Some cookbook writers issue recipes with near papal authority. Others, like Baird, seem to view their efforts as a collaboration with their readers. This adventurous collection, designed to follow the USDA's revised paradigm of healthful eating, offers a reliable approach to flavorful, low-fat cooking that encourages home-kitchen experiments with myriad suggestions of substitutions for high-fat standards, e.g., nonfat cottage cheese blended with skim milk replaces butter and regular milk in mashed potatoes. Baird ( Quick Harvest ) persuasively suggests that a palate quickened by surprise won't miss richness: a black bean chili with red pepper and corn is flavored with unsweetened cocoa powder; fresh ginger and oil-cured olives enliven carrots braised in orange juice; fruit purees replace the fat in fudge-like brownies and bread pudding. The nearly 100 recipes, traditionally grouped, focus as much on breakfast foods, side dishes and desserts as on main courses, an organization that reflects modern eating habits. Baird, a dietitian with an expertise in microwave techniques and meatless cooking, closes her lively volume with reviews of frozen and packaged low-fat foods, fast-food menus and a source list.