Customer Reviews

Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes (Better Homes & Gardens)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I've just received my copy of BH&G's Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes, and I'm going to return it tomorrow, so I can't judge it by the recipes. They may be excellent for all I know; I'm giving it 2 stars since I'll never know. But I can't understand the "low carb" part of the title. Is 39g a serving low carb? Certainly not for Atkins users. Just glancing through the book, there are a few recipes with under 10 carbs (and it's tricky to go by the carb numbers on the top because they haven't subtracted the fiber), but most seem to be in the 20-40 range, which is very high for someone losing weight the Atkins way. Ingredients call for cream of celery soup (an Atkins no-no), kidney or pinto beans (ditto), and whole wheat pasta (needless to say). This may be a great book for people not trying to lose weight (at least with Atkins), or for people simply looking for a variety of slow-cooker recipes, but I'm disappointed. It's not for me or anyone who has found success with Atkins. I strongly recommend Dana Carpender's "500 Low-Carb Recipes", and "The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook" by Michael & Mary Eades, both of which include a few slow cooker recipes, using much more reasonable ingredients and with truly excellent results.

All the reviewers who have been aghast at the carb counts in this cookbook are correctly perceiving that much of this fare is hardly low-carb. However, rather than being just a "regular" cookbook with "Low-Carb" in the title to take advantage of the low-carb bandwagon, a close reading of the Introduction shows rather that this is one of those unfortunate - and unsound - attempts to incorporate the health advantages of severely cutting back carbs with the bankrupt principles of the old "food pyramid" diet (such as: saturated fat is bad for you, complex carbohydrates don't spike insulin, too much protein damages your kidneys, the cholesterol you eat becomes the cholesterol stuck to your arteries, etc.). These mantras have been repeated so often, even by professionals, that repudiating them sounds counter-intuitive. So this school of thought tries to mush everything together into a watered-down approach that doesn't violate the former principles while it attempts to incorporate the new principles.

I think that as the low-carb dietary approach moves further out into the mainstream, we will see more and more of this ill-conceived effort to keep a foot on both roads. New or inexperienced dieters will be lured by this ersatz approach and won't see the pitfalls. Their blood profiles won't dramatically improve, their energy levels won't soar, and their weight loss will be ho-hum at best. They'll think the low-carb revolution was a lie.

It would be good if knowledgeable low-carb dieters protested this misguided approach every time they encounter it, and if they truly understand the principles that made the old high-carb/low-fat diet pose hidden dangers to the health of its devotees. In this case, letters to the cookbook editors might be a good place to start.

I wonder whose idea of low carb this is? Almost all of the recipes include items that are not allowed on any low carb plan...like potatoes, and all purpose flour. If you want a low carb cookbook, this is NOT it! If you are trying to follow Atkins, Protein Power, South Beach, or Sugarbusters, stay away from this one! I would have given it ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH stars if it would let me!

My wife and I grabbed this book when we saw it at a local bookstore. We bought it, started reading it in the car and immediately took it back in for a refund - it's basically a normal slow-cooker book with a slapped-on cover to jump on the low-carb bandwagon.

Our first read-thru of the book turned up several recipes with more than 40g of carbs "per serving" (and you know how skimpy these so-called "serving sizes" are, so you might as well double that number) other recipes called for more potatoes than protein (one recipe for a chicken stew called for 12oz of chicken "to serve 6-8 people." Wow. A whole 1.5 oz of chicken each? How generous!)

I was quite disappointed with this book. I had been looking for a book like this so when I saw it, I grabbed it up. Most of the recipes are not what I would consider low-carb at all. There were a lot of starchy foods listed in the ingredients of the recipes I browsed through. Too bad I didn't keep my receipt, I could return the book.

I wish I'd seen the other review before I ordered this book. It's a low carber's nightmare! Many recipes are for "side" dishes, and not made in the crock pot, and I do not believe that the (high) carb counts on the recipes are even accurate. Sure, I could keep this and try to modify the recipes to fit my diet-but what's the point?! If you are watching your carb intake for whatever reason-AVOID THIS BOOK!

I bought this book to get some variety in my slow-cooker recipe collection, not because I am on a low-carb diet. So I've made some of the recipes, and they're not terrible, but they aren't great, either. Although the book does avoid the typical "add a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup" for the most part, which is a nice change, nearly all the recipes still call for some kind of starch to make the sauce thick: tapioca, cornstarch, flour. If you don't want every meal to be covered with a thick, jellied sauce, don't make these recipes! A good cook will be able to adapt them, but I wish I'd saved my money.

I have enjoyed this book for a few years. When I recently went on-line to buy a copy for my mom, I was shocked to see all the bad reviews it received. My husband is an avid Atkins fan, I am not. For the times when he is following the diet rigorously, this book provided some much needed relief from another plate of bacon and eggs. Many of the recipes are higher in carbs than Atkins may suggest, but I'm happy it gives the non-Atkins people in our household a little break without going too overboard on the carbs. Most dishes I've made from this book taste great and they have a variety of recipes for any type of meat you want to throw in your crockpot.

This book has some great-tasing recipes, which is the number 1 thing I look for. Are all of them perfectly low carb? No--and that's why it loses a full star.

However, the beginning of the book has an excellent summary of what it means to be on a low-carb diet. The recipes do give you things live whole wheat spaghetti as a possible side, but you should use your discretion of course. While whole wheat anything is not strictly low carb, due to the high fiber content there are certainly much worse things you can eat. (In other words, there aren't many people who got fat eating high-fiber foods.)

My favorites from this book are the beef stroganoff and the Irish stew.

I know that this is supposed to be a low-carb cookbook, but I bought it because most of the recipes are gluten free. There are a few that call for cream of something soup or barley (neither acceptable on a GF diet), but most have basic ingredients and sauces. I've enjoyed all but one of the recipes I've made from the cookbook, and it's great to find a book with so many GF recipes.