The Best Light Recipe: Would You Make 28 Light Cheesecakes to Find One You'd Actually Want to Eat? We Did. Here Are 300 Lower Fat Recipes Tha

For the last 8 years since leaving home I have been figuring out how to convert all my parents old recipies to be healthier. This cookbook does not always go as far as I would, but it does have really great recipies and has finally solved some of the recipes I had not figured out yet (biscuits being the best find). I have not made anything from this book that wasn't great so far! Even better, the authors choose to not give recipies that are poor imitations, and this is something I really dislike about other healthy cook books. Instead of giving a bad pie crust recipe they suggest making cobblers, and I really appriciate that honesty in this cookbox. If you are looking for a recipe book that allows you to make healthy versions of all the staple foods you love, look no further and pick up this book! *(Health Freak Disclaimer) I have to agree with the reviewers who said that the only dissapointment is the one-directional approach the book takes to healthier eating by reducing calories and fat. I never cook with "bad" carbohydrates, replace all white sugar with other sweeteners and take other such steps to make my food more healthy. What I can say in favor of this book, is that even though I have modified every recipe to replace white flour with whole grains, and white rice with brown and sugar with agave or date sugar I have had everything turn out great. If you are used to converting recipies like this anyway then this book will provide a much better starting point then other cook books. I have made the biscuits with WW Flour (they turned out great). I modified the carrot cake recipe to replace white flour and sugar and I modified the veggie bell peppers by using brown instead of white rice. I modified the banana bread to use WW flour instead of white. I would prefer the authors had already done these conversions, but the truth is that they are easy and by using "standard" igrediants they will reach a much wider audience.

Determined to create a lower fat cookbook which puts taste first, America's Test Kitchen, in conjunction with Cook's Illustrated magazine, assigned two dozen cooks, editors, food scientists, tasters, and cookware specialists to the task. Creating a play-by-play diary for each recipe, the Test Kitchen describes the low-fat ingredients and combinations of ingredients they tried for each recipe, their experiments with cooking methods, and their results, including the reasons for rejecting all but the final recipe. The end results are sensational. Here you can indulge in lower-fat macaroni and cheese, cheesy chicken enchiladas, guacamole, eggplant parmesan, and fudgy brownies. In fact, if they hadn't shown the fat content and calories for a standard recipe beside the content of their improved, low-fat version, you would not be able to tell by taste that most of these recipes reduce the amount of fat by about 65%. The creamy macaroni and cheese reduces the fat by an amazing 78%. The centerpiece of the cookbook is the cheesecake, which appears on the cover. It does require steps--easy ones--taken in advance, but none of these steps are time-consuming, and the end results are worth it. Since the Test Kitchen made 28 cheesecakes before developing the final recipe, I followed the instructions exactly when I made it this week for Easter. The directions said to bake for one and a half hours, "or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the cheesecake reads 150 degrees," a specific instruction that I've never seen for a cheesecake before, but it worked, with one of our guests declaring the results to be the best cheesecake she's ever eaten (and I agree). The Carrot-Ginger Soup and the Roasted Artichoke Dip, both involving roasting the vegetables to intensify the taste, are equally good and have had an equal number of raves, as have the Vegetable Lasagna and New England Clam Chowder. Though the book has sixteen pages of colored photos, it relies primarily on helpful drawings which illustrate cooking methods, along with thumbnail photos of brand-named ingredients and equipment. The Test Kitchen even lists the "best" product, when appropriate--Ronzoni Oven Ready Lasagne Noodles and Sargento Reduced-fat Mozzarella Cheese, among the foods, and Farberware's (inexpensive) Millennium Soft Touch Stainless Nonstick Skillet, and Baker's Secret Nonstick Loaf Pan among the equipment. Throughout the book, the editors stress "Core Techniques," those techniques they have discovered to improve the taste of lower-fat recipes--how to increase the chocolate flavor of low-fat cakes, for example. Revolutionary in its approach and rigorous in its testing, America's Test Kitchen has produced a cookbook that really will change lives for the better--by making lower fat recipes so delicious that you will never miss the fat. And even if you find yourself unexpectedly using yogurt cheese in your cheesecake or mashed lima beans in your guacamole, y

It is clear to me that the reviewer below with a 2 star rating has not sampled any of the recipes in this incredible cookbook. Without exception all the meals we have tried have been absolutely first rate. From the skillet green beans, to the chicken parmesan, to the blueberry cobbler, we have enjoyed not only delicious but light and healthy meals fit for a gourmand. Not only are the ingredients clearly outlined, but also the unique processes for cooking in low fat methods are defined. The book is extremely well researched and includes preferred brands. For someone who has been cooking low fat for over 10 years, I am delighted that Cooks Illustrated has raised the bar for healthy cookbooks!

As a long time Cooks Illustrated fan and subscriber, I was so happy that they published this book. I recently ordered this book and have already prepared ten recipes. Each recipe was well written, easy to follow, and delicious. In typical Cooks illustrated fashion, they tested out several strategies for each recipe to find the one that would provide a low fat, lower calorie alternative without sacrificing taste. I have many "light" cookbooks in my library, but none have impressed me until now! This book will now be my primary, everyday cookbook. I am so pleased with it, I have already ordered two additional copies as gifts for friends and family.