500 400-Calorie Recipes: Delicious and Satisfying Meals That Keep You to a Balanced 1200-Calorie Diet So You Can Lose Weight without Starving Yourself Paperback – June 1, 2011

First, we were more than a little bit excited to order this book from Amazon in April as it is not scheduled for release until June 1, 2011. That being said, my wife and I absolutely love this cookbook! We've been searching for low-calorie cookbooks to help us succeed while implementing the "400 Calorie Fix" diet by Liz Vaccariello (also available on Amazon) and this book is the perfect compliment to meet the 3-4 400-calorie meals requirement per day.This cookbook includes simple, down-to-Earth hearty recipes. It doesn't require a lot of fancy items or ingredients that one would be forced to shop for in a specialty grocery store in order to prepare. It does what it exactly what it says in that it offers readers recipes for meals which are both satisfying and filling but still safely remain within the 400-calorie intake range. This book does NOT include color photos and/or sketches of the actual meals or dishes. Some readers may be disappointed by that, but for us it wasn't a drawback.Each recipe includes the total number of calories, protein, fat, carbs, fiber, sugar as well as the vitamin intake, which was a surprising addition and a welcomed convenience.The exact content of the book is as follows:Introduction: Why 400-Calorie Recipes?Chapter 1: Changing the Way You Think about What You EatChapter 2: A Few Basic Building BlocksChapter 3: Traditional BreakfastsChapter 4: New Ways to Think about BreakfastChapter 5: Lunches and Light MealsChapter 6: Dinners: Chicken and TurkeyChapter 7: Dinners: BeefChapter 8: Dinner: PorkChapter 9: Dinners: Fish and SeafoodChapter 10: Dinners: VegetarianChapter 11: Dinners: Soups, Stews, and ChilisChapter 12: Mix and Match MealsChapter 13: Mix and Match: Main DishesChapter 14: Mix and Match: Starters and Side DishesChapter 15: Mix and Match: DessertsChapter 16: Mix and Match: BreadChapter 17: Cooking Terms, Weights and Measurements, and GadgetsHere's one of our favorite recipes thus far taken directly from the book, found on page 360:Spinach Stuffed Chicken BreastsThese chicken breasts, stuffed with a spinach dressing, make a great start to just about any meal. They are naturally low in fat and calories and high in nutrient density.8 slices low sodium bacon1 cup (160 g) onion, finely chopped1/2 pound (225 g) fresh spinach, washed and chopped1/4 cup (60 ml) egg substitute1/2 cup (15 g) croutons, lightly crushed1/4 teaspoon garlic powder8 boneless, skinless chicken breastsBlack Pepper to tasteFry bacon; drain and crumble. Reserve 2 tablespoons (28 ml) drippings. Saute onion in bacon drippings until soft. Remove from heat and stir in spinach, egg substitute, croutons, garlic, and crumbled bacon. Cut pocket in thick side of each chicken breast. Stuff with spinach mixture and close with wooden pick. Sprinkle with black pepper. Place breasts in 9 x 12-inch (23 x 30 cm) baking dish and cook in preheated 350 degree (180 degree Celsius or gas mark 4) oven until done, about 1/2 hour. Remove wooden picks before serving.8 ServingsEach with: 151 Calories (29% from Fat, 58% from Protein, 13% from Carb); 22 g Protein; 5 g Total Fat; 1 g Unsaturated Fat; 2 g Monounsaturated Fat; 1 g Polyunsaturated Fat; 5 g Carb; 1 g Fiber; 1 g Sugar; 213 mg Phosphorus; 47 mg Calcium; 179 mg Sodium; 443 mg Potassium; 2704 IU Vitamin A; 5 mg ATE Vitamin E; 10 mg Vitamin C; 50 mg CholesterolTIP: These are great on a grill. Try them on medium for about 20 minutes.

This is a very good cookbook with a lot of delicious sounding (I haven't tried them all!) recipes. However, be aware that each recipe is 400 calories, so if you are making a main dish, you need to add side dishes which will add additional calories. It's not a whole meal for 400 calories; it's one dish. Granted some of the main dishes also include the starch so all you'd have to add is a salad and vegetable, and that wouldn't add that many more calories. The recipes give all the nutrition information you'd need and the author gives some sound nutritional advice as a preface to his recipes. He also gives the recipes in standard American measures as well as metric. It's an excellent way to pare down calories from a recipe without losing flavor and variety.

This is a good book to use as a quick reference. I don't love it because there are not pictures on every page. I'm much more likely to eat something if I see it first. I have been using this more for *ideas* rather than following exact recipes. The fact that there are 500 recipes makes me happy -- there is a lot of variety.

Since cooking from this book I have learned to substitute the good for the bad. I am not hungry with these recipes and they are mostly very easy and simple to make. If your on any kind of diet or just want to cut back on calorie intake I highly recommend this book. And yes I have lost weight since using these recipes.

I am what you could call a professional dieter. Over the last 15 years, my weight has fluctated 30-40 pounds and I have tried everything. I never even considered that losing weight could be as simple as eating 3 400 calorie meals each day. I was able to lose 20 pounds using the Diet to Go meal deliver plan over the course of 7 weeks. I absolutely loved it, and was never hungry, but I couldn't afford to keep paying $160 per week for my meals. I found this book online, purchased it, and came up with my own plan. Using recipes almost solely from this book, I planned 3+ weeks of meals. I bought all of the ingredients for less than $200 and spent 5 days cooking. I put all of the meals in individual containers, and froze them. I have to say that so far I love everything I have tried from this book. The meals are filling, and the portions are not small. I have tried the cheese and veggie frittata, fancy baked eggs, chicken zucchini pie, fish fillets italian, confetti couscous, fill yourself up on Thai turkey, and chicken in orange sauce. I have loved them all, and especially loved the fact that they were easy to make and didn't require any hard to find ingredients. Combined with 40 minutes of yoga and walking per day, I am losing between 2 and 3 pounds per week. I highly recommend this book!

I had high hopes when I ordered this book. I was a little disappointed when I noticed upon receiving it that there are no pictures of the recipes included. Another thing that bothers me is the use of "fake" foods, such as the liquid egg substitute and artificial sweeteners. You can eat low calorie without incorporating these things into your diet. But if you make these recipes as written, and use real eggs or sugar instead of the substitutes listed, your calorie count will go over that that is figured.Another thing I wasn't thrilled with was the originality of the recipes. They are so run-of-the-mill, recipes I've seen many times before in other books or on the web. These recipes were pretty boring for the way I cook.The good news is, if you're a beginner cook, this is a good book for you as most if not all of the recipes are pretty simple to make.Ultimately, I wish I would have purchased a different book.