Customer Reviews

Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two (NYM Series)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I ordered this after reading a recipe in our local newspaper taken from the book. It has some wonderful, original recipes, with clear instructions, and, even better, guidance about how to buy a small slow cooker and what you can do with it once you have it.

Most of the recipes are too large for the really small 1 1/2 quart slow cooker, though a few fit that size. Fortunately, each recipe includes a recommended cooker size in the instructions.

My only disappointment was that some of the recipes call for ingredients I cannot possibly find in my rural area grocery stores. But if you live in a city or metropolitan area you can probably find all the ingredients.

Finally, do not buy the "350 recipes" cookbook Amazon tries to bundle with this one in the "buy both" listing near the top of the page. It's really awful - I've reviewed it separately.

If you have a 3 quart slow cooker, you'll enjoy this cookbook.

This cookbook was favorably reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle, so I decided to buy it and a small slow cooker.
Of course, I bought a round slow cooker, before I read the cookbook (she recommends an oval one, so that turkey breasts fit nicely.)
I've tried three of the recipes so far - the Beef Stew Classico - one of the best beef stews I've ever had.
The Tomato Lentil Soup was very tasty. I like my lentil soup thicker (this one was broth-y), but that's minor.
The Pulled Barbeque Chicken was just wonderful - we all but licked out the pot.
There are another 30 or so recipes in the cookbook I'm planning to try, and I'll bet all of them will be worth making again.

These two authors know their stuff. Everything I have made from this book has come out much better than I expected. Every single recipe works just the way they say it will!! Yes, some are a little time-consuming, but all use fresh ingredients, no canned soups. I live in rural Hawai'i, no fancy gourmet shops here, yet I have no trouble finding all the ingredients called for. My husband and I are both astonished at how delicious our meals have been lately. Since I boght this book a few months ago I have used it exclusively. And I too have become a slow-cooker addict. Thank you Beth and Julie!

I was enthusiastic about trying some of the recipes in this book as I was single at the time I purchased it to complement my 3 and 1/2 quart slow cooker and was looking for a convenient way to cook for one or two people that would not compromise the quality of home cooked meals. My enthusiasm quickly turned to dismay. First, most of these recipes are A LOT of work. And I am a self-confessed foodie who has spent many happy hours in the kitchen, so I can only imagine how annoying and overwhelming these recipes would be for a novice. Most of these recipes require meat to be browned and vegetables sauted in advance. In other words, you have to cook it before you cook it. C'mon if you wanted to do all that, you wouldn't be using a slow cooker! The worst thing about these recipes is that after all that work, most of the recipes I tried were just average and one or two of them downright sucked. The extra work would be worth it if the recipes turned out great, but, I'm sorry to say, most of these recipes are a lot more trouble than they are worth.

I used the brand of slow cooker the author recommended and followed the recipe and it still didn't turn out right. There is a recipe for macaroni and cheese which recommends adding evaporated milk at the start, and the milk curdled during cooking. So I ended up with macaroni and cheese scrambled eggs. Yuck! The recommendations for cooking oatmeal overnight in your slow cooker were totally off. I mean, there is a guide in there for converting stove top recipes to slow cooker recipes and according to that the oatmeal should have been done after three hours, which it was. So the idea that you can turn it on at night and have it ready for breakfast in the morning is nice, but not quite accurate, unless you go to bed at midnight and get up at three. If you have a programmable cooker, it will automatically switch to the warm setting after cooking time, but then you'll end up with pasty, burned-tasting oatmeal.

Another thing I found counterproductive is that most of these recipes are designed to make enough for left-overs. If you like eating left-overs, I guess it could be a good thing. I just thought the point of this book was cooking for two, not three or four.

If I remember correctly, most of these recipes could be done in 2 and 1/2 or three hours. This timing didn't work for me because I needed to leave the cooker on while I was out most of the day, and I didn't have a programmable cooker that would automatically switch to warm. Even if I had one, I don't think I would have liked eating food that had been sitting in the cooker for several hours.

