Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #645085 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-07
• Released on: 2003-04-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Diagnosed with diabetes, LaBelle, bestselling cookbook writer (LaBelle Cuisine) and Grammy-winning singer, has had to find ways to control her diet and make it healthier; this newest is the inspiring result. All 100 starters, entrees, sides and desserts are low on fat, sodium and sugar-but definitely high on flavor. Orange Roughy with Roasted Tomato and Olive Relish and Marvelous Minted Snap Peas are stylishly lean and contemporary, but LaBelle also cooks up old-fashioned Southern comfort food like Crunchy Cajun Catfish Nuggets, Down-Home Pork Chops in Guilt-Free Gravy and Chocolate Pecan Pie. All dishes include complete nutritional analyses, with diabetic exchanges and carbohydrate choices developed and approved by the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association; they also come with "Patti's Pointers" (ideas on technique, equipment and ingredients), along with warm reminiscences of meals with family and friends. LaBelle is wonderful company for someone on a diet regime of any kind (as her friendly family photos further illustrate); she is creative, upbeat, knowledgeable and amusing.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
What sets off Patti LaBelle's Lite Cuisine from other celebrity cookbooks is its careful attention to recipes suitable for anyone living with diabetes. Working with coauthor Laura Randolph Lancaster, LaBelle has turned her own struggles with diabetes into a book full of help and inspirational advice for anyone burdened with the same affliction. To accomplish this, the book records dozens of recipes with reduced fats and sugars. Chicken is skinless and ground turkey stands in for ground beef as appropriate. Sugar substitutes make sweet desserts possible. Every recipe has a full nutritional analysis as well as a listing of diet exchanges for diabetics. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Patti LaBelle has enjoyed a nearly four-decade-long career and has won multiple Grammy Awards and earned three Emmy nominations. She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Don't Block the Blessings and LaBelle Cuisine. She currently serves as spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, the National Medical Association, the National Minority AIDS Council's "Live Long, Sugar" campaign, and the National Cancer Institute. She was recently awarded the Recording Academy's first MusiCares Award for her "deep-hearted commitment to many notable charities and causes."

Laura Randolph Lancaster is a journalist, attorney, and the co-author of Don't Block the Blessings and LaBelle Cuisine. Formerly the managing editor of Ebony, she was the magazine's White House correspondent and creator of its acclaimed "Sisterspeak" column.

Customer Reviews

Patti did it again!!!
Patti Labelle's Lite Cuisine cookbook is the best cookbook I have ever purchased. I once hated to cook, but now I look forward to it - most days. The recipes in this book are healthy and easy to make. My 8 year old cooks from this book and he now begs to cook dinner every day. I made the curry chicken in less than half an hour. The tuna wraps, cajun chicken salad, lemon-basil chicken pitas, are great for lunch or a lite dinner and can be made in minutes.

This book is different from Patti's other best selling cookbook, LaBelle Cuisine, in that it leaves out the fat, sodium, and other things we all need to cut back on. Most of the recipes are very easy to make, and the variety in the recipes makes each meal exciting and new. I was worried that "Lite Cuisine" wouldn't be tasty, but the recipes are delicious.

The cookbook can transform a novice cook into one that appears to have gone to a culunary arts school. Lunch and dinner are no longer boring around our house. When people drop by, I get a kick out of being about to say "Let me whip something up for you." I have become the cook that I always wanted to be, but never thought I could be. I can not say enough about this cookbook. Patti LaBelle, I thank you, and my family and friends thank you.

You Can't Go Wrong With Patti
Patti gives easy-to-follow recipes for some of the tastiest meals I've prepared over the past 10 years. I don't feel guilty eating or serving the meals from this cookbook, because they are all either low in fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar. My husband is on a low fat diet, and I'm trying to lower the possibilities of developing Type 2 diabetes. Healthy cooking can be great tasting cooking!

Patti Cooks! (but we always knew that)
Patti Labelle is legendary for her cooking stories from on the road - for years, she had a rider in her contract that a full kitchen be available at her shows for her to prepare post-concert meals.
Patti has taking her love (and considerable knowledge) of food, and put this in a book that also contains family recollections, words of encouragement, and smart living advice. It's a great book to give as a gift (especially to someone who loves to cook, but needs to watch their diet), and a whole lot of fun to read, and prepare her meal suggestions.
This book focuses on low-fat, low-sodium and low-carb meals, but does not sacrifice taste (nor tasty ingedients) in favor of diet. There are some rather indulgent recipes (the Chocolate Pecan Pie is AWESOME), but they are prepared smart.
Patti's stories that accompany many of the recipes are always enjoyable (is there a more down to earth singing star than this fine lasy?), but also poignant - her discussions of her mother's death by diabetis, and her talk of dealing with having the disease herself make you want to eat smarter.
Buy 2 copies of this book - one for a friend who needs to be cooking smarter (we all have one), and one for yourself. It's a great mix of food and wisdom as only Patti could deliver.