ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290047
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
C'MON AMERICA, LET'S EAT!
By Susan Powter. Fireside. $14.
Susan Powter promises to include all-American recipes which are as good as the originals, lacking in fat but not in taste. Here, in her breezy, slangy style, Powter makes good on her promise with more than 150 recipes that are easy to follow and which really are low in fat.
As to the recipes, Powter includes her version of Eggs Florentine, a "fancy schmancy egg dish" with the amazing fat content of 6 percent per serving, a Cream of Potato Soup with only 4 percent fat and, most striking of all, a low 6 percent fat Macaroni and Cheese. Powter even applies her fat-reducing magic to desserts such as Lemon Cheesecake and Summer Peach Suzanne.
Powter, in reworking the recipes, substitutes such ingredients as Butter Buds, Mrs. Dash seasonings, nonstick spray and low or nonfat milk in place of the high-fat ingredients formerly considered indispensable. The spiral-bound format makes the book very usable, and a section of color photographs adds further temptation to cook. The book lacks an index but lists all of the recipes in the contents.
Powter writes that, here, she is "Celebrating America." Her book itself would be a fine addition to any celebration.
- HARRIET LITTLE
SHADOW OF THE GUN.
By Johnny Quarles. Avon (paper). $5.50.
Johnny Quarles is a native of southern West Virginia who is helping restore a measure of popularity to the traditional "cowboy" novel, this time by mixing it with flashbacks from the Civil War.
His hero, Clayton Crist, is a strong and attractive character, and the scenes and settings blossom with the believable conflict of both barroom and bedroom, so much so that Quarles can be forgiven for taking a timeworn cliche and doubling it to twice save Crist's life. A New Testament, presented to Confederate private Crist by Robert E. Lee, no less, absorbs a Yankee bullet. By book's end, the same Testament, largely unused, just happens to be in Crist's pocket to absorb another bullet, this time in the final gunfight, and spare Crist yet again.
Even a Testament from Robert E. Lee shouldn't be called upon to work that kind of miracle more than once.
- ROBERT P. HILLDRUP
FIRST LADIES.
By Margaret Truman. Random House. Price unknown.
"First Ladies" by Margaret Truman is worth reading because of the author's unique perspective. She explains she started the book as a result of her mother's funeral service when three former first ladies, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Carter and Nancy Reagan, sat together on the front row.
Each chapter is devoted to a first lady Truman thinks contributed a new dimension to the position, and she includes her own choices for the best and the worst.
Filled with anecdotes about presidents' wives from Martha Washington to Hilary Rodham Clinton, "First Ladies" an an informative, entertaining but not scholarly study of the role the first lady has played and plays in American history.
- SUSAN TRENT
Harriet Little teaches at James River High School.
Robert P. Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman.
Susan Trent teaches English at Virginia Western Community College.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB