Review #2: "School Day Lunches"

Ah, here was a book that held great possibilities....

However... after reading through the beginning part about making sure foods would stay safe to eat, and some good advice about keeping food cool, then the recipes began.  After reading many recipes with the phrase, "looks like cake, tastes like pizza" or "looks like soup, tastes like pizza".... or the dreaded "tex-mex flavour".  I am a keen Tex-Mex fan, but the recipes left out all of the spices that would normally flavour the dishes, leaving them bland.

Another of my concerns was that the recipes were so similar, with a lot of things wrapped in cheese or bread, and using a lot of pastry.  There was also plenty of ingredients that I thought were just unnecessarily included.

This was the ranch style avocado dip with wedges.  This was one of the few vegetarian recipes in the book (along with jelly that had zucchinis in it).  However, the avocado dip could easily have been made with just the avocado and lemon juice- the sour cream and ranch dressing were totally surplus.

So, my opinion:

Information:  2/5 points
Recipes: 1/5 points
Originality: 1/5 points
Pictures: 2/5 points
Overall: 2/5 points

8/25.  Maybe a little harsh, but the information was average, the were no recipes that were original and still appealing... the pictures were accurate, but not overly appetizing.  I just felt let down really, as the book had too many recipes that did not travel well, or were uninspiring at the least.