500 Fat Free Recipes

January 3, 1994
Dedicated dieters and recovering cardiac patients are often told to lower fat intake--but few people can concoct imaginative low-fat meals to make the dietary change either permanent or pleasurable. Schlesinger ( The Low Cholesterol Olive Oil Cookbook ) offers a valuable resource to those who wish to reduce fat to 10% of caloric intake. A lengthy introduction supplies details on stocking the pantry, cooking techniques used in recipes, and additional sources for diet-related information. Recipes suited for microwave cookery constitute a welcome chapter. Dishes such as Havana beans with rice and ricotta-apricot toastwiches combine plenty of complex carbohydrates. Perhaps the only problem is that some recipes do not give actual serving sizes in ounce or cup measures: for example, the barley and apple pilaf yields ``6 servings,'' but when divided into sixths, serving sizes looked small indeed. Some of Schlesinger's culinary advice leads novice cooks in the wrong direction: baked goods made without fat do stale more quickly, and for this reason, they should be frozen, not stored in the refrigerator as recommended. But oversights are rare: most of the recipes are healthful and easy to prepare, making this book a good addition to the low-fat bookshelf.