Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As an avid cookbook collector and life-long vegetarian, I was eager to read this book, in hopes of adding some quick and easy recipes to my collection that I could make on nights when I am tired and want to prepare an unfussy dinner. Unfortunately, I found this to be one of the worst cookbooks I have ever read—so bad in fact, that I returned it and got a refund of the $0.99 purchase price. Yep, it wasn’t even worth $1. Why? A typical recipe in this cookbook was for dishes like a wrap that consisted of canned beans, a tortilla, and some lettuce, with no sauce or seasonings, and nothing to add flavor or interest. Another recipe directed the reader to boil some dried pasta in broth, add some chopped asparagus, and voilà—dinner! The recipe for a Caesar wrap consisted of chopped squash, bottled Caesar dressing, and a tortilla, and neglected to mention that typical Caeser dressing is not vegetarian, as it contains anchovies. Vegetarian bottled Caesar dressing is actually quite difficult to find, and the book failed to acknowledge this or to include a recipe for a homemade vegetarian version. It is clear that the author has a very limited understanding of vegetarian cuisine, and this was exemplified by the many recipes in which a protein source was completely omitted, leaving the dish incomplete and nutritionally unbalanced. Personally, I don’t need a cookbook to direct me to eat chopped vegetables with no seasoning, or to open a can of beans and throw them in a tortilla. That is not dinner, and is neither inspired, nor appetizing. However, if that is your cup of tea, then you should buy this cookbook. Update: I recently purchased several cookbooks that I like much more than this one. The first one is "Power Plates: 100 Nutritionally Balanced, One-Dish Vegan Meals" by Gena Hamshaw, which is vegan, and offers creative but quick and delicious meal options, which is what I was looking for. The second one is, "Eat: The Little Book of Fast Food" by Nigel Slater, and while it is not vegetarian, it strikes the combo I was looking for of fast/easy + inspired. Even though it is not a vegetarian cookbook, it does have a fair number of vegetarian recipes, and I plan to substitute veg protein products for the meat in the non-veg recipes. I have found both of these cookbooks to be so much better than "The Simply Vegetarian Cookbook".