Good Variety and Easy Steps Make This Book a Winner
928694
I received this book, the second edition, two months ago and I am very happy with the variety and ease of preparing the foods. While I could have done without the brief personal info of the author at the beginning of the book, her tips for dining out, and the typical grams of carb in raw foods (although not quite accurate), were very helpful.
The ingredients were easy to find at my local grocer, outside of the Atkin's Baking Mix - which I haven't tried. The average recipe is 3-4 steps and relatively easy to make with nearly any level of cooking skills.
This book is not without some minor (or if you count carbs closely, major) flaws. As I mentioned earlier, some recipes mention inaccurate carb counts. One example (however a personal favorite recipe of mine) is the Breakfast Custard Squares which appears later in the Desserts section of the book as simply Baked Custard. These are both the same recipe to the last measurement, except their serving sizes vary from 6 for the Breakfast Squares, and 4 for the dessert. According to Lauri's book, the smaller serving size Breakfast Squares claim to have more carbs per serving than the larger custard dessert of the exact same recipe! So, don't count on this book for accurate carb counting.
The only other issue I have is the number of recipes calling for artificial sweetners. I am not a fan of artificial anything, especially aspartame, and I find the number of recipes with Sweet 'N Low (saccharin) to be a little high for me. However, I use an "herbal supplement" (can't be called sweetner according to the FDA) called Stevia which can be found at health food stores (Whole Foods is where I get it) that seems to substitute well enough. Lauri mentions that she doesn't care for this herb, but this herb varies in taste wildly by manufacturer, so experiment if you choose to try it. Anyhow, my point is we're trying to wean ourselves away from sweet cravings (especially those with carb addiction), maybe reducing the amount of recipes that call for sweetners would be helpful.
In closing, despite this book's minor drawbacks, the recipes are really what I wanted to add some variety to the chicken and broccoli routine. This book satisfied my need and I highly recommend it for this purpose.
4273597
Although short on how to implement his suggestions, he does have interesting ideas/solutons & the book has an easy to follow layout. All in all, IMO, it's a winner.
4320995
This is a fun easy to use book with lots of ideas for each song. You can compliment your usual strumming and singing sings with bits from these arrangements. I live to ding the song and use the ideas within for musical breaks and to generally make my playing that much more interesting to play an+d listen, too. A lot of fun and easily played so... instant gratification. A five star fun book.
1308667
The patterns and ideas are cute and clever.  The directions are easy to follow, and also can serve as springboards for other ideas.  Overall I really enjoy this book and I recommend it highly.
4726565
I like Val's book, as it has a lot of good ideas for the average home gardener.  Most of us have too much going on in our lives, to have the time to create elaborate/expensive arrangements, and Val has many wonderful examples of what one can accomplish with a small garden.  And, her use of color and texture appeals to me.  Some of the beautifully photographed bouquets are simple and elegant, others more elaborate, but all bring a smile to my face.
1083114
A variety of songs and an audio CD make progressing thru this book fairly easy and enjoyable.  Lots of good info, I highly recommend it.
4552216
There are some fun projects in this book, and they don't necessarily require fat quarters, of course.  The instructions are clear, the illustrations informative, and I can't wait to get started on one!
4342588
As we change to a vegan diet, this book has provided variety and many new favors.  The recipes are easy to follow with clear directions.  I have tried 20 recipes so far and will probably try most of them.  The soups are particularly good.
720951
Clear pics and directions; nice selection of patterns.
2561389
There are some really interesting food combinations in this recipe book. Simple, easy-to-follow and easy-to-create recipes.  I love too the suggestions the author has made regarding setting the tone for a fun-filled evening.  All up well worth adding to your recipe library.
2289483
Nice book that has a variety of project that will promote imaginative play.  The directions are easy to follow and the pictures show the steps involved.
1127939
Schneider has written an excellent cookbook.  She does a great job of focusing on flavor groups and substitutions.  She offers these with a respectable collection of elegant recipes that make good examples for what she sets out to teach.  Her remarkable writing style does an outstanding job of building up interest in the recipes.  People who write menus should keep a copy of this book on their shelf for inspiration, even if their foods are different.

