A collection of 120 wonderful low-fat and low-calorie recipes, gathered from the best dishes sent in by viewers of Good Morning, America offers delicious entreTs and desserts and adds recipes from famed chef Emeril Lagasse. TV tie-in. 50,000 first printing. In the spring of 1999, following a series of programs devoted to losing weight, Good Morning America ran a Cut the Calories Cook-off. Over 1,100 viewers of this popular TV show submitted recipes for either an entree or a dessert. The resulting cookbook features 120 recipes, including a few contributed by chefs Emeril Lagasse and Sara Moulton. Dishes include the 50 semifinalist recipes, plus others considered delicious by judges Lagasse, Moulton, Wolfgang Puck, and Michael Lomonaco of Windows on the World in New York City. The grand-prize winners? Oven Fried Chicken with Andouille Sausage and Caramel Cheesecake with Praline Sauce. The chicken's crunch comes from crispy rice cereal and this all-American dish is seasoned with Parmesan cheese and cumin. The conquering cheesecake, a snap to make, is accompanied by a creamy sauce studded with pecans. The recipes, overall, reflect America's broadening taste for spicy foods and national acceptance of ethnic ingredients, with dishes calling for chili peppers--chipotles, anchos, green, even red jalapeños--and Chinese hoisin sauce, Italian balsamic vinegar, and Cajun Andouille sausage. Cheesecake is truly a favorite American dessert, with six recipes for it in this book. A cook from Oregon even managed to slim down one with a chocolate crust, chocolate filling, and hazelnut topping. Fruit desserts are well represented, too. Most remarkable is Sweet Nachos featuring cinnamon-sprinkled, crisped tortillas topped with a luscious, warm raspberry "salsa" and creamy topping. With so many Americans needing to slim down, this book should be a big winner, thanks to its easy and alluring recipes. --Dana Jacobi ABC's weekday morning show challenged its viewers to come up with new and tasty recipes for low-calorie foods. Ten dozen recipes from the thousand submissions to that contest have been brought together in a single volume. These recipes run the gamut from appetizers through dessert, the unifying theme being calorie skimping without loss of flavor. Fruit-based salsas for fish are a popular way to multiply flavors without adding fat-laden sauces. Egg whites substitute for whole eggs, even in a winning bread pudding enhanced with maple syrup. Vegetarians will revel in the large number of meatless entrees decidedly different from those found in the usual vegetarian cookbooks. Dessert lovers will appreciate the no-fat whipped cream substitute developed especially for this book. Additional contributions from food professionals, including superstar Emeril Lagasse, add sophistication and a touch of glamour. Nutritional analyses included with each recipe. Mark Knoblauch Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved SARA MOULTON is executive chef at Gourmet magazine and is the food editor at Good Morning America. She has two daily shows on the Food Network, Cooking Live and Cooking Live Primetime. JEAN ANDERSON has been a magazine editor at The Ladies' Home Journal and Family Circle, and has written over 20 cookbooks, including the bestselling Doubleday Cookbook and The American Century Cookbook. She has won four "cookbook Oscars" and was recently inducted into the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame. Foreword by Emeril Lagasse As we approach the new millennium, it has been obvious to me and others just how exciting food and cooking have become to a vast audience: men, women, and children. It has been the most exciting time for all of us to eat in America. When a group of us at Good Morning America decided to see how creative people were cooking, we said, "Lets try to see how America is cutting calories." It wasnt a matter of cutting corners or cutting quality, just plain calories. We established the criteria that each entry in the Good Morning America Cut the Calories Cook-Off must be an original recipe, either savory or sweet, and certainly low in fat and low in calories. This would be a challenge. We were shocked by the number of entries. These were all narrowed down to five finalists in each category--Entrees and Desserts--after being screened and tested by Good Morning America Food Editor Sara Moulton and her GMA team. The most popular dishes we received were cheesecakes, trifles (layered desserts in footed clear bowls), and chicken recipes. Surprisingly, we had more main dishes than desserts, but nearly everything we saw was creative, thoughtful, moderately priced, delicious but low in calories. Dishes like Turkey Salsa Meat Loaf; Spicy Salmon Salad; Grilled Halibut with Rum Sauce, Great Greens, and Olives; Chicken Cutlets with Roasted Red Peppers, Clelia Style; and of course our entre winner, Oven-Fried Chicken with Andouille Sausage. Or how about Luscious Lemon-Berry Parfait, "Not" Cream Cheese