Hungry Girl
A sassy cookbook making your favorites healthier.
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BACKGROUND
Diet cookbooks seem to appear on bookstore shelves quicker than the pounds we pack on during the holiday season. One new cookbook is as clever as it as delicious, Lisa Lillien’s “The Hungry Girl.” Lillen is also the brainchild behind her own website: hungry-girl.com which is a fun and healthy resource for great food finds that are low in calories.
Lillen’s book is a sassy and creative read on how to turn your favorite foods into low calorie, lower fat recipes. Packed with sneaky tricks like using light bread for sandwiches, replacing potatoes with butternut squash, baking with pureed pumpkin rather than oil or eggs, “The Hungry Girl” is fun and healthy! Most of her recipes are filled with veggies, lean proteins, and fiber-rich additions. And if you’re a vegetarian, you’ll be happy to see how your favorite Boca burgers and soy sausage crumbles land in some of Lillen’s famous recipes like the Asian lettuce wraps and the “dan good chili.”
The book doesn’t make any promises that you’ll lose weight by cooking and eating from it but it is a step in the right direction for creatively and satisfyingly eating your way through a diet.
PRO
- “Hungry Girl” cookbook contains numerous healthy recipes
- Recipe portions are not scanty
- Includes tips on snacking and dining that won’t send you into a sugar buzz or a carbohydrate coma
- Recipes contain clear instructions and clear nutrition information
- Each recipe also contains the Weight Watcher’s equivalent points
CON
- Some recipes include adding artificial sweeteners. If you don’t tolerate these well, you may have to improvise with a sweetener that works for you.
- Must be motivated to prepare your own meals
NUTRITION INFORMATION
Nutrition guidelines are spelled out clearly for each dish as well as the serving size. Serving size in numerous cookbooks can be tricky because the recipe may make 10 servings and you scarf down seven of them if the serving size is measly. Not so with the “Hungry Girl.” The recipes are designed for all of your hungry girls (and guys) out there who want to eat in quality and quantity.
All of her recipes are low in fat, low in calories and rich in nutrients. Imaginative ingredients like using Fiber One cereal to coat the “swapcorn shrimp” or “lord of the onion rings” are inventive and healthy replacements to breadcrumbs and pans of oil to deep-fry some of your favorite junk foods. Not only are you shaving off grams of fat but you’re getting a great dose of your daily fiber needs.
RECIPES AND MORE
Hungry Girl also includes informative and fun-to-read sections like how to eat at the movies, in the office or when you’re on a road trip. For instance, Lillien recommends sneaking in a small portion of your favorite chewy or hard candy treats in the theatre rather than spending $5 on the jumbo-sized box of sno caps which can contain a whopping 800 or more calories.
She is also generous about sharing some of her favorite snacking tips: Soy crisps, beef, turkey and soy jerky and flavored but calorie-free beverages stock her fridge and office desk drawer.
If you like the book, you should check Lillien’s website. You can become a free member and receive daily emails on healthy new food finds, nutrition news and additional clever recipes.
EXPENSE
The cookbook, “Hungry Girl” can be purchased for $17.95 at bookstores, Wal-mart, Target or through Amazon.
CONCLUSION
If what you crave is a burger and fries or a pina colada and serving of cheesy Mexican dip, check out Lisa Lillen’s cookbook, “Hungry Girl.” It is packed with healthy and creative versions of your favorite non-dieting eats by replacing calorically-dense ingredients with healthier ingredients and lighter ways of preparing meals, snacks, and beverages.
With easy-to-follow instructions, easy-to-find-ingredients and clear nutrition facts, this is a cookbook that you might yourself turning to whether you’re counting calories or not. Created for those girls who are tired of diet foods like salads, grapefruit and non-fat yogurt, the “Hungry Girl” is full of recipes that don’t make you feel like you’re dieting. Hearty portion sizes and even heartier tastes, make this read a valuable an fun resource for anyone who always feel like she is watching her weight.
COMMON MISSPELLINGS
Hunger Girl, Hungry Girl’s, hungrygirl.com, Hungry-Girl
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