how are you? we're back with more of "today" on a tuesday morning, the 27th day of december, 2011. we've got a festive crowd gathered here in rockefeller plaza. some of these people may be in year's eve festivities coming up on saturday night, whatever the reason we're happy to have them with us this morning. out on the plaza, matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. al and ann are off today. coming up, more about good news coming out of london this morning, prince philip was released from a hospital this morning, the 90-year-old went in about four days ago for some emergency heart surgery. he is said to be doing very well, and eager to get back to

the royal holiday celebrations. we'll have the latest o story coming up in just a couple of minutes. >> all right, speaking of the holidays if you have some gifts that you want to return, we'll tell you how to avoid some of the hassles at the mall. some good tips to handle all of the returns you might have this time of year. >> have you made your new year's resolution yet? >> no, i don't really. >> no? >> no. why, does that surprise you? >> no, a lot of people don't because a lot of people break them. top of the list for a lot of people, saving more money and getting better with their finances. we're going to have some expert advice on how you can actually keep those resolutions this year. >> okay, a lot of people resolved to lose weight or get more exercise in the new year. we've got a great handbook "the biggest loser" has easy, quick, fast recipes you can make and they're healthy, too, and delicious and ones involves bacon. you can't go wrong with that. >> exactly. carl quintanilla is at the news desk while natalie enjoys some time off.

carl, take it away. >> matt, savannah, good morning. shoppers took to the web instead of the mall with online sales jumping more than 16% over last year's christmas day shopping rush and the number of shoppers using iphones, ipads and other mobile devices to make purchases this year increased by a whopping 173%. the republican presidential candidates are picking up the pace of their campaigns in iowa, just a week away from that state's caucuses. michele bachmann, with rick perry, newt gingrich will bus through the state today, all claiming to be competitive alternatives to mitt romney, who is looking stronger than expected ahead of the first of the nation tests. prince philip has been released from the hospital after successfully undergoing treatment for a blocked coronary artery. michelle kosinski is outside buckingham palace with the latest. michelle, good morning. >> reporter: hi, carl. this morning prince philip got his wish to be released from the hospital after spending four

nights there. his treatment for a blocked coronary artery was a minimally invasive procedure to install a stent. given the prince is 90 years old, despite his great health, great spirit and great desire to go home, doctors wanted to keep him under observation, but this morning they allowed him to be driven to sandringham palace, this beautiful, cozy place, the royal family loves, they can be out of the public eye and spend the rest of their holidays together. this is the first year prince philip missed christmas there. he is one of the royal family's busiest members, making between 300 and 400 public appearances every year. it's possible after this he may scale back a little more. carl? >> michelle kosinski in london, thanks. officials are investigating what caused a helicopter to crash in florida on its way to pick up a heart for transplant. all three people on board were killed, including a mayo clinic heart surgeon. meantime the donated heart they were en route to retrieve is now expired and cannot be used for a transplant. the patient who was to receive

the heart now waits for a new organ donation. now to that christmas morning tragedy in stamford, connecticut, where five members of one family died in a house fire. investigators believe they found a likely cause. nbc's craig melvin is in stamford with the latest. craig, good morning. >> reporter: carl we're standing in front of all that's left of the badger family home. madonna badger lost her three children and her two parents in that christmas morning fire, and the more we find out about this story the sadder is gets. a short time ago the fire chief told us that the grandfather's body was actually recovered from the roof. he was apparently trying to save one of his small grandchildren. until christmas morning, this was the badger family home. monday, bulldozers reduced the charred shell to rubble. a few feet away neighbors turned thiard into a makeshift memorial. >> any time it's bad but on christmas day when you have family visiting, it's -- i don't know, i don't know what to say. >> reporter: investigators say they now have a good idea what

