I Can Make You Hot! (44 page)

Bar No-Pitti Pasta,
here

Pasta with Oddkavodka Sauce,
here

Crazy Crushed Potatoes,
here

Eggplant Lasagna,
here

Where’s the Zucchini? Bread,
here

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You can purchase kale chips at health food stores and many well-stocked supermarkets.

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The Ivy also serves versions of this salad made with poached lobster or salmon instead of the chicken.

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Agave is a plant grown primarily in Mexico, the southern and western United States, and South America. While it is known primarily as the plant used to make tequila, its sap is also used to make the natural sweetener known as agave nectar or syrup, which tastes very similar to honey, but has a glycemic index similar to fructose, which is much lower than that of either honey or sucrose (table sugar).

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Using olive oil in a spray bottle means that you’ll use less oil and will have more control over coating the pan evenly.

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I love this chicken stuffed with ginger, but if you’re not a ginger freak you can stuff the cavity with a stick of butter. I know it’s a lot, but it makes the chicken really moist and delicious.

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Both sun-dried tomatoes and capers are salty, so you don’t want to use both. If using the capers instead of the sun-dried tomatoes, stir them in at the end of the recipe. Capers and sun-dried tomatoes are actually great ways to add a salty taste without using salt.

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Thai mayonnaise isn’t exactly low-cal, but it’s incredibly flavorful so a little goes a long way. You can buy it at Whole Foods or at other well-stocked food markets.

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If you’re on a budget, imitation crabmeat is great; for a splurge, go for the king crab legs

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If you don’t have a vegetable peeler, you can remove the skin from the ginger with the edge of a teaspoon.

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An easy way to crush garlic is to lay it on a cutting board and smack it hard with the side of a large knife.

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If using frozen shrimp, defrost them in cool (not hot) water. This takes only a few minutes.

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This is highly flavorful and concentrated, so a little goes a long way.

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If you’re in a cooking mood, you can also use the
homemade vodka sauce
.

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Soy milk thickens very nicely when making sauces, but it doesn’t have the vitamin D of cow’s milk.

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An easy way to cut leaves into chiffonade is to stack them on top of one another, roll them up, and slice through the roll crosswise with a sharp knife to produce thin ribbons.

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You can substitute whole wheat, gluten-free, or even spaghetti squash for regular pasta if you wish.

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To make your own tortilla chips, spray a baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut corn tortillas into triangles and spread them in the pan. Sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt, and paprika and bake in a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until crispy.

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Unless a recipe specifies salted butter, you should always use unsalted, especially in baking. I always use unsalted butter in all my cooking because it allows me to control how much salt I put in my food.

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If you are making a layer cake, fill and frost it with your favorite chocolate cake frosting or whipped cream.

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The recipe can be increased to make as many servings as you like or to make each napoleon even taller. You can also make it as one big “cake” rather than single servings.

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Leave the seeds in if you dare—they make the drink even
hotter
.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Contents

Foreword

Introduction: What’s HOT and What’s Not

Monday: Make a List—Plan and Prepare!

Tuesday: A Little Ohm and a Little Oh Yeah!—It’s All about Balance

Wednesday: Diet = “DIE with a T”

Thursday: Tricks of My Trade

Friday: Hot Couture

Saturday: Heat Up Your HOT Image with Healthy Options Today

Sunday: Funday

Hot Recipes for a Hotter You