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

by Rocco DiSpirito

Fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, brownies, and 147 other favorite recipies under 350 calories.

In this delectable cookbook, award-winning chef Rocco DiSpirito transforms America’s favorite comfort foods into deliciously healthy dishes—all with zero bad carbs, zero bad fats, zero sugar, and maximum flavor. What’s more, Rocco provides time-saving shortcuts, helpful personal advice, and nutritional breakdowns for each recipe from a board-certified nutritionist. So prepare your favorite foods without the guilt. Finally, a world-class chef has made healthy food taste great!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Health, Reference, Diets

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected to find a lot more recipe ideas here than I did. The recipes were all super common and basic with lower fat options, which I didn’t even buy this for low fat ideas, just because it was him and I thought I’d find cool unique Italian ideas. Alas, oh well.

[Kai Coates · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book impractical for my family's lifestyle. It's a well-produced book, lots of great pictures (including the none-to-shabby Rocco himself) and clearly written directions. Unfortunately, Rocco is obviously used to working in a commercial kitchen with someone else doing the dishes. Several recipes call for using 2 pans to cook 4 portions of meat simultaneously. This is how they work in a restaurant kitchen, but not in a home. It's an easy adjustment to make on my part (cook 2 servings, set aside, cook other 2 servings in same pan), but it helps illustrate how the book did not seem to be written for your standard home cook.

Others have mentioned the abundance of processed foods called for in the recipes. Rocco does include lots of brand name goods as suggestions. I'm not sure if that would help compare nutritional values when you're out shopping or just lead to more frustration if you can't find what he recommends.

Rocco complains that his weight gain led to conundrums such as, "Do I cut back on the foie gras - just eat it every other day instead of twice a day, for lunch and an after-service snack?". So it should be of no surprise that most of the red meat dishes call for filet mignon. Of course, it's the most tender and sought-after cut of meat, but it's not the lowest in calories and it's expensive. I don't know many families who can boast of eating filet mignon once or twice a week.

Out of the 150 recipes, I only picked 9 that I am going to try. They might be fantastic (I'm jumping the gun a bit by writing the review before I've actually cooked the food), but it's a fairly poor percentage. I appreciate the effort to reduce the calories in common comfort foods, but I think Rocco missed his main audience of home chefs.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rocco DiSpirito's cookbook, Now Eat This!: 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods, All Under 350 Calories, is a great idea!! The author became interested in his own healthy diet along with weight loss and exercise because of chronic back problems. He was also a chef for the television show "The Biggest Loser" so he created these recipes with a purpose. The list of substitutions in the introduction of the book are especially helpful and include suggestions such as cauliflower for white potatoes, egg whites for whole eggs, greek yogurt for butter, and many others. The recipes are not too long or complicated, and each recipe lists the amount of fat, calories, protein, carbohydrates, cholesterol, fiber, and sodium. The author's goal was to create foods rich in taste, but lower in fat and calories; he accomplishes this by making minor alterations like using whole-wheat pasta and reduced fat cheeses along with other changes. He includes some brand name ingredients along with his own flavor agents in his list of "Rocco's Can't Live Without Ingredients" and then describes "flavor-saving-fat-free-cooking techniques". So many new recipes to try that are really good for your health. Enjoy!

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a reason why I love Rocco's cookbooks. His recipes are the best and at the same time they are healthier and very flavorful.

[Dora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now Eat This

Rocco has tried to take 150 of America's favorite comfort foods and give them a fat and calorie make over. I cannot attest to the flavor of the recipes because at this point I haven't tried any but I think that some of them will work fine. However, I am not a proponent of low fat cheeses (I have yet to have a good one) and I find sugar substitutes scary. His enthusiasm for his subject matter is great and the pictures of the food look good.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laud the idea and found a number of recipes we’ll try ourselves. Agree on the cleverness of puréed cauliflower over potatoes, and while his writing style is engaging, telling us multiple times how clever the swap outs are gets a little old.

Biggest concern is the over reliance on processed low-fat and non fat items and chemical sugar substitutes and his complete rejection of the whole egg. Recommend this be updated to account for more recent science.

[Mo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll save you the trouble of having to read this book. Take a recipe for anything you want, switch out most of the ingredients for no-fat / low calorie / artificially sweetened versions, and enjoy.

Oh, and wait for the author to write another book that basically trashes this one, and says how unhealthy everything in it is because we should all be eating "real" food.

[Carol Irvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great cookbook!!

[Mary X · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of using fake eggs in anything at any time. An egg is a whole food and should not have it's own list of ingredients. He also uses artificial sweeteners.

[claire richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it, I like it!

Recipes are actually good! The deserts are just sweet enough and don’t leave an aftertaste because of the sugar substitute!

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn’t quite what I was looking for. Wanted more low carb recipes

[Mycala · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter crap. Recipes call for crap ingredients.

[D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever and effective reworking of the unhealthy recipes we already love.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a nutshell: Rocco DiSpirito encourages readers to make beneficial lifestyle changes, including better eating habits and exercise in his Now Eat This! Diet.

Positives: His advice is practical and avoids the "Stop Eating, Start Running" approach to dieting that usually doesn't really work or last.

Negatives: I was reading this book for the recipes and was rather disappointed. DiSpirito recommends lots of Brand Name items (which can be annoying if you're trying to cook with what you have) and lists "store-bought marinara sauce" as an ingredient, which in my opinion (as an overly proud Italian) is a cookbook no-no. Additionally, DiSpirito's low calorie recipes are mostly achieved by substituting anything he can for a "reduced" or "whole wheat" version. While this may be a good strategy for the solo dieter, my family would never allow me to make such a complete "non-fat" or "whole wheat" switch, thus ruining the "low calorie" concept of most of the recipes.

