Canyon Ranch spa's celebrity clientele poses a particularly challenging conundrum for a chef; how do you cook for people who want to eat well without looking well-fed? Judging from the recipes in Canyon Ranch Cooks, the trick is to emphasize vegetables, fruits, and grains, and plenty of protein from fish, soy, poultry, low fat dairy and beans. But the Canyon Ranch chefs make room for a little red meat, too, with recipes for lamb, beef, and veal. Some recipes use a bit of butter. And there are even desserts without so much as a dash of deprivation.

The dishes have a Mark Bittman-like simplicity and elegance that makes them fast and easy to prepare, yet supremely satisfying. The spinach and pear salad, for example, has only five ingredients: spinach, pears, pecans, blue cheese, and a rosemary vinaigrette. It took me less than ten minutes to make, but it made a terrific first course. I was equally pleased with the cauliflower and kale soup; also simple, but full of flavor.

The Canyon Ranch chefs repeatedly cite the importance of relying on seasonal, organic, local produce whenever possible, and their recipes bring out the best in these wholesome ingredients. If you think spa food means pitiful portions of pretentious nouvelle cuisine, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the down-to-earth recipes for favorites like eggs benedict, pizza, and enchiladas.

There are, of course, more upscale entrees as well, such as lamb chops with pomegranate molasses, and pasta with lobster sauce with fennel, but most of the dishes are more everyday than exotic. In fact, even though this cookbook has tons of tantalizing recipes for hardcore healthy foodies like myself, it's also a great cookbook for beginners; the first thirty pages or so are a veritable primer on cooking healthier meals, with detailed advice on how to stock your pantry and equip your kitchen.

There are also guidelines to choosing the healthiest ingredients, an overview of such dietary issues as sweeteners and fats, and the reasons why Canyon Ranch's chefs recommend using organic, local produce as much as possible.

There are actually two Canyon Ranches: one in Tucson, and a second in the Berkshires. You and I may never get to either one, but thanks to Canyon Ranch Cooks, we can get a taste of the healthy gourmet cuisine that's made them the ne plus ultra of the spa world.