Fry; Pork Tenderloin with Lemon Butter Sauce and Swiss Chard; Cashew Chicken; Balsamic Chicken with Pan-Roasted Carrots, Parsnips and Potatoes; Flank Steak, Sweet Potatoes and Cilantro Stir Fry.

We as we get older must watch what we consume (if you're not older yet you will do yourself a big favor to start eating better now) and so we need variety, food that is good for us and good to eat. Chef Kathleen's recipes continue to add variety and great food to my repoirtoie and I'm sure they'll accomplish that for you too.

As with her first cookbook, this one has the bases covered: main dishes, appetizers, desserts, sides, even sauces and salsas and breakfast.

The Cooking Thin approach helped me lose over 70 pounds and keep it off. This book is loaded with practical tips for living a healthy lifestyle, motivational stories and fantastic recipes. The dishes are layered with flavors, easy to prepare and taste absolutely scrumptious!

I love Kathleen's no-nonsense, no-off-limits-food, get-moving, eat-well approach to diet and exercise. I've lost 50 pounds in a year, and am using this book to get the next 50 pounds off. Her approach works and tastes great. I am not a food weigher, calorie counter kind of person, and her books don't require that. I also like that she includes recipes for foods that are tasty and so relatively low in calories that if you eat the entire 4 servings, you haven't derailed your diet forever. Some of my favorites in this book so far are the white bean and roasted red pepper salad, the apple/celery/pecan salad, the tabbouleh, and her orange-raisin breakfast bars. If you loved the first book and are looking for some similarly fantastic, high flavor, healthy recipes you will like this book!

I got this book because I watched her on TV every day and I have to say I use this book at least 5 times a week its so simple and easy and the meals are delicious and low fat I have been using if for 12 weeks now and along with exercising every day I have lost 22 pounds so far. This is the best book I have ever bought, if you want to lose weight and live a healther life this is the book for you

I really like this book. It's simple to follow instructions, and there is good advice all the way thru it. Everything from the author's mom's advice to what to do to jazz up a low fat, high flavor recipe to make it more flexible, tastier, or fancy enough for company. I like KD's tv show on Food tv, and I liked her first book, this book is better than the first. I am eating more healthfully(Is that a word?) and keep taking the small steps KD recommends to keep doing even better. I highly recommend the book.

While I like the tone of this cookbook, it's jut not enough. As a positive, the author comes across as very real and likeable. I also liked the little tidbits she added for many of the recipes, like substitutions or tips for preparation. There are also a large variety of recipes included. Some negatives include the lack of nutritional values and caloric/fat intake, zero pictures of the prepared food, and a heavy reliance on onions, garlic, and Asian seasoning to flavor every single dish. This particularly offended me as I do not eat onions, garlic, or Asian seasonings! If you enjoy those, then you would probably like her flavors a bit better! In fact, in the section where she lists suggestions for things to have in your cupboard, the first title is "Asian stuff" which is followed by...nothing. That's it. No "Italian stuff" "Mexican stuff" etc. So I guess I was SOL to begin with! And the last negative I'll mention is that she uses a reward system throughout, without ever suggesting what that reward should be! Normally I would reward myself with food, which is obviously anathema to our purpose here. I am broke, so money (my second favorite reward) is also out. So what would be a reward?! Plus, I felt like a puppy being potty trained, the way she was doling out rewards. Overall, not the best, not the worst.

There are many wonderful recipes in this book. I do wish the nutritional information was included with each of the recipes. I still plan to keep and use the book anyway!!