A good recipe book, after the first 2 recipes
356442
The first chapter of this books talks about the benefits of eating whole foods and not processed foods.  It talks about how much healthier it is to make the right choices, to not eat processed flour, to try eat natural alternatives to sugar and gives other suggestions like eating fresh fruit instead of a juice.

I was therefore a little surprised at the Whole Foods Breakfast Recipe chapter and the first recipe tells you to add a cup of apple juice.  Then in the 2nd recipe (Coconut Oatmeal), you need 1/3 cup sweetened, flaked coconut.  The sweetened coconut is so extremely sweet.  After trying the sweetened coconut once, I've never bought it again.  Lucky there are some stores that sell unsweetened, flaked coconut.  This recipe also has raisins, which sweeten things nicely, but obviously this is not enough, because you're also supposed to put in 1/4 cup maple syrup and 3 tablespoons of honey.  This recipe is for 6 servings, but I still think this will be way too sweet.  I was almost going to stop reading, but decided to look at the next recipe, and was relieved to see that it only uses 2 tablespoons honey.  Nothing else to sweeten it.

I looked through the rest of the book and saw a lot of new ideas to cook foods I generally already use.  I will be trying some of these recipes.

I gave my review 4 stars because of the first 2 recipes, which to me should not be in this book.  If they were not there, I'd give it 5 stars.

I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review.
2107337
Good compilation of recipes; however, I was disappointed that in the editing the recipes are not consistent in their layout.  This book reminded me of a church-cookbook compilation of recipes.  I am certain the recipes are good, but on some of the recipes many steps are implied.
3365393
I haven't tried very many of the recipes yet. I have been tweaking the recipes to meet the tastes and preferences of my family on 2 of the recipes. It actually helps you out with this. Otherwise, I would have hated this book. I think once I get one recipe working the way I want, then I can expand my experiences. Besides a lot of the recipes use several choices of a handful of basic bread recipes. I am looking foward to experimenting. I enjoy having the dough already made and waiting to be used in my fridge. I have not had success with kneading dough (I usually over work it). I recommend this book a lot. I love the concept of it, and I love how it helps you figure out how to tweak it to your preferences.
834210
There are some interesting recipes that I am looking forward to trying.  I was surprised to find a fish recipe, but that doesn't mean that the other recipes aren't good options.  There are some obvious typos, but not insurmountable.
1199058
This book was suggested to me by a friend for the recipes. The ladies have a pleasant writing voice, and both are distinct. It's too long for the content, but I understand they have a newer version that's shorter. I have enjoyed a couple of the recipes so far. I need to try a few more.
4221206
It seems that cookbook writers these days feel the need to blather on about the whys and whatfors of their particular styles of cooking. You'll get 3 or 4 chapters of proselytizing and then the recipes. It's all well and good but I don't care about the writers' agendas, typically. However, the couple of chapters of Slow Cooking for two prior to the recipes are helpful tips for shopping and storing food for two, and general tips on what types of food to buy for your slow cooker. Even tips on how to modify new recipes for old slow cookers and old recipes for new slow cookers. The book seems to be aimed at young couples who may not know how to shop efficiently but I don't care because I can't wait to have breakfast waiting for me when I get up in the morning.
3637891
I must admit that I did not like her first book and I was not going to buy her second one. But, low and behold I receive this book-as a gift- yesterday in the mail (one day early) and I opened it up and the recipes didn't look that bad. So, I decide try some recipe last night and they were pretty good. The jelly filled cupcakes so far are my favorite. She still uses alot of processed foods, which is why I never really cared for her recipes. But, I do like this book and its worth taking a look at.

