Cooking Light Cook’s Essential Recipe Collection: Slow Cooker: 57 essential recipes to eat smart, be fit, live well (the Cooking Light.cook’s ESSENTIAL RECIPE COLLECTION) (Hardcover)
May 4, 2009 by TheChef
Filed under Culinary Cooking Books
Product Description
Beautiful to display and practical to use, Slow Cooker is truly a godsend for time-challenged cooks who want to prepare healthy, tasty, and satisfying meals but don?t have hours to spend hovering over their stoves. Replete with all the high standards that have made Cooking Light a trusted favorite, this new edition provides over 58 beautifully photographed recipes with useful, easy-to-follow instruction.
I’m not much for creating my own recipes. I think I have the skill to do it, but I simply haven’t the time, particularly not for a slow cooker (isn’t the point of having one, after all, that you have so much to do, see, experience that you don’t want to spend anymore time than necessary in the kitchen?). So-o-o it was with some trepidation that I ordered this book. Truth be told, it was to bump the order over $25, so S&H would be free. Imagine my delight and surprise when I found actual recipes inside, not meat-or-veg-with-canned-soup-poured-over. In particular I love the recipe for a tamale pie, with cornbread crust and cheese topping. As with any slow cooker, the special taste you get from high direct heat is missing, but most of these recipes are juicy, stewy things with delightful combinations of flavors. Best of all, each is accompanied by a nutritional analysis which allows me to cipher Weight Watchers points. I have found that one of the things I miss most about living alone is opening the apartment door after work and smelling — what? — furniture polish? something gone bad in the trash? This book and my slow cooker let me open the door to the delightful aroma of a supper I know I will enjoy. Buy it; you’ll like it.
Here is the Cooking Light 57 essential recipes for slow cooking. As other slow cooking cookbooks, this covers the bases: appetizers, desserts, main dishes, etc.
The layout is exceptional: clean with two pages per recipe, with one page full color photo. Other nice feature (especially for the cook not too familiar with certain ingredients or techniques) is a highlighted ingredient or technique, e.g. water bath, kitchen shears, rice wine vinegar, etc.
So far tried the following and turned out remarkably nice, easy to prepare and equally nice to dine: Turkey Thights with Olives and Dried Cherries; Pesto Lasagna with Spinach and Mushrooms; Chicken with Figs and Lemons; Fudgy Caramel Pudding Cake; Thai-Style Pork Stew.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive collection for slow cooker, but the pick of the crop, what the editors have determined to be ‘essential’ recipes for the slow cooker.
Nice to have in collection.
I have tried several recipes from this cookbook as I love to use slow cookers. I have yet to find that “perfect” recipe that can be duplicated exactly as written for fabulous results. As the magazine, many of the recipes need some tweaking so that it can fit your taste. For instance the potato soup recipe was easy and produced a creamy soup (not as good as the Baked Potato Soup from Cooking Light - but the vegetable broth that I used gave it a sharp aftertaste. Next time I will use chicken broth. What I have always enjoyed about the recipes from the magazine is that one can go to the website and check out other readers experience with the recipe and read what they changed and why. I couldn’t find any of these on their webpage so these recipes are uncharted territory. I don’t think that this will become my favorite slow cooker cookbook but I will use it - with adjustments as I go.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just another pretty face
Nicely written and photographed, but no outstandingly different recipes. Not Your Mother’s Slow-Cooker Cookbook is more innovative and comprehensive.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good recipes but not for daily cooking
If you buy alot of specialty foods or have alot of time to do prep work then maybe this book is for you, but I’ve had it for a few weeks now and haven’t attempted to make one…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Recipes
I find myself often doing “stew” type slow cooking and picked up this recipe book to expand some more.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Slow Cooker Recipe Book
One of the best I have purchased. Easy to read and so far great recipes. Cooking Light, yes.
4.0 out of 5 stars
New Inspiration
I was tied of the same old crock pot recipies. There are some great new ways to use your slow cooker. Try the peasant stew, my family loved it.
4.0 out of 5 stars
great cookbook
We’ve only tried a few recipes from this cookbook and we were not disappointed! It offers a variety of foods to make and we’ll be experimenting further with this cookbook.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not your grandma’s crock-pot…
I used to think that crock pots were for pot roast and ro-tel cheese dip during football games. My grandma says that “all you have to do is put the meat in there [the crock pot],…
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cooking Light Slow Cooker
I’ve made a few meals from this book and all turned out well. This book has pictures of the food which I like.
1.0 out of 5 stars
It’s OK if you eat to live…
I hate to cook but love to eat, that’s why I tried the slow cooker.
With this book, one wants to cry.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yummy but Non-Complicated Recipes w. Ingredients in your Pantry
I recently bought a new crockpot with the thought of fixing meals that would be ready when I returned home from work.