The first meal I cooked took over an hour. I'm a bit discouraged but I'm hoping her other meals won't take as long. (It was the noodle soup with crab spring rolls meal - FYI, one out of 2 liked the meal.) The delay probably had to do with the fact that I didn't "wash the produce after my big grocery trip." It has been my experience that many recipes (excluding Rachael Ray's) that claim to take under 45 minutes, usually do and they take into account preparations including washing veggies, defrosting, etc.It turns out that I'm not a fan of this book anyway. What I expected was more of a step-by-step guide on how to juggle several dishes on the stove at once. Something like, while the appetizer veggies are sauteeing for 10 minutes, begin browning the chicken from the other recipe. The only reason why I bought her book was to learn how to juggle a couple of recipes at a time and have it cooked and on the table in about 30 minutes.