I like Betty Crocker cookbooks -- they're always nicely illustrated with good indexes and lots of uncomplicated recipes -- so I was pleased to discover Win at Weight Loss: A Healthy Guide for the Whole Family miss-shelved in the 614s (gremlins, I tell you).

I made six recipes from this cookbook and, in general, was quite pleased with the results. While I'm not sure these recipes are necessarily more nutritious than recipes found in other Betty Crocker cookbooks, they're nicely framed with lots of healthy tips and weightless information which might make this book very handy for families interested in easing into a more healthy and nutritious diet. This book is, basically, everything you need to know to live healthy.

For my own amusement, I calculated out the Weight Watchers Points per serving for each recipe I prepared. In some cases, as I expected, these recipes were not safe Weight Watchers choices. Still yummy, though, and I will probably keep eating them.

Recipes I tried:
"Tomato-Basil Chicken Casserole" (pg 158)
A basic tomato-based chicken and pasta casserole padded with zucchini and olives. It went together quite quickly and cooked fine even though I prepped it all a day ahead. This dish is so basic that it would be easy to adapt to please most any palate by using different vegetables or meat (or omitting the meat and doubling the veg). While the finished dish was reasonably tasty, it didn't knock my socks off. It's definitely an easy week night supper, though.

"Sage Chicken and Potatoes" (pg 159).
I also made it a day ahead and it cooked up just fine. Also like the previous casserole, this dish was very basic and yielded spectacularly unsurprising results. Still, it's worth repeating and easy enough to doctor so that it doesn't get boring.

"Nutty Salmon and Rice" (pg 147) for supper. I wasn't paying proper attention and ended up tossing the parsley in with the glaze rather than garnishing the finished dish with it. It still tasted fine even if it looked a little sad. The pecans gave the rice a nice crunch and the marmalade/soy glaze worked well with the salmon. We eat a lot of salmon in my house and we will certainly be eating this preparation again.

"Barbecue Chicken and Bean Casserole" (pg 162).
Again, I made it the day before and it still baked up just fine. The bean-barbecue-chicken combination made me expect some kind-of cowboy chuck wagon stew (something hearty you'd cook in a cast iron dutch oven in the coals of a campfire), but what I ate was much better than that. It was like a fast and delicious cassoulet. I used Heinz (English style) baked beans so probably got a runnier and more tomato-y cassoulet than you'd get using New England or Boston style beans. ( )