(NAPSA)—Americans are always hungry for tips that take the mystery out of cooking healthy ver- sions of their favorite indulgence foods. That’s the idea behind a new television series that lets viewers in on the secrets of making mouthwa- tering, calorie-friendly favorites. Devin Alexander, the host of “Healthy Decadence With Devin Alexander,” believes you don’t have to deprive yourself to be fit and healthy. She has maintained a 55- pound weight loss for over 15 years by making small adjustments when cooking her favorite foods. For instance, did you know you can transform a low-fat tortilla into a thin and crispy pizza crust very similar to the ones you find at your favorite local pizza place? Or that adding instant coffee to brownie batter provides a richer chocolate taste without the unnecessary fat or calories? Here are some more of Devin’s tips that will help you have fun preparing healthy and delicious foods: e An olive oil sprayer—one that you fill yourself—is essential in healthy cooking. You can use it for so much more than spraying pans. For instance, make fauxfried chicken by breading chicken, baking it, then spraying it with a light mist of olive oil spray. You only need a light coating, but it will register much stronger in your brain because the oil will be the first thing to hit your tongue. When cooking burgers, never smash them down with a spatula—this will eliminate all of the juice along with only a tiny bit of the fat, particularly if you’ve started with a lean cut of beef, guaranteeing a dry burger. Instead of buying meats from your local deli counter, most of which are chock-full of sodium, try making your own top round roast or turkey roast, then using the leftovers as deli meat. Not only is it likely to be much leaner, you'll y “ A new television series shows viewers howto eatall their favorite indulgence foods with less fat and calories, but without sacrificing flavoror real ingredients. save tons of sodium. Plus, you'll also save money. A lot of people think turkey burgers or other dishes made with ground turkey are inferior in texture and flavor to their beef counterparts. This is often because people simply swap turkey for beef in recipes that were developed for beef. Because the mois- ture content is vastly different between turkey and beef, simply substituting one for the other will not yield ideal results. Instead, if you want to serve turkey, take a little bit of extra time to hunt down a recipe that was originally made with turkey or doctor your favorite family recipe to account for the decreased moisture before servingit. Make chopped salads instead of salads with chunksof veggies. Chopped salads provide a flavor explosion in your mouth before you even add any dressing, since you meld all of the flavors in each bite. Thus, they require less dress- ing—which is the most fattening part of most salads. “Healthy Decadence With Devin Alexander”airs Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. (ET/PT) and Sundays at 11:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Discovery Health. For more information about “Healthy Decadence,” log on to www.discoveryhealth.com.
