Customer Reviews

Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes, Vol. 2 (Better Homes and Gardens Cooking)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Better Homes and Gardens' "Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes Vol. 2" (pub. 2006) is a kitchen necessity. A sequel to the equally valuable and wonderful Better Homes and Gardens' slow cooker recipes first edition (pub. 2002), this second edition takes off with a whole new variety of organized and straight forward delectable recipes, to satisfy most pallets. It includes hints, tips, and special instructions from food professionals, as well as two bonus chapters of 'light' dishes and '5-ingredient' dishes. All recipes have instructions for multiple slow cooker sizes, as well as for dinner for two.
Bon-appetite!

First of all, let me say, I love to cook with my crock pot!! I can prepare heathful meals without the last-minute fuss. What a wonderful invention!

Having said that,one of the disappointments I have found with many slow cooker cook books is that the recipes tend to be bland. When I ran across this book, I was excited to see the variety of recipes. While I wouldn't say that my family has liked every recipe in this book 100%, they have given most recipes that I have prepared the "thumbs up" to fix again and I, personally, have found the recipes to be more flavorful than some of the other slow cooker cook books which I own.

If you are looking for recipes that have a more ethnic flavor or more spice, this is your book. There are such things as a Tandoori Chicken or a Carribean Fish Stew, but they aren't all this hot. The ingrediants are readily available and the instructions are clear. If you are looking for some slow cooker recipes that are a little more off the traditional beaten crock pot path, I would definitely recommend this book.

I received this as a gift purchased with the version 1 of this book. The books don't actually contain different recipes. There are mostly the same recipes of the first with a couple of additional chapters. I recommend buying this book if you don't have the first one, or if you like the first one and are getting a gift for someone else. It is unnecessary to own both version one and version two, however.

If you like vibrant, tasty food made with fresh ingredients, this not the cookbook for you. If, on the other hand, you want a nostalgic trip back in time to your junior-high cafeteria, click "Buy" right away. Many of the main-dish recipes depend on high-sodium canned soups, canned vegetables and corn-syrup sweetened bottled sauces for moisture and flavor. Fresh vegetables are replaced with the packaged diced version (pricey and preservative-laden). Many of the dishes are glopped up unnecessarily with canned mushrooms and processed cheese; many are given fake ethnic identities with canned jalapenos or bottled sweet-and-sour sauce. There is a whole list of recipes that begin with the word "Cheesy," which says something about the quality of the food in this book.

Sometimes all this dependence on processed ingredients is just plain silly; a recipe for Tangy Chicken and Potatoes calls for lemon zest. Fine. But it also includes a can of frozen lemonade concentrate. Why waste the perfectly good lemon you've just zested? Why not use its juice and a spoonful of sugar instead of the more expensive frozen lemonade? A recipe for White Bean-Garlic Soup uses canned navy beans, canned stewed tomatoes, canned chicken broth and canned cream of potato soup. The finished dish contains 2,059 mg of sodium, a hypertensive's nightmare. Using dried beans and fresh potatoes (and skipping the tomatoes, which have no business consorting with white beans and garlic) would produce a healthier,less institutional dish.

Sprinkled among the over-sweetened, over-salted "fancy" concoctions are some good, honest recipes for the pot roasts and stews at which a slow cooker excels because it breaks down the tough cartilage in budget-priced meats, making them tender and tasty. That's good. There is also a chapter on meatless main dishes with some recipes featuring whole grains -- another category that does well in the slow cooker. Problem is,they are boring, bland and unimaginative.

Slow cookers are great at what they do but they are not all-purpose miracle pots. Why include a recipe for hot chocolate that takes three hours to make in a slow cooker when you can make it in five minutes on the stove top? Four hours for a mixture of hot apple and cranberry juice? Four hours to heat up a dip made of cream cheese,canned chili and salsa? Three minutes in the microwave and you've got it made. This kind of nonsense pads out the book to 400 recipes. Bottom line: If you just want to throw some canned goods together at 8AM and slap hot food on your family's plates at 6, this book will do. If you want to learn how to make the most of your slow cooker's talents, try "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook," which only contains 350 recipes but is packed with information and ideas for good eating.

Good book with a wide variety of types of food that can be slow cooked. My only criticism is that some of the recipies are essentially the same except for 1 or 2 ingredients.

This book is okay, but if you've got more than two or three slow cooker books, you won't find much new here.

There are lots of good receipes in this cookbook, but I am a bit picky to what I cook and eat. So for me there are maybe 5 out of who knows how many receipes. So for me I will use the 5 receipes to death but for the rest oh well.

I love this book. The slow cooker is a new thing for me and with this book, every meal is good. There are no bad recipes in here!

I have the first Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes One and have not only is it my favorite, I have given it to many friends and family as gifts. So happy to see there is a sequel! Oh, migosh, it's even better than the first one!!!!!!!

Leigh

This is a really good slow cooker cook book. receips are fairly straight forward not over done. definatly worth buying.