Top Secret Recipes Lite!

by Todd Wilbur

With the new health-consciousness sweeping America, many of us feel we can no longer indulge in the tasty but guilt-inducing foods we grew up with. Todd Wilbur, who made a name for himself by allowing us to clone treats such as OreosTM and Outback Steakhouse® Blooming OnionsTM in our own kitchens, now gives us back our cherished foods with reduced fat and calories. Not only does Wilbur enable us to produce lite versions of Cinnabon® Cinnamon Rolls and TwinkiesTM, he shows us how to duplicate our favorite SnackwellTM and Healthy ChoiceTM products. Top Secret Recipes—Lite! includes recipes for 75 new dishes, complete with Wilbur's helpful diagrams, which call for ingredients easily found at the local supermarket. The newest addition to the Top Secret Recipe franchise is sure to make us not only happier, but healthier.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would really give this about 1 1/2 stars. It was written in 1998, and you can tell. That was when everyone was still into the low-fat craze, before everyone started talking about 'good fat' and 'bad fat.' This book seems to be designed to cut all the fat possible out of every single recipe. Only once does the author acknowledge that some fat, namely Omega-3 fatty acids, is in fact good for you.

There are two main problems with the book. First, that he doesn't seem to realize that too many calories, too much carbohydrates, other kinds of junk, those are all bad for you. Fat alone is not the bad guy.

Second, I am not about to use Butter Buds or whatever instead of real butter! Maybe lite margarine, but that's as far as I am willing to go. And fat-free cheese is disgusting! Low-fat yes, but fat-free is more like plastic that actual food.

I just can't recommend this book. There are a few recipes that sound pretty good - he has the Guiltless Grill entrees from Chili's in here.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea behind this book is a good one, for people who are used to eating fast food. The recipes are lighter, healthier versions of fast food favorites.

I don’t eat fast food, so I lost interest.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cannot say there is much to recommend here. As the other reviewer stated many of the recipes call for artificial ingredients (Butter Buds, egg sub., cheese sprinkle substitute-?). No way, thank you. If you really wanted to take the time, I am sure you could replace the fake ingredients with fresh.

The second issue being that many of the recipes are for prepared snacks & convenience foods you can easily buy at the supermarket. My guess the time & expense for most people to make their own bagels, Cheese-It's cracker's, Pop- Tart's and other snacks probably is not high on many people's 'To Do List'.

Personally the only recipe I'm going to try-out is Chi-Chi's Sweet Corn Cakes. One of the few that doesn't use Butter Buds, but light butter or margarine instead.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Todd Wilbur's fake fast food recipes, especially when they're at least slightly better for you than the originals. Some of the recipes in here are great, especially the KFC cole slaw and mashed potatoes. While some things just do not taste right, the "lite" Dolly Madison cakes. I will say there were more good than bad in this book and since it's an older book there are some recipes for things that are no longer on the menus of the various restaurants.

[Dj · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have probably ranked this one higher, but most of the things in this book are desserts, which I mostly don't make for myself, or generally eat when I go out. Or Condiments, which seems to be a hefty waste of prep time in the kitchen. After all, it isn't all that difficult to buy fat-free salad dressing or the like nowadays. Even worse, from my perspective is that it has three different burger reveals that are mostly the same trick. Low Fat Hamburger and low-fat cheese and mayonnaise. Simple enough, no real secret there. So that gets rid of about half the book. The rest is mostly sides, things like muffins, cole slaw and the like. All told it isn't a bad book, but I would be looking at the price hard before making any sort of investment in it.