caused the christmas morning fire that left three little girls and their grandparents dead. city officials says it looks like embers from a starter log triggered the fire. when flames started shooting from the five-bedroom house, 47-year-old madonna badger rushed to the roof and desperately tried to save her family. fire officials had to drag her away. >> all's i could say is that she was instructing where she thought the children would be, and the firefighters made an attempt and were pushed back by heavy flames. >> reporter: badger's three daughters were trapped on the third floor and died. lily was 10. twins sarah and grace were 7. madonna badger escaped with her friend, mike bursena, reportedly a contractor doing work at the house. badger is a prominent new york city fashion executive behind those famous calvin klein ads starring marky mark in the mid '90s. her husband, matthew, lives in new york city. the couple is going through a divorce. the house worth a reported $1.7

million was built in 1890s and a city official says its age and newly installed siding may have spread the fire faster. >> i feel horrible for madonna and for her, you know, the children and her parents. it's just a tragedy. >> reporter: the badger girls are pictured here with her grandfather, lomer johnson. johnson and his wife, paula, were also trapped upstairs, and died. they would have celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary monday. johnson didn't just wear the big red suit for family. this year he played st. nick at saks fifth avenue in new york city. on a website promoting his retirement hobby, he says, "i am now a santa because my oldest granddaughter asked me to be." that makeshift memorial of flowers and teddy bears is growing here over the past day or so. were there smoke alarms? were there fire alarms? those are a few of the questions that we expect to get answered at a press conference set for early this afternoon. carl, back to you. >> just a heartbreaking story.

craig melvin in stamford, thanks. a giant outdoor escalator is making life easier for the 12,000 people who live in one of colombia's poorest neighborhoods. they live in commua 13, which clings to the side of a steep hillside. to get to their homes they had to climb hundreds of large steps, the equivalent of a 28-story building. the escalator cuts the trip from a half hour to five minutes. and i thought living on the second floor was bad. it's now seven minutes past the hour. back to stephanie with a check of the weather. >> carl, we have some viewers here living in the wrong climate from florida, what is your ideal temperature? >> cold. >> from michigan what is your ideal temperature? >> sheet. >> i have someone who has it right. do you like the cold weather? >> yes. >> cookie monster is from new jersey so he's enjoying this. it's going to get wet later today and that's going to cause massive delays in the northeast. it's going to cause some problems also here throughout portions of the southeast.

look at atlanta, also in to charlotte and charlesston, moving up into the northeast, it's going to be windy and snowy and rainy, otherwise through the center of the country, that's where the sun will be shining, also a little wet through the >> good morning. a storm system approaching. the mountains will be the first to see it. a high >> savannah, sweetest kid ever, his 11th birthday but you're doing what? giving out gifts. candy kanes. savannah i'll bring in this one for you for your birthday. >> very sweet. stephanie, thanks.

this morning on "today's consumer" holiday returns. todd mark, senior editor of "consumer reports" is here with good advice to make this experience hassle free. todd, good morning to you. >> we can hope for the best this time of the year. >> this is a busy time for retailers with returns. >> it's amazing. 30% of us are going to be out and about returning a gift this week, and it's estimated that we'll be returning about $46 billion worth of merchandise. >> that's bad for retailers but i have to hope that people who are at the stores might spend on something else? >> it's also a big week for gift cord spending. from "consumer reports" previous surveys, 55% of americans had two or more gift cards left over from last year. we're telling people get out and use them. this is the perfect time because the discounts are marking another 30%, 40% most items in a lot of stores. >> i remember the olden days. i'm 40 now today, so -- >> i wish. >> it used to be easy to return but some of the policies have gotten harder because of return

fraud. >> it's a big deal. about $3.5 billion a year. so retailers in many instances have tightened up their policies with i is good for them but maybe requires you to be on your toes a little bit more. >> let's talk about your tips. >> sure. >> number one probably the most important one which is bring your receipts. >> it's the duh factor. from our survey we know that 58% of people don't even give a gift receipt when they extend a present. you could, in the old days you could say well i'll get a merchandise credit. now you could be turned away and even that, you know, the fact is, you may end up with less than the value of them. remember when you bring an item back without a receipt, if you can bring it back at all, you're going to get the lowest amount the item sold for, not necessarily what was paid for. >> then you're not so happy to see the 40% markup. >> no. >> number two, bring your i.d., why? >> more and more retailers again to combat return fraud have now required consumers to bring a government-issued i.d., a driver's license, because they

