TITLE: It's a fence sitter

Maybe this is just the type of book you are looking for: Dress these recipes with the flavor of meat, or not. It is a book definitely geared towards those who are not committed vegetarians, or who maybe cook for one vegetarian in a family of meat-eaters.

I've been there: When an older step-son would be home for a visit, I would take a dish to a certain point, then divide it into two pots. In one pot I would add more spice for my vegetarian chile head. In the other pot I would fill out the dish with meat. This group of recipes is somewhat like that technique. Okay, it's not exactly how the recipes work here in this cook book, but you get the idea.

Because changing up recipes comes kind of naturally to me--I think it's my experience--I am not too impressed by these recipes, and I would give it a three-star rating. On the other hand, not everyone cares to conjure up and adapt recipes and they will appreciate this book. That's why I finally decided to give this cook a four-star rating.