Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I love this cookbook! I am not a cook (I do most of my cooking using the microwave) and I don't really know what I'm doing, but I still love this book! The directions are really simple and straightforward, and there's a section on stocking the vegan pantry, which is something that has always escaped me. Now that I have onions, garlic and potatoes handy, I can actually make some of these recipes without going shopping. I think that is the greatest beauty of this book--the ingredients are usually relatively cheap (although spices cost a bit at first if you don't already have them) and most of them aren't very exotic. I live in a rural-ish area and our mega-grocery has most of the ingredients that appear in the book (the other ingredients are within a 30-minute drive, so we're good to go). Moskowitz keeps cheap and simple in mind, so even if the recipe calls for fancy kitchen equipment, she'll often give a punk rock alternative so you can make the recipe without having to spend a lot of money at a yuppie kitchen store. The only things about this book that I'm not crazy about are: 1) There are a couple of typos or inconsistencies that leave you wondering which you're supposed to follow, although I'm sure you can figure it out if I can. 2) For microwave professionals like myself, it can be hard to decide what a "medium onion" or "large russet potato" looks like. Now that vegetables are genetically altered, the classic medium potato looks kind of shrimpy. I like having ingredients listed in standardized measurements. 3) Possibly due to problems related to item 2, I made the falafel (the uncooked falafel tasted rockin!), but it didn't stick together in the cooking oil. So I had this dough that took a couple hours for me to make, and I put it in the oil and it disintegrated. I couldn't eat it! I think I used a genetically altered onion that was bigger than it was supposed to be, so the falafel was too wet. I don't know! But it was tragic. (In related news, the tahini was a-mazing. I think I made it three times in one week, it was so good.) I'm still giving this book 5 stars because I think a lot of the problems are my own, and it's so good otherwise that it makes up for it. The chocolate pudding is *(#@$(* great! The only thing is that you have to wait for it to chill (can't eat it warm), or it doesn't taste so good. I've never had a cookbook that I really, actually used before, but this one is already beat up and discolored! There are ingredients all over it! I'm so proud of myself!!! Great book! :D