I checked this book out from the library, and loved it so much I put it at the very top of my wish list. I'm glad I used my library copy before I paid for one for myself. At first I really loved it, but every time I try a recipe it disappoints me in some way. There were two constant reoccurring issues:



1- Recipes taking far longer to prep then you think. - There is no "prep time" or "cook time" listed, and more then once I'd start dinner (and hour before dinner time) and discover the recipes takes several HOURS. One recipe seemed simple enough but requires you drain the tofu, marinate it, flip it over and marinate again, and then cook for 40 minutes. In the end it had two hours of prep work, before actually assembling it. You have to read the recipe VERY carefully, and do some math (not that that was the issue) LONG before you expect to cook.



2- Wrong amounts called for- almost every time I had far more filling then crust, or far more wrapper then filling. One recipe (aloo samosas)says to use 1 9" pie crust cut into 18 pieces. While you can cut a 9" crust into 18 pieces you can NOT shape them into 5" circles EACH, and make 18 items. I had to double my cut pieces, making only 9 instead of the 18 it called for. So I regularly had to make far less then the recipe said it made, which would through my meals into quite a downward spiral (trying to find more to make it a meal, how to dide the number it managed to make for everyone, etc)



Besides those two another issue I had was that I don't think many of the recipes are cookbook worthy. Saying to take one can of vegetarian beans, and 2 soy hot dogs to make beans and franks does not a recipe make. Also "recipes" for sandwiches and things that use veg deli "meat" and "cheese." I think I can manage to make a basic sandwich without using a cookbook. Actually, so can my three year old.



In the end I returned my library copy before it was even due, and took this cookbook off my wish list.