Random Access

Imagine believing in an idea so much that you not only invest your whole life savings in it, but when you run out of money, you start paying your monthly mortgage on your credit card.
When you land $80,000 in debt and your cookbook idea has been shafted by every publisher in New York and far beyond, you keep moving ahead.
That’s what Janet Podleski and her sister Greta did a decade ago when they were putting together a cookbook featuring low-fat recipes. It was called Looneyspoons, probably because that’s the way the Podleski sisters, two Polish girls from a big family in St. Thomas, Ont., ended up after the experience: a little bit daft.
As they chatted with admirers yesterday afternoon at the Oasis Convention Centre in Lakeview, the Podleskis could laugh about the genesis of the little food empire they have now established.
They were signing copies of their third cookbook, Eat, Shrink And Be Merry for those attending Trillium Health Centre’s incredibly popular annual diabetes information forum.
I was pretending to be there as a reporter but I was really there to get autographs on all three of our books. They have been staples of our household’s meal-planning since we discovered Looneyspoons in an attempt to improve our diets after the cholesterol alarm in my doctor’s office began to wail when I walked through the door several years ago.
Yeah, the recipe names are funny (Thai It You’ll Like It) but all that really counts is that they are scrumptious. You would never know they are low-fat or that they are carefully constructed to maximize the good stuff and minimize the bad.
The overwhelming response from readers of the self-published books (with the assistance of Wealthy Barber David Chilton) told the Podleskis they were on the right track. Comments like “I got healthy by accident” make them smile even more than they already do, which is a lot.
There’s lots of bacon and cream cheese in their recipes and other things the food police would never allow.
“It’s okay to eat 80 per cent healthy and then 20 per cent of the time have what you crave,” said Greta who included a sinful chocolate layer cake recipe in the new book under the proviso: You’re Going to Die Anyway.
“The problem is that most of us have the 80 per cent and the 20 per cent reversed,” laughed Janet, who can’t cook worth a lick. (She once phoned Greta to ask how to make a tuna fish sandwich.)
The sisters’ new line of thin-crust whole-wheat frozen pizzas, by the way, is made by Mississauga’s own Molinaro’s Fine Italian Foods.
Eat Shrink And Be Merry was inspired when a friend of Greta’s told her he’d taken apples out of his kids’ lunches because they contained bad carbs.
“There’s so much confusion out there,” said Greta.
While the Podleskis dispel lots of myths in the detailed information they provide as sidebars to their recipes, the good news is that you only need to read those if you want.
All you really need to do is make the recipes. You’ll be hooked, I promise.
Greta said yesterday that the new book is better than the other two put together. This I do not need believe is possible.
However, in the interests of scientific, culinary research, I am willing to sacrifice my supper hour for the next several months to prove Greta wrong. The good news is that I don’t have to sacrifice my waist line in the process.
Here’s Greta’s favourite recipe from Eat, Shrink And Be Merry, which they’re already getting raves about from readers. It’s called Dilly Beloved.

Marinade:
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 tbsp. grainy Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. fresh dill
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. salt and fresh pepper

4 large skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 680 grams).

Whisk together marinade ingredients. Arrange chicken in glass or ceramic bowl in a tight, single layer. Pour on marinade, turn and coat chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to one day.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Place chicken on middle oven rack. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.
Spoon sauce from bottom of pan over chicken and serve immediately.