can also that way track serial returners, people that have a propenceit to return a lot of items and we want to make sure you're aboveboard. >> timing of your return can make a big difference. how so? >> the timing is, i always tell people look, you have' got a certain amount of days to to it. 90 days for most items, elect n electron electronics, computers, television sets, software, may only have a 7 to 14-day window so that's something to remember. don't just stand around and look at it. bring it back before the time runs out. >> especially talking about electronic, don't cut off the labels or take things out of the boxes. >> that and high-end clothing, a practice called wardrobing, people buy expenses dresses, sweaters and jewelry, take it back after they went to the party and try to get their money back. a lot of retailers cracked down on that and the same thing with electronics. if you take off the cellophane from a software, music cd or dvd you may not be able to return it

at all. don't rip it apart unless you're sure you want it >> there's restocking fees so assuming you could return it, you might get charged something. >> that's especially true with personal electronics items. we've seen that for years. if you rip open the box and take it out of its packaging it can't be sold as new again. it has to be sold as a floor model, demo model. you may pay up to 15. of the product's cost. you don't want to do that. >> you also say check the time line for returning items. we talked about that and know where the item is returnable. if i buy something online you might be able to bring that back to the store. >> generally speaking that's true. if you buy online you can return to a brick and mortar store. people don't realize if you buy from an outlet section or a clearance section of a website, it may not be returnable that way. so you want to know the rules before you go and we found out in our survey that about 50% of americans don't even look at the policy either online in so store

before they return it so you want to avoid like you said the aggravation, avoid a trip back to the post office, repackaging, shipping fee, so just make sure you know before you go. >> all an argument for the gift receipt. if you can't exchange those for cash, can you? >> no cash value to a gift card either so pend those gift cards. you can't get money back. >> good to see you, thanks so much. >> pleasure. coming up next, easy steps to get your financial house in order in 2012. plus siku, the baby polar winning an army of fans all around the world and especially in this studio.

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must be ♪ this morning on requesting tooled's money" makinging a new financial start in 2012, with the new year approaching we have some simple steps you can take right now to get your finances in order. david bach the founder of finishrich.com and author of "debt free for life." happy holidays. good morning to you. >> thank you, carl, good to be here! >> this shows you, you don't need to have a doctorate in math to get these done. >> people talk about new year's resolutions. look at a quick action list. take one tip and implement it for 2012, get a brand new financial. >> let's talk about the first one, pay yourself first. what does that mean? >> we talk about this on every segment i feel like. here's the key, this year in 2012 the number one i want to you do is increase your 401(k) contribution, so pay yourself first means when money comes in, it goes right into your retirement account. carl here's what people should do. this week, while they still have

time, take out the 401(k) statement and increase the dollar amount putting in the plan or increase the percentage. put an extra $500 this year away in your 401(k) plan for 2012, if you just increase your 401(k) plan by 1%, it will make a radical change in your financial life. >> you'll get that money later, not giving it away. >> that's right. >> second automate your finances, is this more than having your bills get paid automatecally? >> there are seven critical things to automate on your financial life and the idea here is that you can automate your financial life in less than one hour so first, make sure your paycheck is going automatecally into a checking account. amazingly, people still get physical checks and walk into a bank, waste about 12 hours of your doing that. once it's in your checking account, move money automatically into your emergency account. we always talk about emergency accounts and people don't do it. then have money into a dream account, your vacation account or gift account, and then move money automatically into your credit card. your minimum monthly payment should be automatically paid, by doing that you'll never be late.