Updated:

I have tried a few more recipes and just wanted to voice my opinion on them

1. Philly cheesesteak lettuce cups- I was surprised, this recipe is very good.
2. Scoopable chinese chicken salad- I like this one alot.
3. Holy moly guacamole- good!
4. H-O-T hot boneless buffalo wings- I only tried this once and that's all it took!
5. Cheesed up pepperoni pizza scramble- didn't like this either. I think it was the egg substitute.
6. Gooey cinnamon rolls w/ cream cheese icing- very good but it was small portion.
7. Sweet cinnamon fritter fries- didn't like this either.
8. Jelly filled cupcakes- this still is one of favortives.
9. Strawberry shortycakes-good, this one is a bed time snack!

:)
3980871
This outdoor cooking dutch oven recipe book is definitely above average, but too many of the recipes still call for mixes, canned condensed soups, and refrigerated pillsbury canned biscuits. I was hoping for more real recipes, but there are a numnber of genuinely good ones here too.

The book is geared towards cooking with cast iron DO's using disposable aluminum foil cooking inserts. You can still use the recipes without the inserts. You cna also adapt the recipes for use with a anozied aluminum DO's by slightly reducing the number of charcoal briquettes.

The good points of the this book are excellent dutch oven cooking instrucitons for each recipe (how many coals on top and bottom) to give newbies lots of confidence, and it gave me a lot of ideas of what and how to cook even if I didn't use the book's recipes verbatim. It also gives some very good cast iron DO cooking tips.

I think this book fills a middle niche between the minimum preperation of most DO books geared towards boy scouts, and that of the more home-made from scratch recipes in The Outdoor Dutch Oven Cookbook, Second Edition by Sheila Mills.

If I could have only two DO cookbooks, this would probably be one of them. But if I could only have one dutch oven cookbook, this would NOT be it (The Outdoor Dutch Oven Cookbook would be the one!).
488192
Overall, I think this book is pretty good. So far, I have only tried one recipe out of the book and although it turned out well, there were a few times where I had to make an educated guess as to what I was supposed to do (because the recipe wasn't completely clear). This was my first time making fondue and the book assumes a base knowledge that was slightly more than I had. So if you are a complete beginner, be sure to read all the instructions at the beginning of the book before trying a recipe.

It seems like there are a lot of good recipes in the book, separated between cheese type fondues, dessert style, as well as hot pots. Some of the hot pots sound really delicious and I think I will try them next.
2760384
I bought the book for myself after seeing a positive review of the interesting organization of the book.  The two big things that might deter people are 1) there aren't as many photos as a normal cookbook and 2) recipes are maybe a little more precise than usual - they sometimes use uncommon ingredients and the book is best used when weighing ingredients like flour rather than measuring volume.

The textured organization is nice:  Sometimes you're in the mood for a nice soft cookie, sometimes something chunky, sometimes something like biscotti, etc.  However, I found that I could skip most of the crispy/crunchy/gooey sections cause I really don't like that.  On one hand it's good that it's easy to skip, but on the other hand I might've liked a bigger book that's just the chewy section.  There's also a melt-in-your-mouth section, and it wasn't clear what that meant texture-wise.

Medrich has developed the recipes with countless experiments, but unfortunately those notes aren't a part of the book.  I could've learned a lot from the notes, for example if she had described how she arrived at a certain amount of salt for a recipe.  Or if there were a little more background on the science of baking.  She explains how chilling dough overnight often helps, but I didn't see an explanation of how softened vs melted butter affected the flavor (even though she mentions that many times).  I feel like the book could've been much more helpful with just a little more from her notes or education.  Also, general notes may have helped.  For example, I bake biscotti very often and the variations are simply due to different choices of nuts/extracts for most biscotti, but it would've really helped me to have like a page on how (in general) to make biscotti recipes with wet flavors like pumpkin.