My own cooking tends to run lighter on salt and oils, but these adjustments are easy.  I start with simpler foundations, for example those you can find in "The Minimalist Cooks at Home."  You can dig through your own collection of cookbooks and find your own favorites.

Schneider's inspirations have added some fun to my repertoire.  For me, the standouts included leek "noodles" with nut oil, impromptu cabbage slaws including creamy cilantro slaw, adding an apple to cauliflower soup, slow roasted fish, and cooking onions down to a paste for use as dip.

Reading the book really can provoke the reader's imagination.  Her cheese crisps left me feeling intrigued but concerned about the nutritional content.  But when I read her recipes for chive toast, it was easy to think of lots of combinations of vegetables that could be matched with different varieties of cheeses.  The right combinations consider both the flavor and the structure of the food.

I was both disappointed and inspired by her advice about blackberries: add some lemon juice and another more powerful flavor to improve their bland flavor.  I'll not pay good money for blackberries after this.  But I'm tempted to try the same approach with mulberries, which grow profusely in my daughter's back yard.  And I'll do more experiments with mangoes, which benefit a lot from mixtures with acid fruits like citrus or pineapple.

The most important thing I'd change is: If you like Schneider's fundamental concept on improvisation, get a hold of the unparalleled #1 book on flavor groups: "The Flavor Bible" by Dornenburg and Page.  Use it with all your cookbooks.
4418496
While I may be somewhat biased in my opinion of this book (I am friends with the authors and have a project included in the book), I honestly love the variety of bag, purse, and organizer projects it includes. I've personally sewn up 4 of the projects already and found the instructions and diagrams to be detailed and thorough on each one, and I can't wait to try out several others. This book is definitely a great value for the number of patterns you receive. Plus, since several bloggers and designers contributed to the content, perhaps you'll discover a new blog or bag designer to follow.
1769375
I saw this book on a friend's bookshelf, and decided that there were several appealing and simple designs that I would enjoy re-interpreting in different fabrics than chosen by the author.  In many ways, the kinds of patterns I like best are the ones that have really good "lines" in them, and whether or not I like the color combinations or fabric choices in the photo, I can see how I would interpret them.  I thought that there were a number of possibilities in this book that would be fun and appealing in that "Modern Quilt" way.  I appreciate the simple, clean lines.  I think this is a great addition to the growing body of books in the Modern Quilt movement.
2776750
I enjoyed the writing style of the book and the straight-forward approach to sensible dieting. The book provides some very concisely-written rules for easy reference but also provides the background research for each of them. Amazon is overloaded with what I consider "In My Opinion" diet books. It is nice to read one with some real scientific data to back up what the author is recommending along with, of course, the obvious success of the author's approach based on the television show.

The recipes are easy to make and taste good. I also like that the menu suggestions are not all meat-oriented and, in fact, recommend "meat free" days. A vegetarian or fish-only omnivore can make use of this book and its recipes with very little tweaking.

I am a 60-year old woman with a 60-year old woman's slow metabolism. I've been following the recommendations strictly for three days and have lost two pounds -- so far, so good!
3850221
Just started ketogenic diet one week ago and lost six pounds which makes me feel very motivated - without a ton of exercise (I need to ramp it up). Then I got this book in the mail.  The first 39 pages are about the diet and how it works. There aren't a bunch of chapters wasted on stuff like "if you're overweight it's not your fault." This is just the facts ma'am. Has a great array of recipes with a lot of variety so you won't get bored. Some of the ingredients in keto cooking are different from regular cooking - like almond flour, stevia and other items. But once my kitchen is set up - I think it'll be reasonably easy to cook this way.
3224101
I love the overall layout of this book. The author outlines color and knitting basics, then organizes patterns according to approximately how long they will talk. The author tried to have a nice variety of patterns, which I think was somewhat achieved. I don't know how great of gifts some of the things would make though, such as legwarmers, but to each their own. I feel like this book was directed more towards baby and children gifts, but those are also generally quick and easy to make. There is also a nice variety of adult/all age gifts such as scarves and sweaters.