mortgage payments should be automatically paid and then other monthly bills, utility bills, phone bills, anything like that, automate it with online bill pay. >> you talk about making a will and the reasons for that are multifold, right? >> every needs a will, carl. 50% of americans don't have a will, and those that do have a will, many of them are outdated or people have, maybe you went out and got a will started but you haven't finished it. here is the key. you don't have to have kids or be 34married to have a will. everyone needs a will. one of the critical things you need a health care directive. if you get sick, if you get hurt, god forbid if you're in a major accident, your family needs to know legally what efforts you want put in place in order to keep awe life and quite honestly, what medicines you want. additional things, if you do, you need a power of attorney so they can write checks, funeral arrangements, all of that put in a will, very important. get an online program like quicken for example, willmaker,

and less than $50. >> you don't need to be rich, don't need to be a millionaire. it's not that expensive. >> software to do it yourself is less than $50, or hiring attorneys between $500 to $1,500 to get a basic will done. >> track where the money goes. >> so simple. we used to take out a piece of paper and do this. do is automatically. two major websites very popular, very safe, mint.com, millions of people are using it and yodeli. they track where your finances go automatically, show you where your money is being spent and many banks are doing this. citibank announced they've got a program so check with your bank and see if there's a way you can automatically track expenses. most banks will allow you to download to quicken. this is the year 2012 to do it. >> i spend way too much on restaurants i got to fix that next year. radically reduce expenses by giving up something? >> one of the fastest ways to cut your overhead in 2012 is

pick one thing to give up. nobody wants to do this but give up one thing. classic example, cars, many families have two or three cars. giving up one car can save your family $5,000 to $10,000 a year in expenses. now you say i can't give up my car. what could you give up. yes it's going to be hard but if we give it up, it will radically change our financial lives. >> clean it out and sell it. >> so many of us, millions have storage facilities with stuff sitting in them we never look at or think about. get rid of that stuff, sell it, have somebody come, put it up on ebay, close out that storage facility, and then boom you've got more money in savings. that can save you $1,000 a year in overhead there. >> that's the one thing you're going to do. >> my number one goal for the year. still ahead, would you rub olive oil on your brand new table or use vodka as an odor eliminator? everyday items that make great substitutes for your favorite household cleaning products, but first these messages.

to see it through.but we wed today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home. oh, there's a prize, all right.

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>> live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 is update. >> rain moving in from the south and the west with our latest storm system. high of 49 this afternoon. 55 in ocean city. maybe the only spot to see the

♪ ♪ girl you got a heartbeat running away ♪ ♪ beating like a sun and it's coming your way ♪ 2011 was a big year for fashion, from the royal wedding to exciting looks on the red carpet. the first lady turned a few heads. coming up, kathie lee and hoda look back at the year in style, including the fashion hits and misses that had all of us talking. meanwhile, just ahead, a new use for vodka, not just for orange juice anymore. >> you can use it to freshen up your home. we'll explain how and tell you other items you can find around the house double as household cleaners, you're just cleaning and -- >> i was going to say -- >> steam cleaner once you have

the vodka in you. it's a convenient excuse. also ahead a face you have to love. take a look at this little guy, this is siku, a 1-month-old polar bear being raised by human hands. coming up, look at him. he's the cutest. coming up, exclusive conversation with siku. >> see who is cuter, him or your baby pictures. >> oh, no, please just don't show those ever again. also help if you're struggling to lose weight from people who really know how it's done, the folks at "the biggest loser" are out with a brand new cookbook. just ahead delicious and healthy recipes you can have on the table in less than 20 minutes. >> she's rolling it in bacon, that cannot be bad. >> i'm guessing this is not part of -- >> well it's birthday cake. >> in the cookbook? >> i don't think so. that's all right you have to indulge once a year. >> naturally healthy. >> fruits and vegetables. okay, steph how about the weather? >> where we are going to see sunshine today it will be basically the mississippi river westbound, along the east coast

it's going to be pretty messy and along the northwest, as we head into the day tomorrow, this system moves out but there's a lot of wind left behind so still >> good morning. a cloud start the with mild temperatures. a high of 49 around baltimore. the clouds are in place. we're going to enjoy the cake and no vodka. >> the vodka comes later. >> exactly. >> for cleaning obviously, stephanie. coming up next we'll talk about if you run out of your favorite household cleaning products.

