Creative Slow-Cooker Meals...Review

About the book:
From the celebrated coauthor of
The Marriage Miracle comes a new kind of cookbook and a new attitude toward planning meals. With an eye toward the whole menu, not just part of it, columnist Cheryl Moeller teaches cooks to use two crockpots to easily create healthy, homemade dinners.

Don’t worry about your dinner being reduced to a mushy stew. Each of the more than 200 recipes has been taste-tested at Cheryl’s table. Join the Moeller family as you dig into:

Harvest-time Halibut Chowder
Salmon and Gingered Carrots
Mediterranean Rice Pilaf
Indian Chicken Curry
Apricot-Pistachio Bread
Shrimp Creole
Rhubarb Crisp

... and many more! Perfect for the frazzled mom who never has enough time in the day,
Creative Slow-Cooker Meals gives readers more time around the table with delicious, healthy, frugal, and easy meals!

This was a cookbook that I was excited to review, but one that I ultimately have mixed feelings about.  I love the spiral binding which makes it so easy for the book to stay open. I also love the idea of using two slow cooker to prepare a meal.   I own two slow cookers and it seems so logical to use both, yet I've never considered it.  Cheryl Moeller also covers Gluten-Free, Dairy Free and Vegan recipes, which will be a big plus for many people.

Unfortunately, there were no recipes that appealed to me although I gained some ideas for meals I could fix in a slow cooker that I hadn't considered before.  The index is very general.  I wanted to find the recipe for Chicken Manicotti that I remembered looking at, but there wasn't a category for pasta or chicken and the chapter where I ultimately found the recipe was called, "For the Kitchen with the Revolving Door" which isn't very specific as far as it being about dinner or main dishes.  I hadn't remembered the recipe as being chicken anyway, just that it was a stuffed manicotti, so it took some thumbing to find it.  I do like the idea of cooking stuffed pasta in the slow-cooker, but I will probably use my own stuffed shell recipe instead of this one.

The book doesn't give sizes or servings.  I have two different sized crock pots and it would be nice if the recipes stated the appropriate size slow cooker to use.  Also, and this is a big one for me: none of the recipes gave serving sizes.  I like knowing that I'm going to have lots of leftovers or that I should double a recipe.  Obviously you can infer sizes or amounts, but it takes away a lot of guesswork to look at a recipe and see the words, "Serves 4" or "Serves 8".

While this isn't one that will get much use at my house, it is one that will appeal to many people, especially those looking to save time and use their crock pots a lot more.

Thanks to First Wildcard and Harvest House Publishers for the opportunity to review this book. You can learn more about Cheryl Moeller here.  You can read one of the chapters here. You can purchase your own copy here.

Read 2/12

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2/5 Stars

Comments

  1. Well darn, I love cookbooks and am always looking for new recipes, so I was hoping this would be good.

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  2. Nice blog! Great review and being honest which is not always easy to do.

    I am a new follower and would love it if you would follow mine...plus you never know when there will be a giveaway going on!

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  3. I love my crock pot! But I don't think I'd have much use for a recipe book without a comprehensive and user friendly index.

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