7 Skinny Secrets
6. Skinny Cooking Secret:
Rack It Up
What it does A wire rack elevates meat or poultry to keep it out of its juices (and grease), and allows air circulation for even cooking and browning. Placing some liquid, such as water or chicken broth, in the pan below the rack adds humidity to your oven, so meats come out tender and moist. Cruz also uses a wire rack to cook crispy "oven-fried" chicken.
How to do it
Center meat, such as pork loin or whole chicken, on a rack that you've placed inside a roasting pan. Add 1-2 cups of broth to the roasting pan and cook according to recipe. To make oven-fried chicken, dip skinless chicken breast (bone in) in Egg Beaters and roll it in seasoned breadcrumbs or finely chopped nuts. Place a wire rack in a roasting pan. Coat rack with cooking spray and place breaded chicken on it in a single layer. Lightly spray chicken, and bake at 375-400* F for about 40 minutes, until crispy. Cruz notes, "It doesn't get mushy or soggy since it cooks all the way around, and since you sprayed it with the cooking spray, it will have a fried texture."
7. Skinny Cooking Secret: fry (almost) fearless
What it does Reducing the amount of fat used in frying is good for your thighs and your kitchen -- using less butter or oil saves you calories and splatter. Here's Cruz's equation for trimming fry pan fat: "Say you'd need 2 tablespoons of oil to coat the bottom of a 12-inch pan. That's 200 calories of oil to coat it. If you coat it with spray oil, it may take a three-second spray. One second worth of spray is about 7 calories, so that's 21 calories -- a 179-calorie savings!"
How to do it
Have a heavy, well-made nonstick frying pan on hand and always stock cooking spray in your pantry. Or create your own cooking spray by using aromatic oils such as peanut, sesame and extra-virgin olive oil in a pressurized mister can such as a Misto. But it's possible to saute without even as much as a mist of oil, Reichler explains. "You can use broth, juice, wine or any other liquid that will help spread the heat around the pan."
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