7 Skinny Secrets

3. Skinny Cooking Secret: Puree Away
What it does Pureeing veggies is a great way to make a rich-tasting, ultra-lowfat gravy or create a creamy soup sans fat. "The hand blender is my samurai sword in the kitchen!" says Cruz.

How to do it
Roast root vegetables such as carrots, celery root, fennel and leeks with garlic, put them in a pot with some canned low-sodium broth and puree it all into a delicious gravy for meats or poultry, Cruz advises.

Chef Kevin Graham of El Monte Sagrado Living Resort & Spa in Taos, N.M., tricks the palate into believing there's cream in his tomato and carrot soups by pureeing them with a little cooked rice or potato.

4. Skinny Cooking Secret: Bust Butter
What it does Cutting butter or oil from cake, muffin or quick-bread recipes saves you loads of calories and saturated fat. But fat also makes things moist. The trick to retaining moist reduced-fat baked goods, Reichler explains, is to replace that fat with something healthier. You can use applesauce in white cakes and pureed prunes in chocolate cakes. But Cruz prefers the subtle flavor pureed pears (from the baby-food aisle!) give pound cake, and Reichler likes the added carotene pureed sweet potato adds to chocolate cake.

How to do it Each recipe is different, so you may have to experiment. Reichler's rule of thumb: Cut the butter by half, reduce the sugar by a fourth and add 1/4 cup of fruit puree.

To make your own sweet potato puree, boil peeled potatoes until tender, drain and toss into a blender.

5. Skinny Cooking Secret: Get Fruity
What it does Cooking with fruit adds a sophisticated complexity to dishes, so they need less fat. Larry Maiman, founder of Maeni's Bakery Cafe, a top Los Angeles destination for slimmed-down sweets, explains, "We eliminate some of the fat and we don't use refined white sugar. Instead we use a fruit juice reduction in most of our products." You can also liven up savory dishes with fruit flavors, Wavrin says. He uses a pear reduction over roasted leeks or grilled fish. But don't limit yourself to fresh produce. "Reconstitute dried fruits with wine and make a sweet, savory sauce. This is always nice with pork tenderloin," Guttersen notes.

How to do it
Wavrin cooks organic, unfiltered apple or pear juice until it's reduced by three-fourths. Bring 4 cups of juice to a rapid boil in a saucepan over high heat and continue boiling uncovered until it cooks down to just 1 cup. The result will be thick, syrupy and intensely flavorful.