Pre-Order Now Available for Charleston Author’s New Cookbook

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Charleston-based author Lauren McDuffie is proud to announce her new cookbook “Southern Lights: Easier, Lighter, and Better-for-You Recipes From the South” is available now for pre-order.

The new book includes more than 100 recipes that are a fresh take on Southern cooking, reimagining the classics through a better-for-you lens and highlighting beloved Southern dishes that are lighter to begin with. By swapping in ingredients like leaner cuts of meat and healthier oils (no mass quantities of butter here!) for their heavier counterparts and focusing on fresh, seasonal produce, “Southern Lights” gives readers a more wholesome repertoire of recipes from breakfast to dinner and beyond. Southern favorites like Pulled BBQ Sandwiches, Mac and Cheese, Hushpuppies and Bread Pudding are all reenvisioned to more nutritious and delicious versions of themselves that will have even the most devout Southerners converted.

“Throughout these pages, I’m going to (politely) refute the claim that Southern food is all bad for you and hopefully breathe new life into some tired, worn-out notions,” shares McDuffie. “Once you make your way through the stereotypes, past the overwrought, done-to-death, attention-seeking heavy hitters, the archives of Southern cookery shine with a special sort of brilliance.”

“Southern Lights” will be available wherever books are sold on June 6. Pre-orders can be placed on popular websites like IndieBound, Barnes & Noble and Amazon, or readers can request it at their local independent bookstore.

Lauren McDuffie is a food writer, stylist and photographer, as well as the creator of the popular recipe blog, My Kitchen Little. She also created the culinary memoir blog, Harvest and Honey, which was nominated for a Saveur Blog Award and won the IACP Award for Best Food Blog Writing. She previously authored the “Appalachian-ish” cookbook, “Smoke, Roots, Mountain, Harvest,” which debuted in May 2019.