More than 200 light and healthy recipes that are full of flavor. Making recipes lighter and healthier is not as simple as taking a favorite family recipe and stripping it of full-fat milk and cheese - at least if you’re concerned with flavor. And when you do want to use lower-fat ingredients, how do you know which brands and types to buy? (Our blind taste tests have found that nonfat products are usually awful, whereas many low-fat brands are actually quite good.)

What this points to, then, is that a test kitchen with 35 cooks is a pretty good place to sort through “light and healthy” recipes and to figure out how to create first-rate makeovers of dishes like Ultimate Beef Chili and Light and Fluffy Chocolate Mousse or to simply fine-tune a recipe for Maple-Glazed Acorn Squash or Barbecued Chicken Kabobs.

The chapter names in Light & Healthy 2012 tell the complete story: Appetizers & Snacks; Soups & Stews; Poultry; Meat; Fish & Shellfish; Pizza & Pasta; Slow Cooker; Fire Up the Grill; Rice, Grains & Beans; Perfect Vegetables; Breakfast, Baked Goods & Breads; and, of course, Desserts. What one notices immediately is that this table of contents doesn’t sound like typically “light” fare - we wanted to give you the same types of big-flavored dishes that you have grown to expect from us but a lso do it with an eye toward healthy eating and a light hand in the kitchen. But hidden in these chapters are some real gems, such as using a tangy goat cheese instead of traditional cheddar for a low-fat Bacon-Scallion Cheese Ball. Our Foolproof Thin Crust Pizza has a simple, no-cook sauce; part-skim mozzarella; sharp, nutty Parmesan; and a crust that gets additional flavor from an unusual stopover in the refrigerator. We gave Asparagus Gratin new life by steaming the spears separately in a quick broth made from the asparagus ends and then broiling the dish until its Parmesan and Monterey Jack cheese topping is golden brown. If you want comfort food, try our Buttermilk Baked Chicken; you’d never guess that the simple addition of powdered ranch seasoning mix to the buttermilk bath and a crisp bread-crumb coating could give the chicken such big, bright flavor. Cooking light and healthy has never been easier.

Light & Healthy 2012