As a diet book, take a look. As a cookbook, I cannot recommend it for the average for-family-at-home cook.

[Tracings · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle, "150 of America's favorite foods, all under 350 calories" should clue you in to the idea that these are low cal recipes. So yeah, the brownies are gonna be made with Splenda. But there are plenty of appetizers, main courses, and side dishes that have some inspired substitutions to reduce calories. I can vouch for a number of these recipes: eggplant manicotti, chicken caccitore, fettucini alfredo, and pork with apples were all scrumptious and didn't use any processed foods as shortcuts beyond low-fat cheeses. The Macaroni and Cheese recipe alone is worth the price of admission: delicious and easy, with a suprising substitution of an onion-garlic puree for the traditional flour-and-butter white sauce. (As good as Mom used to make, really!) Also provides some really nice descriptions of techniques for cooking with less fat while retaining flavor that can be incorporated into other recipes as well.

[adri patamoma · Rating 2 out of 5]

este livro foi BEM decepcionante pra mim. na verdade, por pura preguiça de ler a respeito dele antes, acabei criando uma expectativa bem diferente do que o livro traz! eu buscava receitas light bem saborosas e fáceis de fazer, e o que encontrei é exatamente isso. SÓ QUE eu queria coisas naturais, bacanas, orgânicas, e o foco do rocco neste livro é a recriação de receitas típicamente americanas com calorias super reduzidas, o que ele só consegue através do uso de produtos bizarros, como óleo em spray, queijo que não é queijo, molhos completamente cheios de produtos químicos, e muito, mas muuuito adoçante. resumindo: acho que nunca vou usar este livro, porque tou indo prum caminho super natureba, que me deixa com vontade zero de comer essas coisas todas quimicamente modificadas!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of really great ideas. The thin crust pizza recipe is delish! There's also a mayonnaise substitute made with Greek yogurt that makes a huge batch but is pretty good.

One complaint would be he relies on several processed food items. Sure they may be lower fat/calories but at what cost (health and environmentally)? I do use some substitute products but I try to be choosy and limit them. And some of the items he mentions by name might be hard to find. One replacement product I wouldn't mind trying (or at least reading the label) is low-fat blue cheese but I have looked for it and no one in my area carries it.

[K. East · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read one of Rocco's previous cookbooks -- Eat this, not that -- and thought the premise was interesting. It was how to fix and eat a reasonable facsimile of a fast food item. This cookbook takes that concept and applies it to comfort foods. The problem with both cookbooks is that people who eat fast food do so because it is quick; they don't want to cook anything, especially nothing that requires the attention his recipes require. And when I am craving comfort food, a vaguely representative meal just isn't going to cut it. That said, there are several good recipes in here, but only if you like to cook and do it often. Not because they are a substitute for something you crave.

[Reginald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done (written), just at the original selling point/commentary mentioned,this delectable cookbook, award-winning chef Rocco DiSpirito transforms America’s favorite comfort foods into deliciously healthy dishes. This book was written from Chef DeSpirito's personal point view which I find very helpful. As a Diabetes Educator who LIVES the disease, I'm told that my experience really compels my students to truly pay close attention. I appreciate the way he includes the nutritional values based on his own dietary needs. Excellent job, Chef....

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointing read after so much hype. Many of his recipes rely on diet and processed foods and the recipes really aren't that revolutionary or interesting. I would've expected more from a chef. Also, while the cookbook offers recipes that have lower calorie counts, little attention is paid to essential nutrients and other things your body needs to stay healthy.

[Sanyashnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like a number of the dishes in this book. Some of them include penne alla vodka, spaghetti carbonara, and cheese steaks. My guests have enjoyed these meals too, and it feels good to serve comfort food comfortably (healthy that is). Some dishes I have put off trying as they seem more apt for a more experienced cook, but I think with time I will be willing to give them a try.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only made one recipe so far from this book (the brownies) which I thought were OK, but the fiance thought were too bitter. Partly because I only had extra dark cocoa on hand? I'll have to try more recipes...

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource if you want family favorites & comfort foods without all the fat. Still a fair amount of work, but good food doesn't typically come super-easy.
My favorites?
Steak au Poivre & Classic Tiramisu.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was done very well. Lots of great pictures and ideas to eat well. I am not sure how cheap these meals can be made, that is yet to be seen but I do know there are some I am axious to try.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't particularly like that pretty much all of the desserts used created sugar substitutes and some of the food still didn't sound particularly good for my digestive system, but I did find just a few good options.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully photographed cookbook, but none of the recipes appealed to me. There are lots of fat-free and non-fat ingredients used, and I am not a big fan of that style of cooking. For those that are, however, you will find plenty of comfort foods like burgers and chili made skinny.

[Vizzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I baked his brownies, which tasted like burnt cardboard. Couldn't stomach the idea of cooking more garbage from this book and quickly returned it to my nearest library.

Even seeing this book in my "read" list gives me a bad aftertaste.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing recipe makeovers, charming intros and tips from Rocco make this cookbook one to keep. I'm still trying to get my head around a brownie recipe that includes black beans...but I've got to admit, it's so strange that it makes me want to try it, wary, but wanting to try it! :)

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason that I couldn't give this five stars is I feel that a few of the fixes/swaps are a little bit of a stretch in terms of ease. Overall, however, the recipe redos are fantastic. Many of them will be entering my regular repertoire ASAP!