The Food Lover’s Diet, Dr Penny Small, Allen & Unwin Publishers (www.allenandunwin.com) paperback, 2011, rrp $39.99, ISBN 978 1 74237 285 3.

It’s not often you can swap recipes with your doctor. And even rarer with someone who is an accredited practicing dietitian at Nestlé and one of Australia’s leading nutritionists. Better still she loves food as much as her patients and is passionate about trying to make it easier for them to eat well.

Even better, as a working mum with two children she understand all about time pressures and other factors that influence the way we select and cook our foods.

From this platform of understanding, it was a short step for Dr Small to compile this cookbook of delicious recipes that will not leave you (or your family) feeling as if you are ‘on a diet’.

Over 80 recipes, with lots of illustrations, a ready reckoner and a mix and match menu plan. There is even a Daily Food Counter as a bonus and a companion mobile phone App and website. This is a book to keep handy – to plan your shopping lists with, to cook and share.

Dr Small introduces an innovative way to keep ‘count’ of your food intake using what she calls COUNTS. It is explained clearly and would soon become second nature to people interested in keeping their eating on track.

Why wouldn’t you when this so well-named book ­– for Food Lover’s – serves up recipes such as easy carve lamb roast complete with vegetables and onion gravy, muesli breakfast mini muffins, or a delicious old-fashioned pear and rhubarb crumble?