Light and Hearty: From Pad Thai to Cassoulet, Healthy Home-Style Recipes from Around the World

Jones ( Cook It Light ), doyenne of diet advice and syndicated columnist, now offers a slim cookbook capitalizing on several food trends, fusing culinary techniques and ethnic ingredients from around the world into ``light and hearty'' dishes. Given her expertise in writing recipes for newspaper readers, directions are succinct and clear for the recipes, many gathered from foreign cooks and professional chefs. The author also knows that many Americans crave old standards--e.g., macaroni and cheese. Such staple dishes are given less fattening reincarnations: macaroni and cheese, for example, made with 2% milk and reduced fat cheese, weighs in at 12 grams of fat per cup, versus 22 grams for the typical recipe made with whole milk and aged cheddar. True to form, Jones chooses basic recipes from ethnic cuisines, such as hummus from the Middle East, oven-roasted potatoes from Tuscany and hot German potato salad. Hence, adventurous dishes, such as Thai baked squid complete with directions on how to eviscerate the creature (``Remove the ink sac and the eyes from the head and discard''), seem a bit out of place among the simpler preparations. Apart from the occasional exotic repast, home cooks seeking low-fat recipes enlivened with a bit of exoticism will find safe bets for dependable dinners among the 120 recipes featured. (May)