Believe it or not, the most difficult part about making this book was naming it. I know this sounds odd, considering the amount of work that went into creating 150 great-tasting healthful recipes. But every time we tried to come up with the book title, we were stumped. Words like “healthful” and “low-calorie” and “gluten-free” just don’t sound like any fun. They don’t sound like us, either; we’re food lovers around here. I have never come home from work and pronounced, “Hey, kids, let’s eat something healthful for dinner tonight!” And I’ve never hit that mid-afternoon slump and thought, “I can’t wait to have a low-cal vegetarian taco.” The food isn’t the problem—these recipes are amazing. I just don’t like the labels.
Not too long ago, a bunch of us at the magazine got together to talk about whether we should include more recipes for healthful food in each issue. It was one of the shortest meetings we’ve ever had: As we looked back, we realized that every issue was packed with good stuff—a big feature on roasting fall vegetables, a story about trendy grains, booklets full of chicken ideas, salad dressings, smoothies. The healthful recipes were all there. We just weren’t being preachy about them. We were eating right, naturally.
What I love most about this book is that as you flip through it, you’d never know the food was good for you. The chefs in Food Network Kitchen are geniuses like that. French fries, potpies, sloppy joes, scalloped potatoes, mac and cheese—they’re all in here, lightened up the right way, with smart ingredients and clever cooking techniques. (Trust me, we didn’t cut calories by making the portions tiny!) Best of all, these dishes are delicious enough to serve by their proper names—without even mentioning the healthy part.
Maile Carpenter
Editor in Chief