Lifetime Television has introduced a new series, Cook Yourself Thin, a show with three culinary experts who help one guest to cut fat and calories in recipes to help people lose weight. The hosts of Cook Yourself Thin are Harry Eastwood, Chef Alison Fishman and Candace Kumai.
On the third episode of Cook Yourself Thin the team of culinary experts helped a gymnast lose her baby weight. The guest had always been a size 0 but put on weight with the baby and has found that losing the baby weight is not easy. The culinary experts on Cook Yourself Thin showed her how to make low fat oven baked chicken instead of oven fried, low fat vodka penne pasta and low fast peanut butter bars.
The gymnast had an active lifestyle and even owned her own gym but found that losing weight was not easy. Her weight problem was aggravated by her love of high calorie food and dishes made with mayonnaise and tartar sauce. The calorie conscious culinary experts taught the gymnast how to cut calories and fat by making low fat substitutions in her favorite dishes.
Oven Baked Chicken Breasts
One of the gymnasts’ favorite dishes was oven fried chicken with mayonnaise. The cooks made a marinade of buttermilk, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and hot pepper. In spite of its name, buttermilk is very low in fat. The chicken breasts were marinated in the buttermilk mixture for one hour. They laid the chicken breasts down on a corn bread mixture and coated them with crunchy corn flakes and put them in the oven to bake.
The cooks showed the gymnast how to make a low fat tartar sauce with buttermilk, capers, and lemons. The sauce was used to drizzle on the chicken breasts and to make a low fat cold slaw.
Low Fat Penne ala Vodka over Pasta
The gymnast loved pasta with cheesy sauce, penne ala vodka. The cooks showed her how to make a similar dish without fat. They started by sautéing garlic and onions in olive oil. They added crushed tomatoes and seasonings. They added ¼ cup cream instead of one cup of cream, so that they dish would have the creamy texture and flavor, just not so much. Then they added the secret ingredient, non-fat evaporated milk, which gives the dish creaminess without fat. The tomato sauce was tossed with cooked pasta and garnished with basil and parmesan cheese. The small little changes made big differences in fat and calories.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
The gymnast loved to snack on chocolate bars dipped in peanut butter, a high calorie snack. The cooks showed her how to make a low fat peanut butter chocolate bar made up o layers. They lined a tray with waxed paper and put on a mixture of low fat wafers, oats and low fat peanut butter. They flattened the mixture and refrigerated it for ten minutes.
The second layer consisted of reduced fat cream cheese, vanilla and reduced fat peanut butter. They put the second layer on top of the first and again refrigerated it for ten minutes.
For the top layer the melted chocolate over double boiler and drizzled to chocolate over the peanut butter and refrigerated for ten minutes before slicing and serving.
When the experts followed up the gymnast six weeks later, they found she had lost two dress sizes and was very excited with the changes. Both the gymnast and her husband were happy with the food and said they were very happy with the flavors of the foods made with the low fat substitutions.
Cast of Cook Yourself Thin
- Harry Eastwood co authored the cookbook Cook Yourself Thin: The Delicious Way to Drop a Dress Size
- Chef Allison Fishman has worked for Martha Steward and on Food Network as a food stylist and recipe developer.
- Candice Kumai, professionally trained at Le Cordon Bleu, was a contestant of the first season of Bravo’s Top Chef.
Cook Yourself Thin airs on Monday through Friday at 5:00 PM ET/PT.
Cook Yourself Thin on Lifetime TV
