2. The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook
By the editors at America’s Test Kitchen, America’s Test Kitchen, 2010. Hardcover. $35; 520 pages

This comprehensive collection of 800+ family and global favorites helps put healthy eating in an everyday context, from meat loaf to Indian curry with chicken. Whole grains and vegetables abound, dishes use leaner cuts of meat, and portion sizes are sensible.

Recipes reveal clever lightening tricks that you’ll feel compelled to try, like browning a smaller amount of butter for bigger flavor in Chocolate Chip Cookies. Stripped of the lengthy trial-and-error reporting of its magazine counterpart, Cook’s Illustrated, this book takes a CliffsNotes approach with product recommendations (high-performing muffin pans), kitchen tips (how to quickly thaw steaks), and other helpful information on just about every page. Nutrition analysis is also provided with each recipe.

GIVE THIS TO: The practical cook of any skill level who wants ideas for everyday healthy meals for her family. —Ann Taylor Pittman