Book Description:
It’s every busy mother’s dream-come-true: dinner that makes itself! With the help of your trusty slow cooker and these healthy, easy recipes like Peppery Cilantro Salmon, Sausage Stew, and Dark Chocolate Mini Cakes, you can put dinner on the table even on the craziest of days. Don’t let the whirlwind of life stop you from feeding your family the food they deserve-delicious, home-cooked meals straight from your slow cooker.
Review:
Cooking dinner has been such a chore lately. When I heard about The Hungry Family Slow Cooker Cookbook it seemed like just the thing to help me (especially with the tag line "Every mother's dream come true: dinner that makes itself!). Being able to throw ingredients in a slow cooker in the morning so dinner is ready to eat when everyone gets home is very appealing.
I learned a few things from this cookbook. First, I had no idea what size of slow cooker I own. I've had it for years and the box is long gone. I looked and looked and couldn't find the size on it anywhere. I ended up having to measure the amount of water it could hold to determine that it's a four quart slow cooker. Many of the recipes in the book call for a six quart slow cooker, and luckily two of my neighbors let me borrow their larger slow cookers to test some of the recipes (neither of which listed their sizes-slow cooker manufacturers really should include that on their products).
I also learned that I must usually use my slow cooker on the low heat setting. Running three slow cookers at once is probably not advisable when you're trying to keep settings straight. I appreciated the note in the beginning of the book that said one hour on high is the equivalent of two hours on low so my dishes weren't ruined when I didn't start them correctly.
The Citrus Roast and Peanut Butter Lover Brownies were big hits (and easy). The Sweet Potatoes with Thyme were good-not a kid favorite though. The Cranberry Wild Rice was very tasty, but some of the rice was very mushy while some was still crunchy (it's a mixture of long-grain rice and wild rice-possibly the texture would have been different with different brands of rice). We loved the cake part of the Pumpkin Pudding Cake, but the bottom layer didn't set up nearly as much as we expected. If there is ever an update to this book, I would love pictures of every recipe and something that notes what the consistency should be.
I haven't been very successful at planning a weekly menu, and I found that most of the recipes I tested required some ingredients I don't typically have on hand. So, while this is a time saver just before dinner time, I'd need to plan ahead at least by a day to make sure I had the needed ingredients.
This cookbook isn't the miracle to solve my dinner making woes (honestly the miracle would be a personal chef), but the recipes with long cook times can definitely help me if I plan ahead.
Book Launch Party:
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About the Author:
Christina Dymock graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Public Relations. She has been published in Woman’s World Magazine, several Chicken Soup for the Soul books and is the author of “101 Things to do With Popcorn” and “Young Chefs: Cooking Skills and Recipes for Kids.” She resides in Central Utah with her husband and four children. You can follow their cooking adventures at kidsabletreats.blogspot.com.
Title: The Hungry Family Slow Cooker Cookbook Author: Christina Dymock
Publisher: Front Table Books, an imprint of Cedar Fort Inc.
Published: March 2014
ISBN: 1462113621
Source: I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for a review.
Purchase: Amazon | Books & Things
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