Date: Fri 15-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Illustration: C

Location: A-9

Quick Words:

cooks-healthy-meals-snacks

Full Text:

Books For Cooks-

Healthy Eating Never Tasted So Good

(with book covers)

By Kaaren Valenta

Americans are trying to eat lighter, more healthful meals and snacks today,

despite busy professional and personal lifestyles. To that end, publishers are

proliferating the cookbook field with easy, low-fat books with titles like

Lighter, Quicker, Better and Healthy Indulgences.

Lighter, Quicker, Better: Cooking for the Way We Eat Today , by Richard Sax

and Marie Simmons; William Morrow & Company, June 1995; $25/hard cover, 416

pp.

Professional cooks and food writers Richard Sax and Marie Simmons suggest a

very common-sense approach - rather than focusing on counting fat grams, they

emphasize basic advice, guidelines and cooking techniques that lead to a

healthier lifestyle. The book's more than 200 recipes focus on changes in

three components: ingredients, such as moving meat from the center of the meal

to being a side dish and incorporating a palate of flavors from around the

world; equipment, like using a non-stick pan with a thin film of olive oil

instead of an uncoated one with butter; and techniques, such as roasting

vegetables rather than steaming to deepen the flavors.

There are light versions of old favorites such as Super Chocolate Pudding and

Unfried Fried Chicken; quick recipes like Penne with Cauliflower, Tomatoes and

Basil, which saves time by cooking the cauliflower right in the pasta water;

and better versions like Roasted Tomato Gazpacho and Sweet Potatoes Topped

with Black Bean Chili.

Healthy Indulgences: Enjoy the Good Life and Good Food with the

Low-Cholesterol Gourmet , by Lynn Fischer; William Morrow & Company; June

1995, $20/hard cover, 374 pp.

Lynn Fischer, host of "Lynn Fischer's Healthy Indulgences" on public

television, is known to millions as the Low-Cholesterol Gourmet. Her new book

provides tips for changing the way you eat and recipes that are low in fat

(with saturated fat under 2 grams per serving), easy to prepare and delicious.

The author puts favorite classics through a nutritional workout, resulting in

creamy-style soups, innovative dips and traditionally high-fat dishes stripped

of calories and fat. Her slimmed-down recipes include dishes like Pumpkin and

Orange Swirl Cheesecake, Steamed Artichokes with Curry Dip, Linguine with Clam

Sauce, Chocolaty Chocolate Brownies, Rock and Roll Potato Salad and

Pecan-Crusted Turkey Fillets with Pear-Cranberry Relish.

A complete nutritional analysis accompanies each recipe; sidebars include tips

on eating out, creating low-fat dressings and dips; lists of low-fat

alternative products and strategies for enjoying yourself at a party without

blowing your fat budget.

Simply Healthy , by the editors of The Wellness Cooking School and the

University of California at Berkeley Wellness Center; Random House, January

1995, $24.95/hard cover, 256 pp.

Current nutritional research shows that beta carotene and Vitamin C - vital

antioxidant nutrients that may help fight heart disease, cancer and other

serious disorders - are best consumed in foods rather than supplements.

Fortunately, these antioxidants are found in many fruits and vegetables.

These ingredients, both alone and in combination with grains and legumes, lean

meat, fish and poultry, take center stage in Simply Healthy's collection of

more than 250 delicious recipes. For example, a recipe for California Pizza

Dough adds carrot juice to the dough to boost the beta carotene to 17

milligrams, almost triple the minimum recommended daily intake. A recipe for

sauteed spinach and kale contains 265 milligrams of Vitamin C, surpassing the

recommended daily intake in just a side dish.

Special features include "extra-quick" recipes that take under 30 minutes to

prepare, and tips and techniques for dramatically increasing the flavor of the

foods you cook while minimizing the fat content. Every recipe in the book is

accompanied by an extensive nutritional analysis.

Betty Crocker's Easy Low Fat Cooking ; Macmillan General Reference, February

1995, $15/hard cover, 144 pp.

Betty Crocker has joined the low-fat brigade with 120 recipes that are easy to

prepare and get 30 percent or less of their calories from fat. Dishes like

Cheese Fondue Dip, Stuffed French Toast and Bavarian Beef Stew use ingredients

like lite cheese, egg substitutes, evaporated skim milk and pureed fruit to

cut back on high-fat choices. All recipes include nutritional information to

help track not only fat, but cholesterol, sodium, calories, fiber and

essential vitamins.

Worried about a tendency to snack on high-fat foods? The book includes a list

of 40 snacks for 100 calories or less. There are 16 suggested menus for meals

like Sunday Brunch, a Summer Supper and Middle East Feast; 30 enticing color

photographs; and tips on how to modify fat content in favorite recipes.

Enola Prudhomme's Low-Fat Favorites , by Enola Prudhomme; William Morrow &

Company, December 1994, $17.95/spiral-bound hard cover paperback, 326 pp.

In this fitting follow-up to her 1991 bestseller, Enola Prudhomme's Low-Fat

Cajun Cooking , this restauranteur of the world-famous Prudhomme family shares

more than 200 favorite Cajun, Tex-Mex, Creole and Gulf cuisine recipes. She

chose traditional favorites and local specialties from all over the South and

transformed them into healthy dishes without sacrificing taste. Some of these

include Texas Chili, Sweet Potato Slaw with Raisin Dressing, Crispy Spicy

Catfish, Chicken Lasagna and Smoked Turkey Sausage.

Whether a healthy standard like Old-Fashioned Pot-Roasted Hen or a dessert

like Double Chocolate Brownies, each recipe comes with a nutritional analysis

that details the calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium per serving. A bonus

section, "Notes from Our Kitchen," is filled with trade secrets for the home

cook and also explains a list of cooking terms and regional ingredients used

throughout the book.