Reprinted from the Palm Beach Post

The happy homemakers' guide to life

By Staci Sturrock
Palm Beach Post Fashion Editor
Thursday, February 26, 2009

The stars aligned in Palm Beach County last week.

Reality TV stars, that is.
Two Real Housewives, to be exact.
Although neither is a housewife, exactly.
Oh, but let us not quibble.

Click here to watch the video, Bethenny Frankel at Alene Too

Bethenny Frankel, of The Real Housewives of New York City, signs an autograph for a fan at the Alene Too boutique in Boca Raton as she promotes her new book, Naturally Thin. 'Nothing in small quantities is fattening,' she says.

Let's leave any hair-splitting (and hair-pulling) to the ladies on The Real Housewives of Orange County and The Real Housewives of New York City and The Real Housewives of Atlanta - three of the hottest properties on Bravo.

The fans who follow the exploits of Lauri, Lynne, LuAnn, Tamra, Ramona, NeNe and DeShawn certainly don't care that chef Bethenny is single or that Realtor Jeana Keough is legally separated from her husband.

So when Bethenny came to Boca last week, and Jeana jetted over to West Palm Beach, their fans lined up to meet them.

The housewife: Bethenny Frankel, the single 38-year-old natural foods chef, author and entrepreneur

The show: The Real Housewives of New York City, which began its second season on Bravo last week. Sample highlight from Bravotv.com episode summary: "While on vacation in the Hamptons, Alex and Simon run into Jill at a party and their feud comes to a head."

The show's appeal: "It's not that we're all so fascinating or unique. If you picked any five women in Boca, and put them together, they would be interesting," Bethenny says. "It would be just as interesting in Detroit. It's the people that are interesting, not necessarily the situations."

On location: Alene Too, a designer boutique on Southwest 18th Street in Boca Raton

The occasion: A shopping benefit for the Go Pink Challenge and a celebration of the March publication of Bethenny's book, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl & Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting

Fashion advice: Bid on designer labels.

In a recent US Weekly "Who wore it better" showdown with Cameron Diaz, Bethenny was declared the winner by readers. "I bought that dress for $250 on eBay. It's really a $2,000 dress, and I bought it in the wrong size, too big for me, and I had it altered.

"I'm the MacGyver of fashion. I don't pay retail, ever."

A fan: Jennifer Rudnick let her 9-year-old daughter Lexi skip school so the pair could meet Bethenny at Alene Too. "She's so real and she's a really good friend (to the other women on the show), and she's just adorable," said the 37-year-old resident of the Boca Delray community. "We love the show. It's just so fun."

A good housewife knows her way around the kitchen (and the liquor cabinet)

The philosophy behind 'Naturally Thin:Unleash Your Skinnygirl & Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting' is 'so stupid that it is smart,' says Bethenny Frankel, one of The Real Housewives of New York City.

The natural foods chef, who recently promoted her book at Alene Too in Boca Raton, describes Naturally Thin as 'a series of rules and tools and a different vernacular to navigate you through any situation.'

Sample rule: Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

'Nothing in small quantities is fattening,' Bethenny says, 'and you can have it all, you just can't have it all at once.'

Although Bethenny qualifies as a skinny girl now, she experienced her share of diets - 'the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet, always obsessed with my weight, always yo-yoing.'

Now she promotes a more realistic approach to eating.

'It's so '80s to be constantly obsessed. And you want to eat, drink and be merry.'

Naturally Thin is due out March 10. In the meantime, Bethenny shared some advice on eating, drinking and snacking smartly:

Dating while dieting

'Men don't like women who order steamed vegetables and salads. It's annoying. Don't let them know what you're doing. You have your own little plan,' Bethenny says.

'You always eat before you go out on anything. I have a "do spoil your appetite" rule.'

Whether you're headed out on a date, to a party or to the multiplex, have a 200-calorie snack before you leave, Bethenny says, because it'll save you 500 or 700 calories on the bread basket, the baked brie or the buttered popcorn.

At a restaurant, Bethenny suggests ordering two appetizers - one decadent, such as fried calamari, and one healthy, like a salad.

Most importantly, 'leave food on your plate, whether it's broccoli or fried chicken, because you need to get used to that. Cancel your membership to the clean plate club.'

Healthy snacks to have on hand

• Soup, particularly pureed vegetable soups.

'Soup is a great investment. It fills you up, it's nourishing, it's comfort food. Soup is your best friend.'

• Sprouted-grain bread or sprouted-grain English muffins.

Eat with hummus, soy cheese or nonfat cheese for a satisfying but low-calorie snack.

• Costco tuna.

'I'm obsessed with Costco, and they have the best white tuna, and that's a good high-protein thing to have in your house.'

Embrace a girlie cocktail

'The truth is girls don't want to drink vodka on the rocks. Girls want to drink margaritas and cosmopolitans.'

But margaritas contain up to 700 calories, and they go down easy, resulting in too-quick tipsiness and hangovers. 'It's 20 different things that are wrong.'

So Bethenny created a line of SkinnyGirl cocktails, which will be available in stores in May. In the meantime, here's the SkinnyGirl margarita recipe from BethennyBakes.com:

2 ounces clear tequila ('Count 1, 2 while you pour, no need for measuring')
A splash of fresh lime juice
A splash of Cointreau, Grand Marnier or Triple Sec

Combine ingredients over a glass of ice.

Garnish with a lime wedge and salt (or sugar), if you'd like.