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cleaner or furniture polish, why not take a trip to the kitchen or the bar, as the case may be. elizabeth mayhew is the editor-in-chief of "woman's day" magazine. good morning. >> good morning. >> cleaning products can get expensive so this is a helpful segment we're doing here. there are things lying around the house that might be helpful? >> go into your pantry or your bar and really almost everything is there. you don't need to go run out and buy as you've said. these can also be cost-cutting measures. >> let's talk about our first item, furniture polish. you can replace it with? >> you start with olive oil, a lubricant so it will prevent wood from cracking. it keeps it nice and healthy, and then you can either use vinegar or lemon juice to add that. what vinegar does is it's an astringent so it pulls the dirt out of it. for a tougher clean like if something is really dirty, use the vinegar. if you have a milder cleaning, use lemon juice so essentially what you're doing is cleaning your wood with salad dressing. >> that's good.

would you worry about an odor? >> you don't. lemon juice would give a nice odor. you want to put your solution into a bottle, spray it directly on your cloth first before you spray it on the wood. >> not right on the wood. >> because that could be too tough. you go ahead and clean it. one thing, as i said, this is kind of like a salad dressing. wooden salad bowls you should not use like soap on. this is what you use to clean it. so keep the dressing and just wipe it out. >> so you could clean your counter and put it on your salad to spritz -- just kidding, we would never do that. next is glass cleaner. >> glass cleaner is one teaspoon of a dish washing liquid and then it's a third of a cup of white vinegar, white vinegar is the wonder solution, it really does do almost everything, and then three cups of water, so you go ahead, you mix that together, pour it into a bottle, use it to spray and we also like to use my

c microfibers, that's a great way to cut down. easy to do and streak free. >> this is the one we've always been interested in. really, vodka? what is this? >> like any kind of fabric freshener is really at the base of it is ethanol. ethanol is what freshens the smell. both vodka and store bought both have ethanol in them. someone made from petrochemicals and one is made from grain. so vodka, all you do is equal parts of vodka and water. you can even taste it if you want. >> that's quite all right. >> let me show you though that people would say oh what does it smell like. >> that's what i was wondering. >> it really doesn't. the smell disappears. >> yeah, it's true. >> and it gives it a fresh -- >> vodka-y smell. this is like a fabric refresher. >> a fabric refresher and you're diluting it with water. so this is almost straight vodka. >> if anyone is wondering where the vodka is in the house it's

to clean the fabric. >> you don't buy expensive vodka. the cheapest will do the trick. >> i love these swiffer sweepers. you say paper towels is just as good. >> it sounds like a big duh but the grooves picks up and attracts all the dirt. there's no reason to buy the little pads. >> i thought there was a felty magnetic quality? >> not too much. that's what the grooves do, and that's why you buy a pattern like a grooves paper towel. >> you could probably wet it, too? >> it's supposed to be dry but yes you could do that and you could even use one of these solutions if you wanted to. >> maybe some vodka. >> and vinegar. >> now it's a cleaning party. okay, finally draino, if your drain is clogged. >> drano is bad for your pipes. it's a much better and safer way to go taking a half a cup of baking soda, pour that down the drain, follow it with a half a cup of white vinegar, then cover the drain with a cloth like a damp cloth for about five

minutes and then chase it with a thing of boiling water. >> really? >> pour it down and it will absolutely get rid of any clog that you have. >> elizabeth -- >> and then you can have your vodka. >> how did you if igthis oufigu? >> science. >> great chemistry class. coming up next the baby polar bear turned worldwide sensation. we'll catch up with siku right after this. [ female announcer ] find yourself sometimes cleaning up after your dishcloth? bounty extra soft can help. it's super durable, and in this lab test bounty extra soft leaves this surface three times cleaner than a dishcloth. even with just one sheet. super clean. super soft. bounty extra soft. in the pink pack. and try bounty napkins.

