[.ca] Crazy plates: Low-fat food so good, you'll swear it's ... (ISBN 0968063128)

From Amazon.com:
Janet and Greta Podleski, also known as The Looneyspoons Sisters, are the high-energy authors of the low-fat cookbook Looneyspoons and its follow-up, Crazy Plates. But to call these sisters cookbook authors may be a misnomer: they're more like a wacky comedy team touring Hoboken doing the low-fat-zealot routine for admiring audiences. No, Crazy Plates is not just about low-fat recipes. There's much, much more here, including fat facts (a pound of body fat--representative of 3,500 calories--if shaped into a ball, would be the size of a softball and equal four sticks of butter), "Trivial Tidbits" (baking soda used to be added to the water for boiling vegetables until it was discovered that it destroyed the veggies' vitamin C), "You Do the Math" (substituting Canadian bacon for the regular high-fat stuff once a week for a year will cut your fat intake by 1,196 grams), and a lot of corny humor ("Did you hear what happened to the peanut when he walked through the park? He was a salted"). Then there are the recipes--accompanied, of course, by cartoons--like Salmon Davis Jr., broiled salmon steaks in a spicy tomato sauce; Mercedes Buns, cinnamon rolls with less than three grams of fat per serving; My Yammi Spice, oven-baked fries with cumin, paprika, and oregano; and Berry Maniloaf, a lemon and raspberry bread loaf with 161 calories per slice. The recipes are well laid out, not time-consuming, aimed at the home cook with a family to feed, and will please the palate of those wanting gourmet fare without the fat. But how do the Podleski sisters accomplish this rare feat? Spices are an essential ingredient of many dishes: Name That Tuna Salad, for example, gets its character from basil, mint, garlic, and Dijon mustard--with no help from that scary sidekick, mayo! This is a book for anyone who wants to cut back on fat without losing flavor, and for those that like a little slapstick with their flapjacks (Peter Pancakes, with bananas and strawberry sauce). --Stefanie Durbin

The best cookbook I own:
I absolutely love this cookbook, (and LooneySpoons). The recipes are easy to make and the ingredients are easy to find. The meals are delicious, and the portions are very generous. I had fun just reading all the information. I highly reccomend it. I bought one for my mother-in-law and she just loves it too.

Every recipes is a winner:
I own both Crazy Plates and Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. They are by far my favourite and most often used cookbooks. The recipes in both are fantastic - I have probably tried 3/4 of them and so far, no flops. Many of the recipes do require a large number of ingredients, but it's nice to see a cookbook that uses fresh ingredients and seasonings to flavour a dish, rather than salt and butter. The comments, info and hints in the margins are both humorous and useful. I also enjoy the fact that the cookbook incorporates recipes/ingredients from around the world (Indian, Thai, Mexican, etc.). I can't wait for the sisters to come up with their next book.

Crazy Plates and Looney Spoons are my Favorite Cookbooks!:
I'm always on the look out for good healthy cookbooks that aren't low-carb, or no fat, just healthy lite recipes. These 2 cookbooks fit the bill. They are wonderful! The recipes are full of flavor, and most fairly quick too make using everyday ingredients. I own a lot of cookbooks, and these 2 have quickly become my family's favorite! I highly recommend them.

Great food, low cals and fun to read:
I got this for my wife. She has 30 cookbooks. This one though she reads all the time and laughs out loud. Fantastic recipes. We made a beef tenderloin for 8 people and a chocolate cheesecake for everyone. Everyone was drooling and raving about it. Oh and cheese potatoes too. The girls rock! Keep those cookbooks coming!

Delicious recipes in a entertaining format!:
I love love love this cookbook. The authors use cartoons and sprinkle food facts to make the book more interactive and interesting to the reader, which is unlike anything I have seen in any other cookbook. And the food is to die for! No one has ever guessed it is low-fat. My favorites include: Stop and Smell the Rosemary Foccacia, Tubes and Cubes (a BBQ chicken pasta dish), and I Got Stew Babe (a delicious balsmaic roasted veggies and chicken stew).