It has the following chapters: All About Baking, Breads, Cookies, Main and Side Dishes, Desserts, Baking with Kids, and Holidays. The chapter on main dishes is rather out of place and inexplicable. The term "baking" usually implies desserts and sweets, not roast pork or polenta. The American usage of the word "baking" ordinarily does not include savory cooking besides bread.

The impetus behind this book is a versatile, wide-ranging collection of over 350 recipes that can be done by busy families, some members of which may not have a lot culinary skill or very much time. In that, it succeeds admirably. The recipes, for the most part, are simple and easy to do, and not time consuming nor difficult. While it has its share of frumpy, unappealing recipes like noodle casseroles, there is enough variety and interesting recipes to keep you occupied for a very long time. For example, the section on bread machines has so many interesting recipes that I want to convert several of them into ordinary bread recipes that can be done without the machine (Garlic-Basil Bread and Cherry-Almond Loaf, to name just two). It even has a special section of recipes designed just for children to do. The index of recipes at the beginning of each chapter is especially useful.

This book also has numerous errors and badly written recipes, which is rather surprising considering the source; one would ordinarily expect impeccable editing and proofreading. Several pictures are mislabeled (pp. 79, 58, 69, 233, 235). Some recipes contain typographical errors (pp. 43, 168, 183, 192, 194, 238, 402). Finally, a surprising 22 recipes have instructions that are either incomplete or not satisfactory for the average home cook. For example, several cake recipes instruct you to fill and frost a cake; this instruction is fine for experienced bakers who have done this before and already know how to do it, but not sufficient for the beginner.

I also object to the section "Baking with Kids". It does mark certain steps in recipes "adult help", an alert to children to get adult assistance, but this warning is not used often enough to make me feel safe about letting a child do these recipes, even under close and constant adult supervision. It warns both children and adults about the danger of sharp knives and electrical appliances, but these steps do not have any warnings on them in the recipes themselves. Also, it does not warn children or the adults about the most dangerous part of baking: the proper method of removing blazing hot pans from the oven, and appropriate steps and warnings.

Were it not for the omissions and errors, this would be a wonderful family cookbook. I do not recommend this book: the beginner will run into too many problems, and the experienced cook will find most of the recipes elementary and rather ordinary.