I haven't explored too many of the recipes yet, but I enjoyed her choc chunk cookies (which amazingly came out good on the first try) and almond sabls (which I learned I had to cut 1/4c of flour for after 1-2 tries).
862750
I was initially quite pleased with this cookbook.  I was new to Indian cooking and this had a multitude of recipes with well done phototgraphs.  After trying a number of the recipes, however, I found the dishes a little lacking in depth.  I think that part of this comes from the fact that some of the recipes in this book call for pastes rather than the constituent spices.  In my opinion, using a paste is like using a jarred sauce - it is a shortcut that may be acceptable as a time-saver, but shouldn't be called for in a proper cookbook.  I am still using this as a reference book of sorts, but now look online at other recipes for the same dish in order to ensure that I prepare the dish properly with the individual spices rather than with a paste.  I like this book as a starting point, but have to question a bit the authenticity of the recipes.
2580869
Eat, Drink, & Weigh Less provides sound advice about nutrition, the importance of exercise, and improving health. Dr. Willett does an excellent job explaining the key components of dieting. The book, also, has well planned meals that are laid out for 21 days.  However, the real reason I bought the book was for the diet recipes by Ms. Katzen. When I first read the reviews, I heard about long recipes that required time and commitment.  The recipes, however, can be made in a very short time and require very few ingredients.  To be honest, I was a bit disappointed.  Although the recipes are not bad, they are missing her usual pizzazz. A few are worth consideration such as the Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisins, Broiled Eggplant Parmesan, and Honey-Broiled Pears, but overall I would have been happier with the lengthy, complicated, interesting recipes the first reviews alluded to.
3235846
Some good recipes, but I do not have the bank roll to keep stock on the shelves
3946553
Good, but it includes recipes for cutting and bulking, so if you are only working on one of those, cut the recipes in half.
2248737
The Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Brocolli Forest (Katzen's other 70s cookbook) were the two main publications I learned to cook with around the time I graduated from college.  At that time (ten years ago), I thought most of the recipes in these books were tasty, easy to make, and healthy.  I stopped using the book for about five years and recently returned to it this year.  Although I still like the preparatory quickness and tastiness of the recipes in Moosewood, there are some things that bother me about this book too.  First, I was a bit surprised by how much dairy Katzen uses in many of these recipes.  This is something I did not notice before.  And this "dairy heaviness" is even more surprising since Katzen makes a note at the beginning of the New Edition that she has reduced proportions of much of the dairy products.  Second, there is also an annoying school-marmish characteristic to some of Katzen's notes that I never noticed when I used it ten years ago.  It's like I can I feel Katzen's "Betty Crocker-ness" coming through when I read her notes and recipes. ("It's OK to use non-fat instead of low-fat cottage cheese with this recipe."  Gee, thanks, Molly.)  Bottom line:  This might be a good cookbook for people just starting to become vegetarians or for beginning cooks, but I wouldn't say it's too great for those more hardcore in their vegetarian cooking skills, beliefs, and practices.  And I wouldn't think this would be a good book for anyone who was a vegan.
4634363
This afternoon I made some lemon whoopie pies with the classic cream cheese filling.  I discovered that making whoopie pies is a time consuming project--a fun one.  But make sure to set aside at least 2 hours if you want to make the cakes and filling at the same time.  I did really like all the stuffing, so to speak, in this cookbook--the cake recipes, filling recipes, fun commentary and introduction.

So, those are the pros.

The cons are that the font size is really small and the ingredients are in a pastel font.  So, you need to read this cookbook in a good light.  The second con is that the recipe I chose--lemon cake was missing a direction.  It doesn't tell you when to add the flour in.  I added it after the buttermilk.  The cakes turned out fine, thankfully.

For me, the difference between a cookbook I love and one I don't has a lot to do with the formatting and how the directions are written.  I think the best cookbooks have directions that are clear, font with a size and color that are easy to read, and pictures to make me want to cook the recipes.

This cookbook has fun pictures.  The directions are a bit wordy and the font size and color and not very good.  Hence, my rating this cookbook at 3 stars.  It had lots of potential!  Better formatting and editing would have made it an awesome cookbook!
2507536
I like this book, especially that it is based on making 30-minute recipes. However, many of the recipes call for ingredients I typically don't have on hand. My advice would be to check out some of the recipes before you buy it to see if it is your style of cooking.