SparkPeople Slideshows

Peek Inside 'The SparkPeople Cookbook'

  • Eat Like a Chef and Still Lose Weight--without Spending Hours in the Kitchen

    Chef Meg is a farmer's daughter, a marathon runner, and a busy mom. She needs her meals to fuel her through a busy life--just like you do. That said, she doesn't have time to spend hours cooking dinner. These meals are delicious enough to satisfy a chef, they're simple enough to please a busy mom, and they're sustaining to carry her through a workout, too.

  • Add Flavor without Fat

    When you read Meg's recipes in "The SparkPeople Cookbook," you'll notice three things are missing: excess fat, sugar and salt. There's a place for those ingredients, but in Meg's recipes, they have cameos--not starring roles. Instead, she relies on chef-tested tips and tricks for adding flavor. Tricks like:
    * Adding a squeeze of lemon juice to a dish before serving instead of shaking on the salt.
    * Sprinkling on fresh herbs for a burst of flavor.
    * "Cooking" your spices to maximize their impact in a dish.

  • Recipes So Good, You'll Forget They're Good for You

    All of these recipes can be easily added to your SparkPeople Nutrition Tracker (they're listed under the "recipes" tab)--and we've included two weeks of 1,400-1,600 calorie meal plans to help you get started. During our research, we proved that healthy eating can be fun and easy, as part of our Ditch the Diet Taste Test, found exclusively in "The SparkPeople Cookbook."

  • Sneak Peek Recipe: Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

    There's a reason why this is the No. 1 recipe among SparkPeople members. It's easy to make with infinite variations, and it's full of hunger-busting fiber and protein. Chef Meg's made-over version slashed the salt and added a serving of vegetables in every portion.
    (Try this recipe tonight!) Only 165 calories and 2.5 g fat per serving!

  • Sneak Peek Recipe: Three Cheese Macaroni

    So rich and creamy (yet easy!) you'll say, "Blue box? What blue box?" 2/3 the fat and half the calories of the original—only 260 calories and 8 grams of fat for a heaping cup! (Get a sneak peek of the recipe here.)

  • Hungry for More? Check Out What's Inside!

    • 150 meal ideas and recipes that take 30 minutes or less to prepare, plus dozens of other, more elaborate meals for days when you have more time to cook
    • Makeovers of popular member-submitted recipes
    • Quick and tasty “Make It a Meal” feature that suggests easy ways to add sides that will turn every main dish into a well-balanced meal – complete with calorie and nutrition information!

  • And You'll Get...

    • Success Stories (including follow-ups from The Spark) that show how members cooked their way to weight loss!
    • Nutrition and healthy kitchen chapters that give you a quick, easy but comprehensive crash course on how to create nutritionally balanced meals for you and your family
    • And much, much more – almost 500 pages with almost 100 beautiful color photographs!

  • Have Your Cake--and Eat It, Too!

    You'll find fantastic, rich, lower-calorie snack and dessert recipes and ideas--everything from Caramel Popcorn to Dark Chocolate Cake.

  • Get the Whole Family Involved

    Chef Meg has three growing boys of her own, and she's raised them to eat the way she does. We've included an entire chapter devoted to getting kids excited about healthy eating, with tips from Meg, Dietitian Becky, and SparkPeople experts and members.

  • Order Your Copy Today!

    For more information, click here!

    Photo credit, slide 2: David Stephenson
    All other photos by Randall Hoover Photography

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Love Your Food, Lose the Weight

Just as SparkPeople isn't a diet website, this isn't a diet cookbook. No deprivation and no bland diet foods here--only healthy, easy and affordable recipes that are, of course, delicious. No ingredient is off-limits, and Chef Meg loads up the plate with lean protein, whole grains, and generous portions of fruits and vegetables--all bursting with flavor, not fat!
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Eat Like a Chef and Still Lose Weight--without Spending Hours in the Kitchen

Chef Meg is a farmer's daughter, a marathon runner, and a busy mom. She needs her meals to fuel her through a busy life--just like you do. That said, she doesn't have time to spend hours cooking dinner. These meals are delicious enough to satisfy a chef, they're simple enough to please a busy mom, and they're sustaining to carry her through a workout, too.