Healthy Recipes that Beat the Clock

With all of the diet foods, fads and books floating around, eating right can seem complicated. But if you simplify your meals, concentrate on preparation and eat in moderation, you won't need to diet in the first place. That's what Ellen Haas proposes in Fast and Fit (Hatherleigh Press): healthy, well-balanced meals that fit into your overworked schedule and busy lifestyle.

Whatever your goals may be: whether you're out to lose weight, maintain your current weight or start feeding your kids healthier meals, Fast and Fit offers menus, personal menu planners, shopping lists and recipes that will make eating right a whole lot easier. From quesadillas to cherries jubilee, smoothies to apple-horseradish flank steak, eating right never tasted so good. Here's a basic pasta dish with a slight 401 calories.

Spinach Fettuccine with Artichokes

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Yield: 4 servings

3/4 pound spinach fettuccine
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 15-ounce cans artichokes, cut into 1/8ths
1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped parsley


1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the artichokes and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.

3. Drain the fettuccine, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Return the fettuccine to the pot and toss with 1/2 of the Parmesan cheese and the reserved cooking liquid. Add the artichoke mixture and toss again.

4. Divide the fettuccine among 4 warm bowls and garnish with the remaining Parmesan cheese and parsley. Serve immediately.

Serving Size: 1 bowl

Fast and Fit makes eating right easy and enjoyable with ideas for easy everyday meals and casual weekend suppers, menus for holidays and parties, a personal menu planner, and shopping lists-all in a format so easy to use it will never leave your kitchen counter.

Fast and Fit
By Ellen Haas
List Price $16.95 paper (Can. $21.95)
Paperback 304
Published by Hatherleigh Press
ISBN-10: 1-57826-258-5 ISBN-13: 978-1-57826-258-8
In bookstores everywhere

About the author:
Ellen Haas is a leading expert on healthy eating. She served as under-secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, where she was widely credited with making school lunches healthier. Now president and founder of Foodfit.com, a nutrition and fitness website that is part of TheHealthCentralNetwork, she is the author of Great Adventures in Food and Fit Food. She lives in Washington, D.C.