Member Spotlight

Featured Member

 

Peter_W

Nutrisystem Member Peter_W was nominated for his inspiring success, but it's his culinary creativity that's also got people singing his praises.

We chatted with him about his role as head chef of sorts in the Nutrisystem Community, and what his future plans are. Get the inside dish on a true pioneer in preparing healthy dishes the Nutrisystem way—and see what else he's got cooking!

Have you always been interested in cooking, or has it been a result of your Nutrisystem experience?
"I've always enjoyed cooking since a young age. I think I gained most of my weight partly because I stopped cooking for a time. I had a busy career and would come home feeling unwilling to put the energy into cooking for just me. The consequence was frequent take out and prepackaged meals—overall, not a healthy lifestyle. There definitely is a correlation between my weight loss and getting serious about cooking. Nutrisystem also played a significant role. It showed me what I should be shooting for in terms of portions, nutritional profile and ingredients."

Has learning how to eat properly boosted your creativity?
"There's no question that it has also sparked my creativity, starting with dressing up some of the Nutrisystem items, moving on to making vegetables more interesting and then trying to recreate favorites that aren't available from Nutrisystem."

How did your Nutrisystem-friendly recipe project begin? When you started, did you have any idea it would become so huge?
"When I first started Nutrisystem I was very much in learning mode and trying not to stray from the Nutrisystem guidelines. After I got more familiar, I started browsing the Recipe Center and the forums looking for ideas and ways to make some of the Nutrisystem foods more interesting. I was impressed by some of the creative ideas, and after lurking for a while, I thought it was time to try to give back a bit. Then people started to encourage me to put out a cookbook, like Christina and Amy had done before me. Anyway, that's how it started. I didn't really expect it would grow quite the way it has."

Is there a specific recipe of yours that people seem to like the best? Do you have a favorite recipe?
"One thing that is difficult is trying to track which recipes people like. I can see how often people view one of my recipe posts, but it's not always simple to interpret (except when it's a small number). For example, if I mention 'chocolate' or 'doughnut' in the title, I think I could count on a large number of views regardless of whether it was a good recipe or not. It looks like my most popular recipe is the Yogurt Cake (breakfast based on Nutrisystem® Pancake Mix) followed by Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins (breakfast based on the Nutrisystem® Pancake Mix), Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes and Elvis Bread. I like variety so I can't claim to have a personal favorite, but I do frequently make the Yogurt Cake and Elvis Bread."

Do you have any new recipes that you've been working on that you'd like to tell the community about?
"I don't want to tease, but it's fair to say that I am always working on new recipes. Sometimes I get distracted by something required by my training, ingredients in season or whatever. I have two projects that I keep coming back to: one is a pizza crust; the second is pasta dough. I'm a little more focused on the pasta and think I'm pretty close. I have something workable that is 50% cauliflower. I'm just working on how to adjust the consistency to make different forms of pasta."

You've obviously had great success on the program, and have helped a lot of people, both with your fantastic recipes and your advice. Are you planning on sticking around for a while?
"Yes, I plan to stick around. I've made some friends on the boards and they seem to enjoy my recipes. Maybe I can even help some people overcome their dislike for vegetables."

Be sure to check out Peter_W's Nutrisystem cookbook here!

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