When I flipped through this book in a shop, the recipes didn't strike me as particularly tasty-sounding, but since it was such a hit I bought it -- and my hunch was right! The recipes are ridiculously time-consuming, force you to dirty every pan in your kitchen and buy a lot of commercial spice mixes -- and they taste DREADFUL! A bran muffin recipe that was supposed to be for a dozen (but only made 8) contained a full TABLESPOON of powdered ginger, which would poison an ox. I used only a teaspoon and it was still way too much. Don't waste your money