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Review: Light and Delish Bookazine

400 Calories or Less!

To be totally honest, before I received Light and Delish’s 400 Calories or Less! I had absolutely no clue what a bookazine was–I had never heard the term. Turns out a bookazine is a hybrid of a book and a magazine. The pages are glossy like a magazine but the binding is more like a book.

Whether you’ve heard the term “bookazine” or not, you are in for a treat if you pick up Hearst Magazines’  Light & Delish: 400 Calories or Less, a special “bookazine” based on Hears Magazines’ successful food Web site Delish.com. It’s a perfect Fall treasury of recipes–138 of them in fact! Each of the recipes is inspired by popular restaurant dishes and trust me, you’ll have a difficult time selecting just one recipe to try.

Light & Delish: 400 Calories or Less hit the newsstands on September 7 and has a cover price of just $9.99. You won’t want to delay because, unlike a book, this bookazine is only available through December 13, 2010.

As you browse the 113 pages, you’ll discover meal ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As I continue on my journey to a healthier me, I loved that the meals are created in healthy portion sizes and the ingredients are wholesome and flavorful beyond cayenne pepper or just your standard fare of salt and pepper. 

The busy mom of many, I love that the bookazine divides into categories for easy reference. If I know we’re all going to be home there’s Family Style or if we’re in the mood for a Mexican Fiesta or Italian, Asian, or Bistro it’s right there. There are even Guilt-Free Desserts.

The book highlights deliciousness and if you’re really inspired you can find more recipes, tips, and even how-to videos that compliment the recipe on the Delish.com website. The Delish Website compliments this bookazine so perfectly with its online recipe book, advanced recipe finder tool, coupons, and even a free weekly newsletter. 

Allow me to share with you why this partnership between the bookazine and delish.com website works for me. It gives me everything I need to know at a glance and then continues to inspire me to be creative. For example, on page 104 there is a recipe for Beef Burgandy. There is a summary that says it is from Good Housekeeping. The Total Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes. It Makes 8 main-dish servings at 330 calories each. The recipe follows along with the nutritional information. Then on the page directly across from it there is a stunning picture of the meal with a Delish Tip: ”

To make this classic french style stew healthier without sacrificing flavor, leave out the bacon, which French cooling often calls for and add lots of exra vegetables to stretch the meat. No one will notice!”

Then there’s a delish.com connection that is easily spotted. 

“Want to try a Beef Bourguignonne instead? Go to delish.com/bourguignonne and take a look at our how to video.”

I love it! One recipe with a variety of options!

Each recipe in Light and Delish: 400 Calories or Less! includes a picture of the finished meal. The caloric value is highlighted in yellow so you can see instantly how many calories you’ll be feasting upon.

I also love the tips and tricks that make cooking less fearful to try new things. On page 44 there’s a great tutorial on “How to…CLEAN SHRIMP” It compliments the recipe: Louisiana Shrimp Remoulade with Fall Lettuces, but is a skill you can carry over to any recipe involving shrimp.

Unlike a magazine, the pages are not littered or distracted by advertisements. I think I saw one for Ragu at the bottom of a recipe, but when I went back to find it, I wasn’t successful. It’s probably there–I get distracted by pictures of food and recipes easily!

This is a great addition to my recipe collection and I have enjoyed reading it and my family enjoyed dinner of Mexicana Chicken. We’re looking forward to trying the others, hopefully next up is Kung Pao Chicken!

Pick up your copy of Light and Delish: 400 Calories or Less today and bring home the inner chef in you!

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