Devin Alexander Dishes on 'I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening!'

Healthy chef Devin Alexander is known for transforming fattening foods into low-calorie, guilt-free indulgences, having transformed herself from a weight-addled teen to her current svelte self. The author of The Biggest Loser Cookbook, The Most Decadent Diet Ever and Fast Food Fix has done it again, this time with I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening!, which saves home cooks tons of time in addition to grams of fat.

Slashfood: Where did you first read or hear that if you cut 100 calories a day, you'll lose 10 pounds in a year?
DA: I read it in a magazine -- though I sadly can't remember which one -- and said out loud to myself, "No way!" It was like a light bulb went off in my head. Something about that one sentence changed my life. I was the girl who thought that I'd be miserable my entire life because people were picking on me or because I'd never get to eat a brownie again. It was so incredibly freeing for me to know that I could eat what I wanted and lose weight, so long as I changed up some of the ingredients. I'd have eaten chicken Parmesan all over the planet if my parents let me, and the first recipe I made was a non-breaded, non-fried grilled chicken Parm, saving 300 calories. Making simple changes like that helped me lose almost 30 pounds in that first year.

Read about Devin's favorite recipes from I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening! after the jump.
So how do you go about cutting those calories?
You know, some people think that I'm calorie obsessed and that I weigh everything, which isn't true. I see people in restaurants with scales once in a blue moon and I'm horrified. I don't live my life that way. If I want to lose a little bit of weight, I ask myself, what can I eliminate from today's meals? That extra tablespoon of salad dressing can save me literally 12 pounds a year. I tell people who have a lot of weight to lose to ask themselves where they can cut 100, 200, 300 or more calories while still eating the stuff they love. Do read labels -- something as seemingly harmless as a marinara sauce can have 14 grams of fat in half a cup, which is much smaller than your average serving size. My Main Event Marinara sauce has only 63 calories for the same portion.

When you eat out in a restaurant, are you thinking, "I could cook this with half the calories"?
Yes! I get so frustrated when I eat out. Like last night, I ordered this tabbouleh plate, thinking, hopefully it won't have too much oil in it. And meanwhile, the tabbouleh arrives dripping with oil and I'm squeezing lemon all over it to mask the taste. Even this tomato and feta salad I had was swimming in a pool of oil at the bottom of my dish. And so I instantly e-mailed my team to let them know I had this great salad with tomatoes and feta and olives, but we should remake it with this and that ingredient, and of course without all that oil.

So you get ideas in restaurants. Where else do you get ideas for your new recipes?
Basically anywhere food is served. If I'm in an airport, I'll walk around the terminal and read menus. I'd rather be active than sitting near my gate noshing on a Cinnabon. I travel a lot, so this way when I revisit that airport, I know where I can quickly go to find healthy food. Once I saw some potato wedges on an airport menu that inspired me to make my baked, reduced-sodium version. Or, my friend served this delicious, herby coleslaw at her Superbowl party, so I made a version without all the mayo and with additional tweaks for The Most Decadent Diet Ever. I see delicious food out there, and try to think how I could execute the same dish with less fat and fewer calories.

What was the biggest challenge you faced and tackled in the creation of I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening!?
So, we set out to make this really fast cookbook, for all those people who claim that they don't have enough time to cook. And my whole thing is that 20 minutes in the kitchen can save you three hours on the treadmill. In reviewing my past books, I realized one of the dishes we'd never made was a lasagna. It takes a lot of time, what with boiling the noodles and making the cheese. But then I thought, oh, I wonder if I could use these great low-fat ravioli we recently found? In addition to nutritional changes, we aimed to cut back on time.

You're always behind the stove cooking for clients, stars and audiences -- does anyone ever cook for you?
They do, believe it or not! The girls in my kitchen make my lunch most days. I do go out to restaurants and indulge from time to time, and I go out for sushi a lot. I had ex-boyfriends that would cook for me and I have friends that are chefs. So, while I like my food the way I like it, I'm not that bad. Food has always been an obsession for me, and I turned a really negative obsession into a positive one. I love hearing what people eat and learning about their perceptions of food. You get great insight into those things when people cook for you.

