Substitute Yourself Skinny by Chef Susan Irby, The Bikini Chef

For most of us trying to eat right and lose weight can feel like a never ending battle. There are so many diet plans out there and so many promises how can we be sure we have picked the right one? And how can we be motivated to stay on a diet when they all focus on what we can’t eat?

What if you could eat all the foods you love and still lose weight? Enter Substitute Yourself Skinny by Chef Susan Irby, known to her fans as The Bikini Chef, the ultimate healthy cookbook that actually allows us to eat the foods we love with simple, calorie-slashing ingredient swaps.

Substitute Yourself Skinny proves it’s possible to cut fat and calories and still eat satisfying and delicious foods. Based on her years of experience as a caterer cooking for a vast array of clients, Susan has created 175 super-slimming recipes everyone will love. With tips on how to swap one ingredient for another, anyone wanting to eat healthier can turn favorite foods into appetizing low-calorie creations.

“For my whole life I have strived to find a balance between staying slim and healthy and enjoying the fattening foods I love. People think that because I am The Bikini Chef being thin comes easy for me. It doesn’t,” says Chef Susan. “A few years ago I was stress eating and not exercising. I gained more weight than I ever have. So I made the commitment to get back on track. It wasn’t easy and it didn’t come quickly but I stayed with it and learned I could still eat my favorite foods but just make them ‘skinny.’”

Mention the word “substitution” in relation to a recipe and we tend to get a little nervous - - afraid that food will taste funny or have an odd texture to it. Low-calorie and fat-free ingredients are easier than ever to find, come in a variety of brands, and are high in quality and flavor, making it easy and delicious to create low calorie and low fat meals. Susan gives home cooks the “skinny” on ingredient substitutions in the chapter, The Skinny on Substitutions. There she outlines some of the basic “skinny” pantry items to keep on hand that can replace high-calorie and high-fat options.

Recipes in Substitute Yourself Skinny are organized in chapters that make it easy to find just the right meal like: Jumpstart-Your-Day Breakfasts; Energizing Lunches; Thinner Dinners; Slimming Sides; Guilt-Free Snacks and Appetizers; and Deliciously Skinny Desserts.

For health-conscience home cooks, each recipe provides the original calorie count and the Substitute Yourself Skinny calorie count. Susan has also provided nutritional information for each recipe, “Skinny Secret” shortcuts to trim calories in little ways throughout the day and serving-size suggestions making it easy to eat healthy, lose weight and still feel satisfied. Recipes in the book include:

- Flat-Belly Eggs Benedict – SYS calories per serving: 179 (original recipe: 590)
- Delectable French Toast – SYS calories per serving: 79 (original recipe: 356)
- Tune-Up Tuna Salad – SYS calories per serving: 57 (original recipe: 504)
- Chinese Chicken Salad – SYS calories per serving: 240 (original recipe: 455)
- Melt-in-Your-Mouth Tuna Melt – SYS calories per serving: 334 (original recipe: 919)
- Summer Savoring Mac ‘n’ Cheese – SYS calories per serving: 253 (original recipe: 320)
- Skinny “Beef” Stroganoff – SYS calories per serving: 294 (original recipe: 390)
- Chicken Alfredo – SYS calories per serving: 351 (original recipe: 990)
- Smokin’-Good Bacon Burger – SYS calories per serving: 254 (original recipe: 870)
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Shrimp Risotto – SYS calories per serving: 238 (original recipe: 620)
- Creamiest Creamed Spinach – SYS calories per serving: 82 (original recipe: 248)
- Penne “Lasagna” with Beef – SYS calories per serving: 90 (original recipe: 550)
- Fry-Me-Not Fried Rice – SYS calories per serving: 266 (original recipe: 377)
- Individual Sausage Pizza – SYS calories per serving: 337 (original recipe: 420)
- Smitten for Molten Chocolate Cake – SYS calories per serving: 191 (original recipe: 451)
- Very Berry Strawberry Shortcake – SYS calories per serving: 237 (original recipe: 561)

“We all have our favorite ‘comfort’ foods that we routinely turn to when stressed or unhappy. For all the quick satisfaction we may feel when we eat those foods, what is not satisfying is how full and heavy we feel afterwards. I developed my recipes in an easy-to-follow manner so that anyone can achieve diet freedom and enjoy favorite foods without guilt.”

The Bikini Chef has taken the guess-work out of substituting healthy, lower-calorie ingredients and has turned some of our favorite high-calorie recipes into healthy meals we can enjoy every day for any occasion.

About Chef Susan Irby, The Bikini Chef

Born in Marietta, Georgia, Chef Susan Irby may as well be from Alabama as that is where her fondest memories are from. “My family had an amazing lake cabin in Alabama. It was small and simple, yet we had the best times there. It was there we ended our day of playing on the lake by cooking in our bikinis and having dinner. That’s really where ‘Bikini Cooking’ and ‘The Bikini Chef’ truly began.” Growing up cooking with her mother, Susan’s culinary passion took hold and soon she began working in premiere restaurants in Italy and France. Returning to the United States, Susan cooked with several Master Chefs including Todd English, Ming Tsai, Rocco Dispirito, Sherry Yard, and George McNeill. She then began teaching cooking classes for gourmet markets and culinary schools such as Whole Foods, Chef’s Inc, and Sur La Table, as well as preparing dishes for the World President’s Organization, Bloomingdales, and the Los Angeles Unified School District’s “Nutrition in the Schools” program among others. Susan is the author of several cookbooks including: The $7 a Meal Quick & Easy Cookbook, The $7 a Meal Healthy Cookbook, and Cooking with Susan: Southern Family Favorites. A favorite guest on radio and television, Susan is host of The Bikini Lifestyle with Susan Irby the Bikini Chef on KFWB News Talk Radio 980 in Los Angeles where she discusses all things food and nutrition with guests such as Wolfgang Puck, Giuliano Hazan, Divya Gugnani, Dr. Murad, Ben Ford, and Joachim Splichal. As a caterer and chef, Susan has cooked for celebrities including Billy Bush, David Spade, Kate Sagal, James Garner, and Patrick Swayze. She lives in Orange County, CA with her husband and daughter.

To learn more about Chef Susan Irby, The Bikini Chef, visit www.SusanIrby.com