Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I have heard really great things about Cook's Illustrated "The Best Light Recipe". http://www.cooksillustrated.com/bookstore_detail.asp?PID=309

I have their "New Best Recipe" book and it is excellent. I am really impressed by it, and out of my hundred's of cookbooks, it has become one of my favorites. I usually prefer specialty cookbooks because I feel that plain old standard cookbooks don't have that much to teach me. Boy, was I wrong here. Even if I make something from another book, I always refer to the New Best Recipe book to see what they have to say.

Cook's Illustrated's m.o. is too test every possible way of making a dish to come up with the very best version and then explaining the science behind it. That way you have the knowledge to tweak the recipes. I read somewhere that there were a few obvious recipes missing from The New Best Recipe book, but it was because they could not come up with a light version that met their standards. The New Best Recipe book will be the next one I get.

I really like the Eating Well cookbooks. They seem to be simpler than Cooking Light recipes--more ordinary food. They also have recipes marked according to what dietary needs they fit: weight loss, low sugar, etc.