Devin Alexander - Fast Food Fix: 75 Amazing Recipe Makeovers of Your Fast Food Restaurant Favorites
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Cooking with Devin: No fixing needed here.
Pros
Great recipes, cooking tips, selection & good writing. Very thorough. Easy to follow.
Cons
No photos. Otherwise - none!
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Great book. Only loses Excellent for lack of photos. Otherwise a fantastic cooking book for those who love fast food but hate the unhealthiness. Devin needs to write more cookbooks!
I love Devin Alexander. There, I said it. I don't know her personally, but I love her. My mother and I caught her TV show Healthy Decadence one night and I admit, in the beginning I thought "What a silly girl." (Okay, I must be at least ten years younger than she is, but I did think that.) There she is making low fat chocolate cupcakes and saying something like "And I try to make my serving sizes two of something, because isn't it always great to have two? You just enjoy it more, You know you have the other one waiting when you finish the first." So while I sat there thinking "She's so perky and silly." I also thought "Hey, I DO like having two of something!" and before I knew it I was tuning in for more episodes.
Then one day my mom came home from the library with a book called "Fast Food Fix" by Devin Alexander. I grabbed it from her hands and spent the next 20 minutes squealing out (I'm good at getting high-pitched) "SHE HAS RECIPES FOR MCDONALD'S FRIES! PIZZA HUT! BIG MAC! MEATBALL SUB! *GASP!* EGG MCMUFFIN! CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS!" I couldn't wait to get started trying the recipes.
My Review
I love this book. There's barely a recipe in here I don't want to try out and I just about fainted when I saw all the Mickey D recipes. The book begins with a foreword of how her love affair and falling out with fast food went and how it helped her shed about 50 pounds. Devin's writing style is very nice. It's not too cutesy or too cold, it comes across like an interesting, friendly conversation with her.
The book has ten chapters spread out over approximately 230 pages. Before each chapter, Devin usually includes tips on the best way to prepare the ingredients, like beef, chicken or potatoes, or the best ingredients, like cheeses or bacon, to buy for the recipes. Any recipes that include sauce have its recipe at the end of the recipe. All of Devin's recipes are single serving, though the sauce recipes are usually 4 servings so you can make it once and 'fridge it for future use. When I get a craving to try a recipe, I have three brothers eager to share so I'm usually at least quadrupling the recipes. Recipes also generally contain little tips on such things as saving time or ways to cut even more calories and fat. Look for the little logos throughout the book. Devin usually also includes a little story before each recipe, either a personal memory or a story of how she got the recipe right.
Chapter By Chapter
Chapter 1: Get Your Fast Food Fix
Devin takes this chapter to make a few promises, like the serving sizes of the recipes in the book will at least be as big as the original, if not bigger, (She doesn't cut calories by cutting amount) the recipes will only call for readily-available ingredients and employ basic cooking techniques and that if an original recipe called for beef, it will have beef and not turkey, chicken or veggie-substitutes. I would say she keeps to her promises.
She explains why certain recipes got in and others were left out. In most cases, recipes were left out when she could not eliminate enough fat and calories to make it worthwhile - you might as well go get the original.
Devin argues fast food is not as fast as people think, what with traffic and lines (especially in congested LA, where she lives) and that cooking at home can really take about the same time. She also breaks down the mathematical cost of buying from a fast food restaurant and making it yourself. For example: one serving of McDonald's French Fries from home would cost you 27 cents worth of its ingredients. You could make enough fries for five people and it would still cost less than buying one serving at McDonald's.
She also explains essential tools in this chapter, how to make smart substitutions and prepares you to jump into the recipes.
Chapter 2: Here's The Beef
Recipes are:
-McDonald's Big Mac (Yes, with a recipe for that special sauce!)
-In-N-Out Burger Double-Double With Onion
-Wendy's Big Bacon Classic
-White Castle Slyders
-Jack In The Box Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger
-Carl's Jr. Six Dollar Burger
-Hardee's 1/3-Lb Western Bacon Thickburger
-Back Yard Burgers Black Jack Burger
-Original Tommy's Burger
-Fatburger Turkeyburger
Chapter 3: Finger Lickin' Great
Recipes are:
-McDonald's McChicken Sandwich
-Wendy's Spicy Chicken Fillet
-Arby's Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwich
-Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich
-Hardee's Charbroiled Chicken Sandwich
-KFC Original Recipe Chicken Breast (The spices in this are to die for)
-Church's Chicken Southern Fried Chicken Legs
-Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Strips
-Burger King Chicken Tenders
-KFC Popcorn Chicken
Chapter 4: For The Fish Lover In You
Recipes are:
-Popeyes Popcorn Shrimp Po' Boy
-Long John Silver's Crunchy Shrimp Basket (shrimp only)
-Long John Silver's Lobster Crab Cakes
-McDonald's Filet-O-Fish
-Burger King BK Fish Filet
-White Castle Fish Nibblers
-Jack in the Box Fish and Chips
Chapter 5: Think Outside The Burger
Recipes are:
-Subway Meatball Marinara
-Subway Chipotle Southwest Cheese Steak
-Subway Turkey Breast and Bacon Melt Wrap
-KFC Twister
-Sonic County-Fried Steak Sandwich
-Sonic Grilled Chicken Wrap
-Steak 'n Shake Frisco Melt
-Arby's Big Montana
-Hardee's Big Hot Ham 'N' Cheese
-Blimpie Beef and Cheddar Wrap
Chapter 6: Would You Like Fries With That?
-Arby's Curly Fries
-Carl's Jr. Chili Cheese French Fries
-Popeyes Cajun Battered Fries
-Sonic Tater Tots
-McDonald's French Fries
-Del Taco Crinkle-Cut Fries
-Burger King Onion Rings
-Jack in the Box Onion Rings
-El Pollo Loco Macaroni and Cheese
Chapter 7: Best Ingredients, Best Pizza
Recipes are:
-Pizza Hut Supreme Personal Pan Pizza
-Pizza Hut Meat Lover's Hand-Tossed Style Pizza
-Domino's Crunchy Thin Curst Cheese Pizza
-Domino's Ultimate Deep Dish America's Favorite Feast Pizza
-Sbarro Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza
-Papa John's Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Original Crust Pizza
Chapter 8: Make a Run to the Border
Recipes are:
-El Pollo Loco Cheese Quesadilla
-Taco Bell Soft Taco Supreme
-Taco Bell Double Decker Taco Supreme
-Taco Bell Mexican Pizza
-Del Taco Macho Beef Burrito
-Taco Bell Nachos Supreme
Chapter 9: You Deserve a Break-fast Today
Recipes are:
-McDonald's Egg McMuffin
-Burger King Enormous Omelet Sandwich
-Jack in the Box Extreme Sausage Sandwich
-Del Taco Macho Bacon and Egg Burrito
-Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit
-McDonald's Bacon, Egg and Cheese Bagel
-McDonald's Hash Brown
-Burger King French Toast Sticks
-Dunkin' Donuts Cranberry Orange Muffins
Chapter 10: We Sweet You Right
Recipes are:
-Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Rolls
-Starbucks Pumpkin Pound Cake
-Starbucks Banana Pound Cake
-Subway Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
-Steak 'n Shake Chocolate Malt Shake
-McDonald's Vanilla Triple Thick Shake
-Dairy Queen Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard
-Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino Blended Coffee
Dairy Queen Brownie Earthquake
Dunkin' Donuts Corn Muffins
In The End...
The book itself is just delicious. The more you cook the recipes, the more they come out like the originals. In some recipes, there will always be a difference from the originals. I can't get quite the crispness I like in the french fries or the breaded chicken but I know how the restaurants get it like that: deep double frying in fatty, fatty oils. So I will sacrifice a little texture knowing it's so much better for me.
Devin went to EXTREMES to make these recipes for us. Hours spent on the phone calling companies for nutritional information, visiting multiples of each restaurant to see how serving sizes varied store-by-store, buying triple of every original recipe to ensure her versions tasted, felt, smelt and even WEIGHED as close to the original as she could get, trying to ensure the ingredients she was using were easily available in any state, even going to the grocery store with a MEASURING tape to find the perfect hamburger buns - the girl must have been exhausted! But the pay off is a really great cooking book. While more seasoned chefs (pun not intended, but there it is!) probably won't learn anything new, beyond the recipes themselves I find her general tips on how to prepare chicken, beef or the best kitchen utensils very useful and informative. I feel like this book not only teaches me to make my favorite fast food healthily at home, but also makes me a better overall cook.
Of course like some books it has difficulty staying open, but also like most books with time the spine relaxes and it will flop open to your favorite recipes without your help. Until then, I just use a little paperweight (sometimes just whatever is lying around on the kitchen counter) to hold my page for me and have no problem.
