The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook

Shares recipes that reflect the author's philosophies about simple preparation, seasonal ingredients, and satisfying flavors, providing complementary recommendations for entertaining, menu planning, and wine selection.

Auteur

Mireille Guiliano is the bestselling author of French Women Don't Get Fat, French Women For All Seasons, and Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire. Born and raised in France, she is married to an American and lives most of the year in New York and Paris. She is the former President and CEO of Clicquot, Inc.

Texte du rabat

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of French Women Don’t Get Fat offers a collection of delicious, healthy recipes and advice on eating well without gaining weight.

With French Women Don’t Get Fat, Mireille Guiliano wrote the ultimate non–diet book on how to enjoy food and stay slim, sparking a worldwide publishing phenomenon. Now, in her first-ever cookbook, she provides her millions of readers with the recipes that are the cornerstone of her philosophy—mouthwatering, simply prepared dishes that favor fresh, seasonal ingredients and yield high satisfaction.

Organized around Mireille’s three favorite pastimes—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—these recipes emphasize pure flavors, balanced ingredients, and easy cooking methods. Eating pleasurably is just as important as eating healthfully, and Mireille does not neglect dessert and chocolate (essential components of any French woman’s diet) and incorporates advice on entertaining, menu planning, and wine selection. And once again, Mireille offers tips and tricks to reduce one’s waistline (including a secret family recipe from Mireille’s beloved Tante Berthe for a delicious breakfast that melts away pounds effortlessly).

Filled with stories from Mireille’s childhood in France, her life in Paris, Provence, and New York, and her extensive travels and meals for business and enjoyment, The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook is a beautiful, practical lifestyle guide to living well, eating wonderfully, and getting the most out of life with the least amount of stress.

Échantillon de lecture
The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook

Chapter One

 
BREAKFAST AND LE BRUNCH

I confess my greatest culinary transformation in life concerns breakfast, and my approach to it continues to evolve. I eat breakfast religiously and, I believe, healthily. That wasn’t always the case. Growing up in France, I ate a light breakfast (remember we had our main meal at midday, sometimes not long after I awoke, so I was not always looking to fill up). Generally my breakfast consisted of carbohydrates and coffee. A cup of café au lait and perhaps a piece of bread with butter and preserves (my mother’s own). Or a slice of the breakfast cake my mother would make once or twice a week. Once in a while, I ate stale bread in chunks in a bol, like a soup bowl, softened and moistened with a soup-size portion of coffee and milk. No protein, no fruit. I was not alone in France. A croissant and coffee, anyone?

Things did not improve when I came to America as an exchange student. Mostly carbohydrates and coffee again. Once in a while I ingested an egg or two, but with bacon and sometimes potatoes. But those carbs—I discovered donuts and bagels, two of which many consider the most delicious albeit fattening and unhealthy foods on earth. Moderation? I only ate one bagel. Who knew that a bagel is loaded with salt and contains as many calories/carbs as a few slices of bread? But, of course, I covered my bagel with cream cheese and jam. Being French, more jam than cream cheese, so I was getting very little protein. And have you noticed the super-sizing of bagels? Not if you were born in the past quarter century. Before that, they actually were what we mostly call mini-bagels today. Plus, being French, I was not then nor am I now into getting my protein or water from a glass of milk. Donuts are deep-fried, and I did not restrict myself to just one. The most wonderful discovery of all was muffins, English muffins and blueberry muffins. Who knew? At least they are not fried. I was also introduced to dry cereal in a bowl covered with milk and perhaps with an added banana. And then there was orange juice in a cardboard carton and served in an eight-ounce water glass. But perhaps most memorable of all was that special occasion breakfast: pancakes. Living in New England, I developed a lifelong fondness for maple syrup. No question, I enjoyed and enjoy all of the above, but now in moderation and balance, or better as occasional indulgences.

When I returned to Paris for college, the now plump me drank coffee as my morning stimulant and ate pastry for breakfast (and lunch… and dinner). But I lived to tell the tale (in book form). I remember from then through my twenties dismissing German, Scandinavian, even English breakfasts as unappetizing and huge. I wasn’t going to eat meat or fish or eggs and cheese and get fat (again). Sausages for breakfast? Please…

I am still not a fan of big breakfasts, but am a devotee of and convert to balanced breakfasts (and lunch and dinner): some protein, some carbohydrates, some fat (a holy trinity of sorts), and fluids. I often do eat a slice (or slivers) of cheese. And, I consider breakfast the most important meal of the day. Don’t skip it or your wheels tend to come off in a hurry. My true breakfast epiphany occurred just a few years ago when one day a family breakfast specialty, perfected by Tante Berthe, and one that I had not thought about or eaten since childhood burst upon my inner eye and palate and changed everything.

Magical Breakfast Cream (with no cream) or MBC

Here’s one of my secrets, really Tante Berthe’s, for some quick and healthy weight loss without dieting. Aunt Berthe had her slow but sure way to lose ten pounds effortlessly each summer. So while most of the French families I knew when I was growing up (and it’s still true today) indulged on vacation and came back with a few extra pounds, she came back svelte and bien dans sa peau.

I adored my Tante Berthe. One of five sisters, she was Grand-mère Louise’s youngest sister, and although all of the sisters were attractive women with similar features, blue or green eyes, great cheekbones, long hair kept in gorgeous chignons (I used to love to watch Aunt Berthe do her hair), beautiful peachy skin, and a small nose ever so slightly retroussé, Tante Berthe had that little extra je ne sais quoi. Maybe it was her small round glasses or her beautiful smile or her mischievous look that showed in her sparkling eyes. She was also funny, had a great laugh, and sang beautifully while cooking. She always dressed simply with a gray or navy blue long skirt and had the most seductive tops from lovely classic blouses to charmeuses in soft cotton, pale colors, and lace, and only a few pieces of classic jewelry. And she loved hats. She was the only sister living by herself, and her status was never discussed although we knew she was not a veuve (a widow) since she was addressed as Madame Berthe Juncker. (In France had she been a widow she would have been referred to as Madame Veuve Juncker, like Madame Veuve Clicquot, a famous “widow” from Champagne.) We knew she had some beau, at least we grasped some of that among relatives’ hushed conversations. She seemed to have enough money to live without working though she lived rather frugally and would spend the year visiting relatives to help out with children and cooking usually for a week or two at a time and then move on, either go back to her home or travel (some would say disappear) for a week or so…