Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As a single person, I really appreciate cookbooks that feature recipes intended to produce 1 or 2 servings. I've amassed a decent collection of them but had none for my slow cooker. So I was intrigued when this showed up as a "recommendation" on Amazon based on my purchase history. First things first: READ THE INTRODUCTION. Even if you're no stranger to slow cookery, you'll find valuable information here, especially the fact that the recipes are designed for 1.5- to 2-quart slow cookers. This tidbit of info is NOT included with the recipes themselves, so if you're used to jumping right into the recipes and making a couple of dishes, you might miss this rather critical instruction. Introductory sections include info on temperature variability (old vs newer models of slow cookers), buying and repackaging/freezing meats, and specific techniques for cooking meats, veggies, poultry, fish -- techniques that will let you use your imagination to create your own slow-cooker meals that taste great. My usual practice when I review a cookbook is to prepare 3 recipes. I used this slow cooker for the first two (Crock-Pot 2 Qt Slow Cooker - Red) and this one for the third recipe (Autumn Leaves Fall Crock Pot Slow Cooker, Round 2.5 Quart): 1. Beef Stroganoff -- one of my favorite dishes anyway and this slow cooker version works very nicely. Cubed beef sirloin tip, onion, mushrooms, and seasonings with red wine and beef broth are slow-cooked to tender perfection; then sour cream is added with a little flour to thicken the sauce. This has a lot of flavor -- the combination of herbs and mustard give it a lot of depth. I actually got 3 servings of this from the recipe -- served o er cooked noodles. There's no prep cooking on the stovetop -- everything goes into the slow cooker "raw" so it's super simple. This is definitely a keeper. 2. Lasagne Chicken Rollups -- For this one, you pre-cook lasagne noodles (4), then combine ricotta cheese, cream cheese, diced cooked chicken, and seasonings, roll the mixture into the noodles, and cook with pasta sauce in the slow cooker. I sometimes make my own pasta sauces, but for this one, I used a roasted garlic/tomato jarred sauce. This cooks for 3-4 hrs on low; then is topped with mozzarella cheese and baked just until the cheese melts. Good flavor, easy to put together, not a big "wow" factor, but certainly worth doing again. 3. Peach Crumble -- I don't often make desserts in my slow cooker, so I wanted to try one and see how it worked out. I'm a huge peach fan, so this one caught my eye immediately. I used my slightly larger slow cooker for this one (see reference above). I had to modify the recipe a bit because I used frozen sliced peaches. When using fresh peaches, everything goes into the slow cooker at the beginning (fruit + topping) and it all cooks together. Since I was using frozen peaches, I put all the fruit filling ingredients in first, let it cook for an hour or so to thaw the peaches, then added the topping, and cooked per instructions. YES! This is definitely a keeper. I often make peach crisp in the oven, but doing it in the slow cooker is so much easier, and the flavor is perfect. So there it is -- three recipes, three good results. There are several other recipes that I have in my planner to make in the not-too-distant future. I'm liking this a lot. The main downside is that there are no photos in the book other than the cover. I'm OK with that -- I'm not as much of a visual cook -- but others may find that's a deal breaker. So, overall -- I really do like this book. Solid 4 stars.