The only thing I would say against it is the lack of pictures. I would have liked to see pictures of the original food and hers for each recipe inside the book. There are a few photos of her creations on the front. Even if we couldn't have the photos of the original, I definitely would have liked to see how hers turns out. It would be easier to know if what I'm pulling out of the oven is spot on. I'm also nursing a bad burn on my knuckle from all my playing around with the oven, but I guess I can't really blame Devin for that. Unless you charge her with making her recipes too delicious to resist!
Then one day my mom came home from the library with a book called "Fast Food Fix" by Devin Alexander. I grabbed it from her hands and spent the next 20 minutes squealing out (I'm good at getting high-pitched) "SHE HAS RECIPES FOR MCDONALD'S FRIES! PIZZA HUT! BIG MAC! MEATBALL SUB! *GASP!* EGG MCMUFFIN! CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS!" I couldn't wait to get started trying the recipes.
My Review
I love this book. There's barely a recipe in here I don't want to try out and I just about fainted when I saw all the Mickey D recipes. The book begins with a foreword of how her love affair and falling out with fast food went and how it helped her shed about 50 pounds. Devin's writing style is very nice. It's not too cutesy or too cold, it comes across like an interesting, friendly conversation with her.
The book has ten chapters spread out over approximately 230 pages. Before each chapter, Devin usually includes tips on the best way to prepare the ingredients, like beef, chicken or potatoes, or the best ingredients, like cheeses or bacon, to buy for the recipes. Any recipes that include sauce have its recipe at the end of the recipe. All of Devin's recipes are single serving, though the sauce recipes are usually 4 servings so you can make it once and 'fridge it for future use. When I get a craving to try a recipe, I have three brothers eager to share so I'm usually at least quadrupling the recipes. Recipes also generally contain little tips on such things as saving time or ways to cut even more calories and fat. Look for the little logos throughout the book. Devin usually also includes a little story before each recipe, either a personal memory or a story of how she got the recipe right.
Chapter By Chapter
Chapter 1: Get Your Fast Food Fix
Devin takes this chapter to make a few promises, like the serving sizes of the recipes in the book will at least be as big as the original, if not bigger, (She doesn't cut calories by cutting amount) the recipes will only call for readily-available ingredients and employ basic cooking techniques and that if an original recipe called for beef, it will have beef and not turkey, chicken or veggie-substitutes. I would say she keeps to her promises.
She explains why certain recipes got in and others were left out. In most cases, recipes were left out when she could not eliminate enough fat and calories to make it worthwhile - you might as well go get the original.
Devin argues fast food is not as fast as people think, what with traffic and lines (especially in congested LA, where she lives) and that cooking at home can really take about the same time. She also breaks down the mathematical cost of buying from a fast food restaurant and making it yourself. For example: one serving of McDonald's French Fries from home would cost you 27 cents worth of its ingredients. You could make enough fries for five people and it would still cost less than buying one serving at McDonald's.
She also explains essential tools in this chapter, how to make smart substitutions and prepares you to jump into the recipes.
Chapter 2: Here's The Beef
Recipes are:
-McDonald's Big Mac (Yes, with a recipe for that special sauce!)
-In-N-Out Burger Double-Double With Onion
-Wendy's Big Bacon Classic
-White Castle Slyders
-Jack In The Box Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger
-Carl's Jr. Six Dollar Burger
-Hardee's 1/3-Lb Western Bacon Thickburger
-Back Yard Burgers Black Jack Burger
-Original Tommy's Burger
-Fatburger Turkeyburger
Chapter 3: Finger Lickin' Great
Recipes are:
-McDonald's McChicken Sandwich
-Wendy's Spicy Chicken Fillet
-Arby's Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwich
-Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich
-Hardee's Charbroiled Chicken Sandwich
-KFC Original Recipe Chicken Breast (The spices in this are to die for)
-Church's Chicken Southern Fried Chicken Legs
-Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Strips
-Burger King Chicken Tenders
-KFC Popcorn Chicken
Chapter 4: For The Fish Lover In You
Recipes are:
-Popeyes Popcorn Shrimp Po' Boy
-Long John Silver's Crunchy Shrimp Basket (shrimp only)
-Long John Silver's Lobster Crab Cakes
-McDonald's Filet-O-Fish
-Burger King BK Fish Filet
-White Castle Fish Nibblers
-Jack in the Box Fish and Chips
Chapter 5: Think Outside The Burger
Recipes are:
-Subway Meatball Marinara
-Subway Chipotle Southwest Cheese Steak
-Subway Turkey Breast and Bacon Melt Wrap
-KFC Twister
-Sonic County-Fried Steak Sandwich
-Sonic Grilled Chicken Wrap
-Steak 'n Shake Frisco Melt
-Arby's Big Montana
-Hardee's Big Hot Ham 'N' Cheese
-Blimpie Beef and Cheddar Wrap
Chapter 6: Would You Like Fries With That?
