Light and Easy Holiday Cooking: Simple, Healthy Meals That Are As Good-Tasting As They Are Good for You

As each major holiday approaches, those watching their waistlines view the coming celebration with dread as another occasion to blow their diets. But delicious traditional meals need not ruin healthy habits. Now anyone can create flavorful holiday meals that perfectly reflect the holiday spirit but are lower in fat, salt, and sugar.

Sandra Woodruff, completely reinventing her bestselling cookbook (previously titled Fat-Free Holiday Recipes), shares more than two hundred new recipes for celebrations. In Light and Easy Holiday Cooking, Woodruff introduces a variety of ingredients that lighten up holiday fare without sacrificing flavor. She includes creative recipes for tempting hot and cold hors d'oeurves and beverages, complete holiday menus for twelve traditional holidays and celebrations, and guilt-free desserts and sweet treats. Each menu is accompanied by plan-ahead strategies to help the reader avoid a last-minute rush.

Sandra Woodruff, celebrated cookbook author and registered dietician, believes that it is possible to eat guilt-free on holidays and everyday throughout the year. No need for post-holiday dieting, because the recipes in Light and Healthy Holiday Cooking are simple and smart variations of all the traditional favorites, with flavorful ingredient substitutions that won't compromise taste or texture. Woodruff suggests easy replacements of low- or nonfat dairy products or mayonnaise for the full-fat ingredients. She calls for fruit juice rather than white processed sugar to sweeten desserts, and even proffers honey as a healthier alternative. The nutritional totals at the end of each recipe make it easy to count calorie and fat intake so you know where you stand--or what you stand to gain.

Many of Woodruff's recipe-altering ideas are suggestions you've probably heard before but not always taken seriously. She often compares the fat and calorie counts of the traditional favorites to her alternatives, and it serves as a wake-up call for how easy it is to overconsume and eat less than healthily. The recipes are organized by holidays, including major religious observances, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, and more. So go ahead and enjoy the Triple Fudge Torte (yes, it's in there) without regret, and use this book as your guide to smarter eating and cooking everyday. --Teresa Simanton