is this your normal? jamie lee curtis?? oh, hi, yes...wow, you really went all out on the decorations, huh?! yeah, but i'm so slow taking them down after all the fatty holiday food. but that's normal. what do you mean that's normal? it doesn't have to be. . . . . when eaten 3 times a day. keep a video diary and let me know about your new normal. love your new normal or it's free. your new progresso rich & hearty steak burger soup. [ dad ] i love this new soup. it's his two favorite things in one... burgers and soup. did you hear him honey? burgers and soup. love you. they're cute. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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talk about a cutie. siku is a 1-month-old polar bear being hand raised by zoo keepers in denmark. >> he's already taking the internet and the world by storm. nbc's michelle kosinski has the story. >> is it possible? fathomable, visible that anything on the planet could be this cute? trying to roll around, getting a massage. and maybe his favorite pasttime, napping with his little tongue hanging out. but his name is siku, which means sea ice. the baby polar bear born at a denmark zoo, in his one month of

life he's winning admirers around the world, thanks to internet video. doesn't get much more adorable than this. you can call him unbearable cute, weighing less than two pounds at birth, when his mother couldn't produce milk, zookeeper, round the clock tending to his every need, who could resist. now he's a healthy seven pounds, but those big, squishy feet say it all, there's a giant bear in there, waiting to come out one day, that will be more than 100 times his size, at around half a ton. it calls to mind one other thing this baby polar bear, yes, knut, the beloved berlin superstar who inspired songs. ♪ and merchandising, who eventually became a little too big to snuggle. knut died suddenly in march of encephalitis at 4 years old. in captivity they can live 40

years. there's only an estimated 25,000 polar bears left in the world. so zookeepers are giving siku all the care he can handle. what a job. to ensure that whether or not this guy also becomes a rock star of the animal kingdom, he will be as happy as this, for a long, long time. the polar bear that is melting hearts by the millions. for "today," michelle kosinski, nbc news, london. >> and earlier this morning, siku joined us along with his primary caretaker, frank v. larson, and matt started by asking frank about the challenges of raising a polar bear in captivity. >> the challenges were to get him to eat from the beginning. unfortunately his mother had no milk, so we were left with two options.

we could either leave him to die from starvation or we could bottle feed hill and turn him into an ambassador for his wild cousins living in the arctic. now he's 5 weeks old today and grown from 800 grams to just more than four kilograms so he's doing very fine. >> what's involved with taking care of a polar bear? i mean, we can see this is not easy work you've got going there. >> just takes a lot of patience, and takes away your sleep, but it gives back a fantastic opportunity to see this little thing grow up. he was 800 grams when he was born, and i weighed his daddy two weeks ago and he was just over 500 kilograms so there's a long way to go yet. >> you talk about a long way to go and it's not an exact science. there are risks and challenges and we know the story of knut, and that adorable little polar bear that grew up but

unfortunately died at the age of 4. what are the odds for long-term survivability for siku? >> oh, they're very fine. siku will be completely different bear than knut. siku will grow up in a different environment. he will become an ambassador for his wild counterparts in the arctic. his name siku means sea ice and that's symbolic because the sea ice is melting and that's threatening the existence, survival of the polar bears. also we have the world's largest polar bear facility here, covering two and a half hectares and when he's about 2 years old, he will move in with the other polar bears and have a normal polar wave life, as normal as it can be in captivity. >> what is the long-term plan for him. you say he'll be in captivity, you wouldn't expect to return him to the wild i take it. >> no, none of the animals we have in zoos and wildlife parks