-Arby's Curly Fries
-Carl's Jr. Chili Cheese French Fries
-Popeyes Cajun Battered Fries
-Sonic Tater Tots
-McDonald's French Fries
-Del Taco Crinkle-Cut Fries
-Burger King Onion Rings
-Jack in the Box Onion Rings
-El Pollo Loco Macaroni and Cheese
Chapter 7: Best Ingredients, Best Pizza
Recipes are:
-Pizza Hut Supreme Personal Pan Pizza
-Pizza Hut Meat Lover's Hand-Tossed Style Pizza
-Domino's Crunchy Thin Curst Cheese Pizza
-Domino's Ultimate Deep Dish America's Favorite Feast Pizza
-Sbarro Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza
-Papa John's Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Original Crust Pizza
Chapter 8: Make a Run to the Border
Recipes are:
-El Pollo Loco Cheese Quesadilla
-Taco Bell Soft Taco Supreme
-Taco Bell Double Decker Taco Supreme
-Taco Bell Mexican Pizza
-Del Taco Macho Beef Burrito
-Taco Bell Nachos Supreme
Chapter 9: You Deserve a Break-fast Today
Recipes are:
-McDonald's Egg McMuffin
-Burger King Enormous Omelet Sandwich
-Jack in the Box Extreme Sausage Sandwich
-Del Taco Macho Bacon and Egg Burrito
-Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit
-McDonald's Bacon, Egg and Cheese Bagel
-McDonald's Hash Brown
-Burger King French Toast Sticks
-Dunkin' Donuts Cranberry Orange Muffins
Chapter 10: We Sweet You Right
Recipes are:
-Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Rolls
-Starbucks Pumpkin Pound Cake
-Starbucks Banana Pound Cake
-Subway Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
-Steak 'n Shake Chocolate Malt Shake
-McDonald's Vanilla Triple Thick Shake
-Dairy Queen Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard
-Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino Blended Coffee
Dairy Queen Brownie Earthquake
Dunkin' Donuts Corn Muffins
In The End...
The book itself is just delicious. The more you cook the recipes, the more they come out like the originals. In some recipes, there will always be a difference from the originals. I can't get quite the crispness I like in the french fries or the breaded chicken but I know how the restaurants get it like that: deep double frying in fatty, fatty oils. So I will sacrifice a little texture knowing it's so much better for me.
Devin went to EXTREMES to make these recipes for us. Hours spent on the phone calling companies for nutritional information, visiting multiples of each restaurant to see how serving sizes varied store-by-store, buying triple of every original recipe to ensure her versions tasted, felt, smelt and even WEIGHED as close to the original as she could get, trying to ensure the ingredients she was using were easily available in any state, even going to the grocery store with a MEASURING tape to find the perfect hamburger buns - the girl must have been exhausted! But the pay off is a really great cooking book. While more seasoned chefs (pun not intended, but there it is!) probably won't learn anything new, beyond the recipes themselves I find her general tips on how to prepare chicken, beef or the best kitchen utensils very useful and informative. I feel like this book not only teaches me to make my favorite fast food healthily at home, but also makes me a better overall cook.
Of course like some books it has difficulty staying open, but also like most books with time the spine relaxes and it will flop open to your favorite recipes without your help. Until then, I just use a little paperweight (sometimes just whatever is lying around on the kitchen counter) to hold my page for me and have no problem.
The only thing I would say against it is the lack of pictures. I would have liked to see pictures of the original food and hers for each recipe inside the book. There are a few photos of her creations on the front. Even if we couldn't have the photos of the original, I definitely would have liked to see how hers turns out. It would be easier to know if what I'm pulling out of the oven is spot on. I'm also nursing a bad burn on my knuckle from all my playing around with the oven, but I guess I can't really blame Devin for that. Unless you charge her with making her recipes too delicious to resist!
