The 1,500 Calorie-A-Day Menu Cookbook– Fast & Fresh 30 minute everyday meals for healthy people on the go! Choose 350 calorie meals, two 150 calorie snacks and delicious dessert for only 150 calories.

Our schedules are so crazy, and eating healthy is not always at the top of the priority list. We tend to let the healthy aspect slide a little, along with our health. It can get away from us one bite at a time. By the same token, we can improve our quality of health one bite at a time!

With this book, it’s actually enjoyable to stick to a healthy, low-calorie meal plan. Just because you’re trying to lose weight or watch your calorie intake, doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice flavor, taste, variety, or the simple pleasures food can bring. Remember “snack time” growing up? It not only helped refuel us between meals, it was fun! But what we didn’t realize was that it was also portion controlled – a couple of graham crackers and milk, and apple, or a handful of nuts, for example. And so it is with this book: grab a fast-fix snack in the middle of the morning and then again in the afternoon, just like you used to do. It’s a fun and easy way to stay on track, as is the entire book.

McGraw Hill Publishers, December 2008

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The 4-Ingredient Diabetes Cookbook - Simple, quick and delicious recipes Using just four ingredients or less, plus helpful “Cook’s Tips” and nutritionals with each recipe. American Diabetes Association, 2007

This book is for people with diabetes – or those who want to eat healthier – but who don’t want to live in the kitchen.  Inside, you’ll find 150 delicious recipes, all made with four ingredients or less!  (in case you’re checking up on me, salt, pepper, water and cooking spray don’t count as ingredients, and I counted the zest and juice of the same fruit as one ingredient.)  Some of these recipes even call for three or only two ingredients, and still taste scrumptious.  When you stop and think about what this actually means and how it can affect your lifestyle – and your workload – you may never want to cook any other way again.  Using fewer ingredients means fewer items in your grocery cart, less time in the grocery line, fewer items to unload and put away when you get home, less time to prepare the dish, and – my personal favorite – fewer pots and pant to clean!  You’ll actually have time to do…well, anything else you want, because you won’t be stuck in the kitchen (or in the grocery store) all of the time.

I consider myself a lazy cook.  I’m always looking for that shorter cut, that quicker way, that anything to help me avoid work.  But at the same time, I want every bit of effort I do make to count.  When my editor and I were discussing the prospect of writing this much-needed-book, he looked me straight in the eye and said, (150 recipes, Nancy, you’re sure you can create 150 recipes that use only 4 ingredients, meet our nutritional standards, and still taste great?”  I knew it would be a challenge – even though I’ve been developing quick and healthy recipes for over 25 years – but I wanted to introduce a new approach to people whose lives may already be burdened with numbers, counting, and chores.  I wanted to show people how to discover that simpler is better, and faster can be more delicious, when every ingredient really counts.

The secret, I found, is not the number of ingredients, but rather the different types of ingredients and the various techniques included in the recipes.  For example, by using highly flavored ingredients and convenience foods that contain several ingredients in one product such as picante sauce and herb blends, I can shorten the ingredient list drastically without compromising on flavor.  As for effective techniques, something as simple as searing or reducing ingredients (that is cooking them down to a more concentrated form over high heat) is an extremely easy, fast way to get intense flavor without adding extra ingredients, fat, or time.

If you keep the meal prep simple but the great flavor’s still there, you’ll find yourself returning to the same healthy recipes over and over again.  That’s my whole point in writing this book: to help people with diabetes stay on a healthy track all of the time, bringing them delicious flavors and fresh new ideas that will last them a lifetime.  My no-hassle approach is just that…easy and approachable, so that everyone can have the “I can do THAT” attitude.

And the whole reason I published with the American Diabetes Association is that together, we’ve done the work for you.  You can trust that ALL these recipes are good for you and taste delicious, too.  We’ve given you all the numbers to help you monitor your intake of fat, sodium, and cart.  You don’t have to worry if the recipes are “okay” for you.  You can enjoy great-tasting, quick, and simple meals without the math swirling in your head all the time…and with a fraction of the work!

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The 1,200 Calorie-A-Day Cookbook- Quick and easy recipes for delicious low-fat breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts. 350 calorie breakfast + 350 calorie lunch + 400 calorie dinner + 100 calorie dessert = 1,200! Contemporary Books, 1994

This book contains low-fat, low-calorie recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts – never to exceed 1,200 calories for the entire day.  All breakfasts and lunches are 350 calories each, all dinners are 400 calories, and all desserts are 100 calories.  No matter which meals are chosen, the total will always add up to 1,200 calories for the day!

Today there is a strong emphasis on the importance of good eating habits.  Preparing low-fat, low-calorie meals, trying to maintain a low daily calorie count and control fat intake can be a true challenge – just the thing we all need toad to our already overloaded lives.  Taking time to figure exactly how many calories and fat grams are being consumed can be troublesome and frustrating.  This, in turn, may lead to giving up on the notion that delicious low-fat, low-calorie meals can be part of your everyday diet.  Therefore, I’ve written this book to provide low-calorie meals that are low in fat for the entire day every day.

Eating healthy is very important, but many feel that doing so means forsaking those familiar favorites, such as ham and eggs, rich sauces, and cheese-smothered dishes.  Unfortunately, we need familiar foods to provide comfort, relief from stress, stability, and enjoyment on a fairly regular basis.  Otherwise “roller coaster” dieting is inevitable.

In this book, I’ve provided a variety of meals ranging from home-style favorites to the latest trends.  Choose from weekday and weekend breakfasts, lunches for home or the workplace, hearty dinners, and, of course, those ever-needed desserts.  I’ve included a variety of dishes utilizing all the major food groups to keep eating healthy and interesting.

As in my previous books, the recipes are easy to prepare, created to please the entire family, using easily obtainable ingredients.  The majority of the meals contain 20 percent or less their total calorie content from fat; all contain less than 30 percent.  These totals are listed at the beginning of each meal.  Many of the main courses for dinner may be used for lunches.  By using a thermos, warming dishes in the microwave, and simply packing salad dressings separately, you multiply your brown-bagging choices.

This is not a diet plan, but rather a comprehensive collection of recipes that you can use to help limit your calorie and fat intake and, at the same time, enjoy meals without the guilt and without the calculator!  Whether you’re in the mood for something old and familiar or something new and exciting, in a hurry or taking it slow, you don’t have to eat “wrong” to feel satisfied anymore.

Besides providing the recipes, I hope this book can be a learning experience.  There is a Chinese proverb that says, “Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a meal; teach him to fish and you have fed him for life.”  I hope I can “teach you to fish” so that you know how healthy meals can be a part of your life forever.

Enjoy!

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