Rating: 
Summary: The pictures were great...but did anyone test the recipes?
Review: As usual, this is a beautiful book. Martha Stewart has presentation down. Unfortunately, cooking takes more than presentation. I am health conscious and have very little time to cook, so I thought this book would be ideal. I prefer a cookbook that has more good recipes than bad, though. I have never been one to turn down dessert, but I threw out the mini blueberry shortcakes before I finished one. They tasted terrible. Also, there is a butternut squash soup recipe that has bad proportions. There was too much squash even after using only one (the recipe called for two). Unless we just have exceptionally large squashes in California, I don't know how this could go unnoticed. There is a handroll made with rice and vegetables that would be delicious except for one small problem. Has anyone tried to bite through nori? It is the seaweed used in sushi. I have never found a piece of untoasted nori I could chew threw. One good recipe: the cranberry oatmeal dessert. It is very simple, but is best eaten fresh & not kept for left-overs.
Rating: 
Summary: Not realistic, too gourmet foofi
Review: I bought this book and although some of the recipes sound wonderful, if you have 4 hours to kill and you're willing to spend a fortune buying all these exotic little ingredients, then it's not worth buying. I love martha's crafts but this book was very disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Not Up To The Usual Martha Standard
Review: I was disappointed in this book...Had high hopes....not really "healthy" recipes, imo, and the recipes are un-appealing. I've seen way better health-conscious cookbooks, shocked to see Martha miss on this one!!
Rating:
Summary: Not Up To The Usual Martha Standard
Review: I was disappointed in this book...Had high hopes....not really "healthy" recipes, imo, and the recipes are un-appealing. I've seen way better health-conscious cookbooks, shocked to see Martha miss on this one!!
Rating:
Summary: I'm a Martha fan, but this book sucks
Review: I'm a martha stewart fan, owning a lot of her books, but I'm turned off by the fact she had little to do with this book AND expects us to believe she actually slaved away to write it. Give me a break. Martha Stewart's 15 minutes of fame are up. Step aside.
Rating: 
Summary: Another great book
Review: If you can't tell, I like Martha. This is the 2nd book that I have. I love that there is a pantry list that Martha writes to help you get meals made easily. I know I don't have much time. So it's great.
Rating: 
Summary: This Delivers
Review: Most people think it is impossible to deliver on a weeknight a dinner that is elegant, healthy and quick. This book makes the impossible quite possible. The only reason I've nicked it a star is that for some, a cookbook titled "healthy" requires nutritional data, which this does not have, and quick in this instance sometimes means more simple than last-minute preparation. MS makes a case for not including the read-outs, about learning to fly without training wheels (sorry about the mixed metaphors). As for the simple vs. last-minute, a case in point: the wild rice pilaf with dried fruit is elegant and very easy to prepare, but it does require cooking the wild rice ahead and setting it aside. If you start an hour before dinner is to be served, no problem; in fact, starting the wild rice that early leaves you quite a bit of time to throw in a load of laundry or complete other chores before you pull together the rest of the recipe in the last 10 minutes. I've never had a problem with a MS recipe. Things always cook up in the allotted time, they always make the proposed quantity, they brown as they're supposed to, rise as they're supposed to . . . The charge has been made by another reviewer that dishes are underseasoned or bland. I suspect that is because the MS style is to emphasize the natural flavor of the basic ingredients. A lot depends, then, on the integrity of the ingredient.
Rating:
Summary: This Delivers
Review: Most people think it is impossible to deliver on a weeknight a dinner that is elegant, healthy and quick. This book makes the impossible quite possible. The only reason I've nicked it a star is that for some, a cookbook titled "healthy" requires nutritional data, which this does not have, and quick in this instance sometimes means more simple than last-minute preparation. MS makes a case for not including the read-outs, about learning to fly without training wheels (sorry about the mixed metaphors). As for the simple vs. last-minute, a case in point: the wild rice pilaf with dried fruit is elegant and very easy to prepare, but it does require cooking the wild rice ahead and setting it aside. If you start an hour before dinner is to be served, no problem; in fact, starting the wild rice that early leaves you quite a bit of time to throw in a load of laundry or complete other chores before you pull together the rest of the recipe in the last 10 minutes. I've never had a problem with a MS recipe. Things always cook up in the allotted time, they always make the proposed quantity, they brown as they're supposed to, rise as they're supposed to . . . The charge has been made by another reviewer that dishes are underseasoned or bland. I suspect that is because the MS style is to emphasize the natural flavor of the basic ingredients. A lot depends, then, on the integrity of the ingredient.
Rating:
Summary: Delicious!
Review: Some of the food has strange ingredients that are not readily available all over, such as fiddleheads. If they're available here in the south, someone has to show it to me. Otherwise, it's great. Comparable to Jane Fonda's Cooking for Healthy Living, which has delicious food with less hard-to-find ingredients. From MS, I recommend the Beef Barley Soup, Lime Souffle, Thin Lemon Tart, and the Mocha pot de Creme. YUM!
Rating:
Summary: Pretty? Yes. Tasty? Not Really
Review: The foods are beautifully presented and the ingredients are interesting and upscale enough that you can serve some of this stuff to guests with pride. Unfortunately, in general the recipes are under-seasoned (bland and one-dimensional) and don't taste nearly as good as the pictures might imply. Some of the recipes--fruit sushi and grilled fruit panini come to mind--are downright silly in addition to being time-consuming and not very appetizing. Overall, a good book to learn about presentation, but disappointing recipes.
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