Simply Heartsmart Cooking

Frances Emery is an editor and writer in Nepean, Ontario.

This book, by one of Canada’s best-know cooking teachers, is crammed
with hints for healthful as well as yummy eating.

All good cookbooks need a logical arrangement of recipes, with clear
ingredients listings, and explicit instructions on putting them
together. This one has all that and much more. Each recipe has its own
nutritional analysis in an accompanying sidebar. (The nutritional
analysis is explained in the book’s informative introductory pages.)
The creative recipes (which avoid fats) use flavorful ingredients from
international cuisines to produce their wonderful taste. I especially
appreciate the frequent sidebars that explain what these sometimes
unusual ingredients are, and how to buy, store, and prepare them. Other
sidebars contain mini-recipes and hints on cooking utensils and methods.
The index includes even the sidebar material, which is useful for quick
reference to items mentioned in other recipes.

Several recipes have already been a huge success in our family—a
low-fat cheesecake that looks and tastes like the real thing, only
better; delicious, easy-to-make scones; a wonderful salad dressing—but
a couple were a waste of good ingredients (I should have known that 24
garlic cloves and 2 pounds of potatoes would turn into a pretty fierce
glue). Successes far outnumber failures, however. And the information
alone in this cookbook (on basic cooking, nutritional planning, seasonal
foods, economy in the kitchen, cooking with leftovers, and menus) would
make it a great buy. An appendix discusses fats, cholesterol, fibre, and
sodium, and analyzes the recipes on the basis of the food choice system
of the Canadian Diabetes Association.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting both great meals and a
healthy lifestyle. Its easy, informative style would be invaluable to
any beginning cook (or would-be health enthusiast), with its wealth of
hints on new and different foods and cooking methods. And its delicious
but low-fat recipes would be invaluable to the great cook who wants to
“cut back” but still craves that great taste.