French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure is not just another diet book, but a set of guidelines for better eating and living. Whereas diets treat food as a battleground, author Mireille Guiliano treats them as desires to be sated in moderate amounts. Guiliano promotes sensible pleasures: throwing out the scale and using the “zipper test.” If you eat a chocolate croissant at breakfast, eat a vegtable-based meal at lunch and pass on the dinner rolls at dinner, or take an extra walk in the afternoon. Guiliano includes a number of recipes that ehance weightloss, including leek soup and chocolate mousse, that read more like a luxurious French cook book than an American diet one. The book also includes guidelines and tricks that aren’t just for the short-term, but rather for a sustainable lifetime.

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Who doesn’t enjoy the exotic and delicious Mexican cuisine? Wouldn’t you want to recreate these colorful and exciting dishes for yourself? Rick Bayless, whose recipes have been featured on the fourth season of PBS’s “Mexico One Plate at a Time,” shows you how to replicate your own flavorful fiesta in your own home. Bayless doesn’t just teach you how to create healthy dishes, but also gives you a pragmatic approach to your cooking, telling you it’s okay to substitute everyday items for a recipe’s more exotic ingredients. He cheerfully promotes using canned vegtables and, if you’re in a pinch, even prepared salsas, saving you time and effort as you navigate through what could have otherwise be complicated dishes

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Japanse women have the lowest obesity rate in the world at just 3% and the highest life expectancy at 85 years. So, what’s the secret? Authors Naomi Moriyama (a native of Tokyo) and her husband William Doyle explore how a wholesome, simplistic Japanese diet can prolong your life and better your health in their new book, Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat. Japanese cooking is often built on what is called “seven pillars,” in which dishes often consist of at least one of the following: fish, vegetables, rice, soy, noodles, tea, or fruit. Most dishes are easy and familiar to make, with plenty of cooking tips as well as eating tips in general (eat until you are 80% full, etc.). But this isn’t just another didactic health book, Moriyama personalizes the cuisine experience by sharing accounts of her mother Chizuko’s best non-Western cooking practices as well as explaining what her 6′x12′ Tokyo kitchen consisted of, from pantry ingredients like bonito (fish) flakes and daikon (radish) to cooking tools such as the rice cooker and wok. Readers not only get cooking recipes and tips, they get an entire cultural experience and an answer to living better and living longer.

Read what Japundit.com has to say about this book here.

To most people, the holidays are an enjoyable time of the season with good friends and, sometimes more importantly, good food. But for the cook in charge of planning and creating the sumptuous feasts we all enjoy, the holidays are often stressful and exhausting. Well now Leanne Ely is teaching holiday chefs how to be smart with their time, energy, and money while still providing delicious and elaborate meals in her new book Saving Dinner for the Holidays. Ely gives you menus, comprehensive shopping lists organized by grocery store section based on what’s seasonally available, heirloom recipes, and even the all-important timeline so your parties can go off without a hitch. You’ll receive useful tips and hints on what to do in the kitchen to save time and provide a meal that looks as good as it tastes.

Take a look at the official Saving Dinner website.

Much of American cuisine is curiously influenced by Italian cooking, so what can be better than an all-inclusive cookbook that gathers together Italy’s oldest and richest recipes and updates them to suit modern sensibilities and tastes? Thats just what the editors of Phaidon Press did when they compiled traditional Italian cooking techniques for their latest cookbook, The Silver Spoon, and to date, it’s one of Italy’s most popular cookbooks. It all began when a group of cooking experts was commissioned ny Domus magazin to collect hundreds of traditional and modern recipes from the different Italian regions and make them available to a wider audience. In the process, they aslo updated ingredients, quantities, and methods while at the same time preserving the memory of ancient recipes. Readers will enjoy this flavorful book and perhaps will be motivated to stir up a few dishes of their own.

Here comes another book from the Swell collection of Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig. This time, readers find a guide to throwing the best parties of all varieties. From hangover parties stocked with gel-eye masks, to heavy duty grilling gatherings, to pish-posh cocktail parties, Cynthia and Ilene have a goal to help every woman (or man) out there become a memorable hostess/host by simply toning down effort and boosting up fun. Read The Swell Dressed Party for a fun-loving guide to throwing successful parties!

Cynthia Rowley is an internationally acclaimed fashion designer. Ilene Rosenzweig is the deputy style editor for the Sunday Style section of the New York Times. Atria of Warner Books is the publisher of this book.
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If you spend any time at all the kitchen, you’ve probably heard of the Pampered Chef if you don’t have at least one of its products in your kitchen. Author Doris Christopher was a home economist and teacher when she turned a novel idea into a billion-dollar business. The Pampered Chef takes a look at the work and will that drove Christopher to success. Christopher also offers her advice and includes valuable information and strategies on how to start up a business. Christopher cooks up a recipe for success in this guide for the young, the old, men and women alike.

Doris Christopher founded The Pampered Chef, Ltd. and is the current CEO. She has been featured in such prestigious magazines as The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Working Women.
USA Today review

Roadfood is a dining bible for those who love traveling as much as they love good food. In the sixth edition of the book, Jane and Michael Stern cover almost 600 down-home restaurants with 175 new listings and updated old favorites. From the soulful barbecue of the south to the seafood shacks of New England and all the hotdogs, ice cream and homemade pies in between, Roadfood offers tips, descriptions and maps for the country’s best roadside dining.

Jane and Michael Stern have written over thirty books about America and have won several awards for their work on Roadfood. Broadway Books is the publisher.
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No beach day is complete without good food. In The Beach House Cookbook, Barbara Scott-Goodman offers over 75 recipes that are sure to satisfy and entertain every beach bod. Recipes include appetizers, soups, sandwiches, main courses, desserts and drinks; all perfect for seaside settings and outdoor gatherings.

Barbara Scott-Goodman writes, art directs and designs her own cookbooks. The Beach House Cookbook is published by Chronicle Books.

Blueberries have made their way into our favorite recipes from haute culture restaurants to grandmas’ country kitchens for as long as we can remember. Not only is this distinctive fruit pleasing to our palate, but it is also beneficial for our health. Author Linda Dannenberg teams up with photographer Zeva Oelbaum to deliver 80 fresh and exciting recipes from renowned chefs as well as home cooks.

Linda Dannenberg is a respected writer of fine cuisine and Zeva Oelbaum is an award-winning photographer. True Blueberry is published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang.