You Can Trust a Skinny Cook: 140 Recipes That Love You Back

Fishman, a contributor to Cooking Light magazine and coauthor of Cook Yourself Thin, advocates taking control of your health by learning to cook delicious food that also happens to be low in calories. Among her "10 commandments for your best body" are "never go hungry," "snack between meals," "fill half your plate with vegetables," "have breakfast and make it at least 250 calories," and "Enjoy what you eat. If you don't like it, don't put it in your mouth." The emphasis is certainly on eating, not dieting, though each recipe lists serving size and nutritional information. Breakfast options include crepes with saut%C3%A9ed apples and bread pudding with peaches and blueberries; there's a flourless chocolate cake, berry cobbler, and profiteroles for dessert. In between, there are your run-of-the-mill salads and soups (spinach, Caesar, beet; potato-leek, black bean, carrot-ginger); snacks (deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, hummus); pastas; vegetables; sides; and mains (quick chicken mole, shrimp scampi, classic roast beef, seared duck breast, pulled pork). While nothing is particularly groundbreaking, Fishman gets points for her emphasis on enjoying food and eating more in smaller portions, and her "skinny tips" accompanying most recipes are insightful. This is a good book for beginning cooks who want relatively healthy versions of classic dishes. (Apr.)