are supposed to go back to the wild. he'd never make it. no, he's going to stay here with us and take part in an international breeding program for polar bears in captivity so hopefully in a few years' time he will become a daddy himself. >> frank, just do me a favor, can you pull that index finger out of his mouth so i can see that it's still there. okay. i just wanted to make sure. >> oh, it's just that sweet, little tongue. >> exactly. listen, good luck is siku. he is true lay forable and it's a wonderful thing that you're doing there. so thank you for joining us. >> can i make a new year wish on behalf of siku? >> you may. >> well, siku would like you all to reduce your carbon footprint and save energy, and if you all do that, he would be very, very happy. >> that was siku, the polar bear along with frank v. larson. >> i wonder at what point he says not so cute anymore. this is not enough to hold him straight. >> it's amazing and actually i was wondering about that

position. he's holding, it looks awkward and hard to do but what do i know about raising a polar bear. >> absolutely nothing. >> or anything. yes. coming up next action healthy meals inspired by "the biggest loser" you can make in 20 minutes or less. first this is "today" on nbc.

this morning on "today's kitchen" learning to eat like a loser. i'm tongue twisting with that. making a new year's resolution to lose weight there's a new cookbook tied to "the biggest loser" that can help. >> this is called "the biggest loser quick and easy cookbook, simple, delicious low-calorie recipes to make in a snap." devan alexander is here. >> good morning. >> we see the contestants working out so hard but diet is a huge part of it, too. >> it really is. i've lost 70 pounds and kept it off for close to 20 years so i

know about kafgz. i'm going to show you some quick and easy recipes that for those who say you don't have time to cook, you're not going to be able to say that. >> some of these ary de ry di ridiculously easy. meatloaf? >> extra lean ground turkey, add two ounces of goat cheese and if someone wants to put the barbecue sauce in there. >> be careful which sauce you choose. >> go with agave sweetened or honey sweetened, something natural. >> you don't want it sugary. the barbecue sauce adds moisture into the meat? >> it does. extra lean ground turkey, who wants to mix that for me? >> okay, i've mixed before. >> so often, you know, ground turkey, people think it's really dry. it's not if you add something in. you can add egg substitute and oatmeal or in this case i add barbecue sauce. >> goat cheese because a little adds a lot of flavor. >> a big bunch of flavor for a couple of ounces.

>> am i supposed to fold the cheese in there? >> you're doing great. >> maybe a little more muscle. >> i love the dangling, too. >> jingle bells. >> i'm like a cat with a bell around its neck. >> so once you have it like this, then you just form it in your pan here. >> what do you have on the bottom of the pan, anything? >> i have it sprayed with olive oil spray. you. tut like that and i simply do it like this and then i do it with my hands a little bit. >> you don't use a loaf pan. >> i don't, because this way the extra drippings drip out, and you get the extra fats out. >> finished product here? >> yes, right here. >> how long in the oven? >> 25 minutes, 400 degrees, and then you would just put the barbecue sauce on top. >> bacon, now you're speaking our language. >> everyone loves bacon. you don't have to give it up. look for something natural, turkey bacon.

take three beans. >> three per bundle. >> three of them yes. the good news about these, three bundles have only 79 calories and three grams of fat. >> wow. >> can you wrap it like 100 times in bacon? >> well no but you'd be surprised, once you cook the bacon it has a strong flavor. you'll see them here so you really as opposed to the advertisers you get at parties, usually three, four, five of the tiny little appetizers have 500 calories so here is 79 calories. asparagus is another great option. so now dessert. >> dessert! the chocolate raspberry dreamer. >> you dream about it, it was the best title. people don't like when you call things things they're not. we have fat free cottage cheese and i'm going to add 100% raspberry all fruit and cocoa powder because i like to add cocoa powder to a lot of things. >> why do you like to add cocoa

powder? >> i'm not sure. cocoa powder adds two grams of fiber and plus you satisfy your chocolate cravings without eating like a chocolate bar. >> boom. >> that crass. berry jam you put in there? >> 100% raspberry fruit spread so basically the sugar free jam. once that's mixed up you chill it, spoon it about a quarter of the mixture on top of there for 179 calories. >> wonderful. >> three grams of fat. >> thank you. "biggest loser" starts a week from on the, 8:00, 7:00 central on nbc. >> hoda and kathie lee next. [ female announcer ] they've been off limits to dieters

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