The Best American Recipes 2003-2004 : The Year's Top Picks from Books, Magazines, Newspapers, and the Internet

Where can you turn to find the best recipes of the past year? According to reviewers for the New York Times, People, Food & Wine, House Beautiful, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, and many others, the answer is The Best American Recipes. Having this volume at your disposal is like subscribing to every food magazine in the country, owning every newly released cookbook, and having a trusted food authority to test every single recipe.  For this year's volume, the most wide-ranging and exciting yet, series editors Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens tested their way through more than a thousand choices, including                                    * magazines (from Gourmet to Real Simple to Newsweek)
* cookbooks (from The Sopranos Cookbook to The Convent Cook)
* newsletters (from restaurant publications to winery handouts)
* Web sites (from About.com to the California Walnut Commission site)
* food packages (from the back of a crème fraîche package to a tag on a lemon squeezer)
* and even insider e-mails from one food professional to another.
What's new in this year's edition? In a word, simplicity. The Best American Recipes 2003-2004 gives you 147 fabulously easy recipes. There's a fool proof pasta from the world-famous French chef Alain Ducasse; a first-rate barbecue sauce from Lady Bird Johnson; a terrific breakfast from the cookbook that won this year's top award; bar cookies that caused a sensation at a New York cocktail party (made from Rice Krispies, no less); and the hands-down favorite cheesecake of The West Wing's Martin Sheen. In addition, you'll find all the answers to your holiday needs, from a foolproof juicy turkey that's the specialty of a New York restaurateur to desserts for the festive table.
Also in The Best American Recipes are the top ten food trends of the year and a list of the ten best-of-the-best recipes published this year.

Another American Classic

 Weight Watchers® Simply the Best All American : Our 250 Regional Favorites from Around the Country

Best of the Best: The Best Recipes from the 25 Best Cookbooks of the Year

 Buy only one cookbook this year, and still get all the best recipes published in the past 12 months. Almost 1 million subscribers heartily agree: Food & Wine is the unrivaled leader in the field, and every year their editors search tirelessly for the most delectable dishes from the "crème de la crème" of cookbooks. Here are their selections--more than 100 from 25 cookbooks--all fully kitchen-tested. And the chefs don't come better than this: Mario Batali (Babbo Cookbook), Daniel Boulud (Chef Daniel Boulud), Wolfgang Puck (Live, Love, Eat!), Alice Waters (Chez Panisse Fruit), Eric Ripert (A Return to Cooking), and Marcel Desaulniers (Celebrate with Chocolate). Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison show how to start the day with A Real American Breakfast, including Blueberry Turnovers and Corned Beef Hash. David Thompson provides a luscious introduction to Thai Food, with such delicious meals as Stir-Fried Minced Beef with Chilies and Holy Basil. Nick Malgieri explains how to bake Perfect Cakes: try a Chocolate Chiffon or Zuccotto alla Ricotta. Go vegetarian with Charmaine Solomon's Eggplant Lasagne; Mediterranean with Annisa Helon's Chick Pea Fritters; or Spanish with Janet Mendel's Flamenco Potato Salad with Lemon Dressing.
Each recipe will tantalize you on the page, just from the enticing photos and the descriptions. Imagine what they will really taste like on your palate.

The roasted apple/squash soup is worth the price of the book--I dream about it.

Who knew healthy cooking could be so sensuous and wonderful?   For food that --feels good to eat--I reccommend:  

The Healthy Kitchen: Recipes for a Better Body, Life, and Spirit

A lifestyle book as much as a cookbook, The Healthy Kitchen is a collaboration between Rosie Daley (author of In the Kitchen with Rosie and former Oprah Winfrey chef) and Andrew Weil (nutrition guru and author of Eating Well for Optimum Health). Both are successful authors and good at what they do; he provides the nutritional backbone to the recipes (his introduction is a concise version of his dietary philosophy with more advice found throughout the book), and she provides the balance of great taste and easy preparation. It's a winning combination, and the result is a useable guide to healthy cooking with a collection of 135 recipes good for your stomach, heart and indeed, spirit.

Weil claims he is "unwilling to eat food that is boring, artless, and devoid of pleasure even if it's somebody else's idea of healthful."

Roasted Cornish Hens with Roasted Garlic, Smoked Fish with Horseradish Sauce, and Thai Shrimp and Papaya Salad are a few of the more adventurous dishes, while there are lots of standards too (pasta, grilled fish…). The useful "Tips from Rosie’s Kitchen" and "Andy Suggests" boxes are nice additions to the recipes, giving the book a personal touch -- you can almost hear Rosie and Andy bantering in the background. This one really is good for you.

Looking for more Healthy Eating or Weight Loss Cookbooks --See  Fifty Cookbooks for Weight Loss  

Other Favorites from the fifty

Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2001

One I'd like to try Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2004 (Cooking Light Annual Recipes, 2004)