What one or two recipes from I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening! do you make all the time?
Well, I make my Basic Grilled Chicken all the time and use it in a ton of things. I eat the Cucumber Tomato salad a lot, too. I'm just a huge fan of tomatoes; I'm a weird tomato freak. Oh, and the Fixed-up French Onion Dip is thick and creamy and so shockingly good. It's great with the Quick Crunch Potato Chips from the book, or even just on veggies.

Which recipes from I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening! would you suggest our novice readers start out with as they perfect their cooking literacy?
You know... I was trained at Muscle & Fitness magazine to write recipes that were truly simple enough for anyone to follow, and I've written all my books with that same rule. In this book, the recipes are also quick. The Boneless Honey BBQ 'Wings' are a real crowd-pleaser and are super easy. Or the Easy-As-Can-Be Pot Roast Supper-you can prepare the whole thing in 10 minutes by throwing the ingredients in a dish with some tomato juice and thyme, and then you're done.

What one refrigerated or frozen ingredient gets the most mileage with your recipes?
I think it's very important to keep frozen chicken on hand. When you buy chicken at the grocery store, it's usually shipped to them frozen and then they defrost it, so go straight for the frozen stuff. Check your local grocer's freezer section for large bags of chicken, scallops, shrimp and salmon. Barbecue sauce goes into a lot of my dishes, but other particular ingredients will vary based on your personal flavor preferences.

What tools or pantry items particularly assist in making your recipes?
As much as I say I'm not obsessed with weighing and measuring, I do think it's important for anyone who's trying to live a healthy lifestyle to have a kitchen scale. Your portions tend to creep up, and with meats and cheeses, you really just want to make sure you're sticking to four ounces. I also suggest that people get one bowl that they eat their cereal and/or pasta out of, so that you can hold yourself to consistent, small portions. And everyone should stock parchment paper and non-stick aluminum foil. They'll prolong the life of your non-stick pans and eliminate the need for cleanup, since you can just throw away the piece of foil when you're all done.

When you're coming up with recipes, when do you choose natural ingredients, and when will you swap in artificial, lower-fat ingredients?
I opt for natural when it comes to peanut butter these days, because I realized that the reduced-fat version tends to have a ton of sugar in it. So it actually has more calories and is worse for you. Yogurt is one of those things I'm still on the fence about, so I offer both versions to please those seeking low-calorie dishes and those who just want all-natural. With regards to non-natural, I'll often swap in some of the lighter cheeses, like low-fat ricotta, light Cabot or some Sargento ones. And I'll go totally artificial with fat-free Cool Whip. To this day, having lost over 55 pounds, I still cannot have a tub of whipped cream in my house.

What would you say is your greatest non-healthy indulgence?
Probably fudge cake? I guess it's the desserts. If I'm served a warm chocolate chip cookie, I just can't say no. If there's any excuse for me to have something like that, I'll make it. It's very easy for me to go, well, I've been working for 6 hours and in order for me to be best on camera I need the cookie. Then I shove it in my mouth.

Are there any foods that you haven't been able to figure out a low-fat version of?
Yes! Vanilla cupcakes -- but I'm getting close to cracking them. For The Most Decadent Diet Ever, we spent a lot of time trying to make crisps and pies and things. The problem, though, is that they really are all about butter. And on top of it, when you shrink fruit from a full size to cook it, it gets so small that your calories increase like crazy. So while we were able to make a substantial-sized piece of chocolate cake for 250 or 300 calories, we couldn't make a good serving size of a peach or apple crisp to make it worth it. But we made the Ready-For-Guests Roasted Pears for I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening! and were blown away by how good they are, with just a tiny bit of butter. I think it's a really good substitute for apple pie lovers.

Get Devin's recipes and watch her cut the calories out of favorites like meatballs subs and brownies on KitchenDaily.