omorka | It doesn't matter if it's boiled . . .

Is it too much to ask that the author of a cookbook not say incredibly stupid things?

First of all, there's the annoying habit that this author has of using artificial sweeteners - and adding them to practically everything, including, say, bean soup. But okay, I'm used to omitting things (the amount of bell pepper I have omitted from various recipes over my lifetime would probably embarrass most cooks).

Then she drops the line "If you grew up enjoying lunches of tomato soup and a sandwich, you're about ready to experience a remarkable flavorfest that will launch you into a new millennium of taste!" Which is just exceptionally bad writing. (The miraculous ingredients that will usher in said millennium are canned mushrooms and dried Italian seasoning, which fail to strike me as all that remarkable, considering.)

Then we get to the recipe for "Old World Cabbage-Rice Soup." The first four ingredients are ground turkey and three tomato products. Yeah, that's old-world. (I suppose I should just be glad that there were no peppers in there.)

I'm seriously tempted to try and return this cookbook as seriously defective . . .