It’s a great time to eat well. Farmers’ markets filled with local and organic vegetables are sprouting up everywhere, and supermarkets are spilling over with whole grain choices, bigger and better produce sections, and a variety of healthier convenience foods. Cooking for both health and pleasure has made creating this, our twelfth cookbook, a wonderful experience. What always remains fresh and constant is the joy we find in cooking and delight in eating.

—From the Introduction

Here in her mid-80s Lewis brings out the best of Southern cooking with a collaborator less than half her age. She's a Virginian; he's from Alabama. So get ready for a delicious spread. They are both dedicated to preserving Southern food ways, and to updating whenever they can. The book is simply packed with wonderful treats from Spicy Eggplant Relish all the way to Warm Apple Crisp. It's written in Peacock's voice and unless he says so there's no telling where his recipes end and hers begin. But it doesn't matter. They are peas in a pod, those two. You will not only learn how Southern food should taste with The Gift of Southern Cooking, you will learn why and you will learn how. Neither your fried chicken nor your buttermilk biscuits will ever be the same. --Schuyler Ingle

Under pressure to prepare a quick, nutritious dinner? Under pressure to reduce your fat and cholesterol? When the pressure's on for a great vegetarian meal on the run, turn to Lorna Sass's second guide to the safe and delicious use of the pressure cooker.

Following the phenomenal success of Cooking Under Pressure, this collection of recipes dispels the myth of the difficult-to-use pressure cooker -- which is in fact easier and faster than the microwave -- and shows how vegetarian fare can be vibrantly colorful and full of flavor!

Bursting with rich soups, hearty stews and casseroles, zesty curries, and flavor-packed chilis, Great Vegetarion Cooking Under Pressure brings together over 150 recipes, most with cooking times of under ten minutes. Arrive in Provence with a two-minute soupe au pistou laced with garlic and fennel; serve up an elegant zucchini bisque with tomatoes and fresh basil in just five minutes; or prepare a polenta good enough for a palazzo in only ten minutes. There are also scores of perfect vegetable side dish recipes, with an instructive chart detailing how to prepare everything from artichokes to zucchini.

Lorna Sass devotes special attention to grains -- a vital part of the healthy diet -- and shows how brown rice, millet, couscous, quinoa, and bulgur can turn from gourmet store items into staples of your pantry. Whether it's Risotto with Broccoli Rabe and White Beans in five minutes, or Mediterranean Vegetable Couscous in just six, these recipes lock in delicious nutrition without tying up precious time. There's even a section about the splendid desserts that are possible with the pressure cooker, like Banana Pudding Cake and Pumpkin Bread Pudding.

Filled with informative sections about the equipment, ingredients, and language of pressure cooking, suggestions for theme menus, and mail-order resources, this compendium of high-quality, high-fiber, low-fat (and mostly cholesterol-free) dishes will become an essential guide for today's bustling cook.

Ah, the comforting allure of soup, as brought to you by the creative experts at the Cooking Light Test Kitchens. With 56 easy-to-follow soup recipes, this new cookbook is as beautiful as it is practical; a handy reference for delicious recipes that are nutritious as well as satisfying. Sure to be well-thumbed, its smaller size and hardcover design lend themselves to frequent perusing and planning. This attractive volume will be a must have for beginning and seasoned cooks alike.