The Best of Cooking Light: Over 500 of Our All-Time Greatest Recipes [Hardcover]

Editors of Cooking Light Magazine (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cooking Light | Publication Date: January 1, 2005

The recipes included here have been carefully chosen from more than 10,000 that have appeared in the magazine since 1987. To make the final cut for The Best of Cooking Light, each recipe had to meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Earned a high rating in the Cooking Light Test Kitchens • Has a surprising and satisfying “no-way-this-can-be-light” flavor • Named a “reader favorite recipe” based on calls, letters, e-mails, and comments on cookinglight.com • Voted “most popular” among the Cooking Light Foods staff—these are the recipes they cook for their families and friends

You’re guaranteed success with every recipe! Each recipe has been tested at least twice, often three or four times, in the Cooking Light Test Kitchens to ensure that not only are they supremely healthy, tasty, and easy to prepare, but that they also have the all-important “yum factor.”

 “Our Test Kitchens’ staff does the hard work every day so the rest of us can take Cooking Light accuracy for granted.” Mary Kay Culpepper Editor, Cooking Light  Over 250 color photographs make this all-star collection come alive. A virtual feast for the eyes, this book is as beautiful to read and display, as it is practical to use. Look for serving suggestions and artful food presentations throughout to show you how to turn an ordinary dish into an extraordinary meal.

This healthy cookbook is for all cooks and for all occasions. While some recipes take very little time, others require a bit more commitment. Either way, you’ll have your choice of great food that adjusts to your schedule, your grocery list, and your mood. Plus, • Step-by-step instructions and complete nutritional analysis with each recipe • Preparation and make-ahead tips • Menu suggestions• Ingredient substitutions and purchasing information

Whatever your definition of “best” is, there are recipes here for you. Just step into your kitchen and make them your own.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Launched in 1987, Cooking Light is America’s favorite food magazine. Every month, more than 11 million readers turn to it for the freshest ideas in food and fitness to help them eat smart, be fit, and live well.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxmoor House (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0848730615
• ISBN-13: 978-0848730611
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 1.5 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #387,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something for everyone..., May 21, 2005

By 

A. Lupia "amlbee" (Branford, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best of Cooking Light: Over 500 of Our All-Time Greatest Recipes (Hardcover)

I am rarely a collector of "Best of" anythings, usually finding them too confusing and incomplete. Besides, who's deciding the "best"...?

This book is an exception. As a seriously addicted Foodie, my new cookbooks are read as I would a novel; from cover to cover. If there is a recipe that I want to try I mark it with one of those little colored post-its. This book is full of little purple post-its. Even though I subscribe to the magazine of the same name, and make at least one thing out of it each month, there is something quite satisfying about having all 500 of the "best" recipes in one volume, without all the ads.

Pictures are divine. The instructions clear as a bell. It has recipes for novice and intermediate cooks alike. Some recipes are quick to prepare and others can take awhile. But none are very complicated. I made the "Gorgonzola Fettuccine with Asparagus" in about 25 minutes (including preparing the asparagus) for a surprise lunch guest, and the very nice "Eggplant Parmesan Lasagne" in about an hour when my guy and I decided last minute to nix dinner "out". The "Caesar Potato Salad" was oh-so-good with a roasted chicken on a busy Sunday (the touches of anchovy paste and vermouth were fun.)

Almost every recipe makes some sort of substitution in the name of lower calories and fat, satisfying the "light" part of the title, but this is not a low-carb book (thank goodness...) I like having the nutritional information handy, even if I don't feel like planning a meal around it!

Bottom line...nothing out-of-this-world innovative or exotic or too new, really. But good, interesting, easy to prepare, lower calorie, everyday recipes in ONE volume. A great book to add to your collection or give to the beginning "foodie" in your circle!

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice cookbook that doesn't sacrifice flavor or taste for nutrition, July 10, 2006

By 

Amalfi Coast Girl (Mid-Atlantic, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of Cooking Light: Over 500 of Our All-Time Greatest Recipes (Hardcover)

A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in my collection I tend to be critical of the new additions to my cookbook library. This book has turned out to be a little gem with only a few areas that I would change.

The book is subdivided as follows:
Appetizers and Beverages
Breads
Fish and Shellfish
Meatless Main Dishes
Meats
Poultry
Salads
Sandwiches
Sides
Soups
Desserts

The recipes in this book have great taste, balanced nutrition and straightforward preparation. The instructions are very concise and easy to follow for both the novice and seasoned cook alike.

My overall observations about the book are as follows:

Pros:
1. Book covers many ethnic cuisines in its recipes
2. The recipes are always very good, and differ little in taste compared to the high fat versions
3. Recipe directions are very thorough
4. Bread section is very nice, and many of the recipes are quicker than most bread books
5. Complete Nutritional Analysis is given for each recipe (Calories, Fat, Saturated Fat, Protein, Carbohydrates, Fiber, Cholesterol, Iron, Sodium and Calcium)
6. Most recipes have a full color picture provided in the book
7. Nice sturdy binding that will stand up to many years of constant use


Cons:
1. Shortening (aka: Trans fat) does show up in some of the recipes. I expected cooking light to specify the use of the new trans fat free shortening and they did not.
2. I could have used a little more whole-wheat flour and less white flour in the recipes as well.

As a reader of Cooking Light for about a decade, I have always been pleased with their ability to take a standard "unhealthy" dish and improve its nutritional statistics. In all those years I have yet to find a Cooking Light dish that didn't taste great. I give Cooking Light kudos for making over many of my favorite recipes so that my family can enjoy them more often.

I have given this book 4 stars instead of 5 because the editors did try to make the recipes healthier by reducing the white flour where appropriate and by eliminating standard shortening and recommending trans fat free shortening instead. Overall it is a very solid healthy cookbook, but their is a little room for improvement.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers Every Aspect of a Meal, June 15, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best of Cooking Light: Over 500 of Our All-Time Greatest Recipes (Hardcover)

"The Best of ...." books are ideal for people who don't subscribe to the magazine, and I don't. What this book does is clearly point out that the idea of cooking light doesn't have to be the usual bland stuff.

When I opened the book it fell open to Roasted-Poblano Guacamole. Wow! Then I flipped a few pages and came up with Buffalo-Style Catfish Strips. Double Wow!

There's a whole section on breads. I don't normally bake, but their Jamaican Banana Bread just happened to fit the ripe bananas sitting on the counter. The rum, pecan and coconut topping for the bread sounds great. The bread has just finished cooking as I write so I can't tell about it yet (too hot). I had to sample the topping while preparing it and it's wonderful -- just like the whole house smells.

This book is organized by the big dishes: breads, meats, soups, desserts, etc. The only real question is how light can these foods be, yet the banana bread took half or less of the sugar that most banana bread recipes require. That's a lot lighter. Highly recommended.