I am trying to lose weight, get more fit and generally improve my health in any way I can.

One of best ways I know how is to make healthy meals at home, but over the last few months, I've run through my standard dishes and am in need of new, easy and satisfying items to add to the mix.

That's when I discovered You Can Trust a Skinny Cook. 

The idea behind it is that you can stay trim without starving yourself, which is exactly what I need. Eating real, delicious food without using "lite" anything. Yep, that's the way to go, I think. Author Allison Fishman writes: 

"For almost a decade, I was a corporate executive, running around, eating food that was cooked by other people. I was overweight. When I ate at home, it was to everyone's benefit that I didn't cook. I was a disaster in the kitchen.

I left the corporate world and went to culinary school. I wanted to help people who had never learned to cook (like me) make good food and gain confidence in the kitchen. 

And then something crazy happened. I cooked all morning at school, practiced what I learned at home in the afternoon, ate a lot, and lost 20 pounds. I knew that cooking for myself was the healthiest way to eat for a variety of reasons, but how could a person eat so much and lose weight?"

She says that she doesn't deprive herself (a powerful lesson, no?) and that "For some people, it's music. For others, it's art. For me, it's food. I plan to live a long, healthy life eating delicious food every day." I'm adapting that for myself if that's all right.

And I'm going to incorporate Mexican Breakfast Tortillas, Shaved Salad with Miso Dressing, Chicken and Andouille Gumbo, Stuffed Mushrooms, Moroccan Carrots, Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage, Fuss-Free Meatballs in Marinara, Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce, Thai Beef, Cherry Clafouti, Lemon Curd Tartlets, Double-Chocolate Biscotti and Pecan Snowballs into the fold. Talk about indulgent!

I'll leave you with this that she wrote - "I'll take healthy and happy over scrawny and cranky any day." 

Get this awesome school of thought, complete with recipes and great kitchen tips with You Can Trust a Skinny Cook.