Pick Up Trucks

When French-trained chef Seaver ( Jeannette Seaver's Secrets of Everyday Good Cooking ) was warned that she and her husband were unwitting members of a ``high-risk cholesterol group,'' she embarked on a quest for a cuisine ``that would qualify as gourmet and still reduce our cholesterol.'' The more than 200 recipes in this hopeful book attest to her success. As the foundation for her reformed haute cuisine, Seaver recreates the basic elements of French cooking, not hesitating to substitute soy milk for heavy cream. She incorporates many such innovations into 27 full-course dinner menus for classic fare: choucroute au poisson et au champagne, oyster napoleons with truffle sauce, even chocolate eclairs. Helpful analyses of calories, cholesterol, fats and sodium levels are presented for every menu, as are insights into how each recipe was adapted. And a sampling of low-cholesterol breakfast and lunch dishes provides an exotic break from infernal oatmeal and tuna fish. The Seavers are the publishers of Arcade Books. (Nov.)