text: I purchased this book several months ago. During that time I've tried several of the recipes - the French Lentil soup is very good. The chili and corn biscuit casserole was unappetizing. The chili was so-so and the corn biscuits were too heavy to my taste. The recipe for Mushroom, French Lentil and Chestnut Ragu says to "see Glossary" for the chestnuts but there's nothing in the glossary regarding chestnuts. It wasn't until I read another recipe (Smoky Chestnut and Sweet Potato soup) that chestnuts were discussed. The Mediterranean Salad sounds good on paper but was lackluster. Far too much red onion (which my guests mostly picked out). Although a number of the recipes are relatively simple there are several with very long lists of ingredients that take too much time and too many utensils to prepare. As someone who works full time, a 20-ingredient recipe holds very little allure, no matter how good it sounds. I had trouble finding some of the ingredients. For example, the author specifies several different types of squash which I haven't been able to locate at any of my local grocery stores or farmer's markets.  The book is organized in menus which are not listed in the table of contents. If you're looking for a specific recipe you'll have to spend some time with the index trying to locate it which is not convenient. The author definitely has some good ideas but this book probably will sit on my bookshelf more than on my countertop
  