I thought the purpose of using a slow cooker was to be able to make a healthy home-cooked meal without spending a lot of time in the kitchen. This author seems to have forgotten that. If you are looking for recipes that you can leave in the cooker while you are at work all day, or you are one of those people who just doesn't like to cook, I wouldn't recommend this book.

I got this cookbook, along with a couple of others, to be able to prepare smaller sized meals for my husband and me. This has been, by far, one of the best cookbook investments I've made.

We have enjoyed several recipes from this book, including the Lasagna (with a few modifications...made the Italian Meat Sauce the night before and added two layers of fresh ricotta cheese/egg mixture), which is now one of my husband's favorites.

Now, I'm using the slow cooker almost continuously. For you working people, here's a huge helpful hint: Do as much prep work as possible the night before and put it away in the refrigerator. Then, in the morning, it only takes about 15-20 minutes max to put all the prepared ingredients in the slow cooker. Turn it on and come home to a freshly prepared meal that is just the right size for a couple plus a little bit of leftovers for the next day's lunch.

If you are planning to give a slow cooker to newlyweds or daughter/son in college, definitely add this cookbook along with it. The slow cooker will get a lot more use and not wind up in the closet or sold in a garage sale.

As someone who lives alone and works extremely long hours, I don't always have a lot of time to cook. Unfortunately, I had begun to rely on either fast food (unhealthy) or convenience foods from the supermarket (expensive). Purchasing this book and a $15.00 dollar oval slow cooker has done wonders for my schedule, my budget, and my LDL cholesterol.

I second the reviewer who indicated that the recipes make more food than two people can eat in one sitting. I just made the Mushroom Barley Soup, which used more than a pound of mushrooms and six cups of water for "two servings." The soup was great, but if you're leftover-averse you're going to have to use your own judgment and do a little math with this book.

I also wished to point out that this book is quite vegetarian friendly. While the book includes entire chapters on poultry and beef cookery, as a vegetarian I found more than enough here in the chili, grains, sides, and dessert chapters to justify my purchase.

This book is great for two people: it's the perfect amount for my boyfriend and I. We bought the 4-Quart Rival slow cooker (I wanted the option to cook for more people) which is a little larger than the ones she recommends, but so far, everything has tasted great. Some dishes we have tried:

Vegetable Chili con Carne: This tasted great and it's a great way to get your day's worth of veggies (also includes lean ground beef). Usually chilis are all meat, beans, or veggies--this is a little bit of everything for a well-balanced meal.

Vegetable Polenta: Made this last night with some grilled pork and a salad--it was excellent! The mascarpone cheese adds a creamy flavor, which makes this polenta perfect.

Orange Teriyaki Chicken- The flavors of this chicken are so flavorful and they compliment each other well. Be careful not to overcook as I did, but still the chicken is so moist and flavorful that it almost didn't matter.

Hot Pepper Cornbread (non-slow cooker recipe): This bread accompanied our veggie chili and was good but it turned out a little flat--next time I would add a little more baking soda than the pinch it calls for.

Overall, this book is easy enough for a beginner cook and for those who don't want to prepare an army's worth of food.

I have purchased thousands and thousands of dollars worth of cooking stuff looking for the magic item that would take food from the cupboard and place it cooked and delicious on the table. I hate to cook, but with this book and a 1-1/2 quart cooker I look forward to cooking and eating. All of the ingredients are fresh and easy to obtain.

I just ordered the 3 quart cooker, and wish I had done so up front; there are several recipes that won't go in the smaller size, and I don't want to miss any of them.

I only wish I had discovered this when my son was at home. When I think of what he had to endure... To make up for it, I'll give him the small cooker and copy of this book.

I found this to be the best recipe book for cooking for about two people. It is not only a recipe book but it tells one about slow cookers--size, shape what to do and what not to do.