Slow Cooker Ready & Waiting: 160 Sumptuous Meals That Cook Themselves

Every time I use this cookbook, my husband says, "Gee, you're a good cook!"Rick Rodgers has been one of my favorite cookbook authors ever since I stumbled on his Christmas 101 several years ago. That and his companion volume, Thanksgiving 101, are my favorite cookbooks for year-round entertaining, and the best cookbook bargains around. His recipes are interesting and innovative without being in any way fussy or pretentious, and I thoroughly enjoy his writing style--amusing, candid about his own successes and failures in the kitchen, and full of a deep understanding of the connection among food, the rituals of life, and our relationships with family and friends. So I was excited to see that he had written a slow cooker cookbook. I am one of those who has never been satisfied with slow cooker recipes. I got married in the mid-1970's, the heyday of the slow cooker, and I thought it was a great concept. After a few disappointing meals, my new husband asked me to cool it."This seems like a lot of effort for something that tastes like it came off a cafeteria steam table." I had to agree--slow cooker food tasted blah, the texture of the meats was unappealing, and often everything ended up swimming in watery liquid with a thick layer of grease on the top. Yuck.Rick's recipes have been a revelation to me. It should be moderately obvious that browning meat and sauteing onions and garlic before putting them in the crockpot would greatly improve the results, but somehow I had never figured this out! His suggestions for even cooking of chicken parts--stack them with the dark meat on the bottom--produce perfect results. I have made The Pot Roast, the coq au vin, the Good Woman's Chicken Pot Roast, the Chinese Country Style Ribs, the Potatoes Euphoria, the Spaghetti with Herbed Tomato Sauce and Parmesan Meatballs and the Hot Fudge Spooncake. All came out great. The prep time was not excessive, nor was the last-minute work. Before reducing or thickening the sauce, I remove the meat and vegetables to an oven-proof platter, cover them with foil and put them in a 200 degree oven while I finish the meal. It couldn't be easier. There are dozens more recipes I want to try, and intend to make my holiday turkey stock in the slow cooker as Rick advises.These recipes open up a whole new world for serious cooks who want to take advantage of the convenience of a slow cooker without sacrificing good food. Great job, Rick!

For slow cooker cookbooks I have this one and Fix it and Forget it. Of the 2 I vastly prefer this one. The added preparation is worth the extra taste. I also find that the ingredients in this book are much, much healthier. Many readers criticise that the extra preparation negates the advantage of a slow cooker. My answer is "Don't do it -- just follow the ingredients". IF you don't brown the meat or reduce your sauce it still tastes good, but not as good as if you had. If you have the time, then reduce the sauce, or whatever. In either case, you have a healthier meal than adding 1 cup of Velveeta cheese and a can of cream of mushroom soup. I regard the advantage of using a slow cooker as not so much saving overall time, but moving my preparation and cooking time to a better time for me. Hence I am spending 1/2 hour in the morning preparing dinner and it cooks all day. Otherwise I would be spending 1/2 hour when I get home from work, then it has to cook and I don't eat until 7:30 or 8:00.

This is a terrific cookbook for all of us who were seriously traumatized by slow-cooked slabs of gray meat in 1972. Unlike other crock pot cookbooks, the emphasis here is on taste first and then convenience. Yes, you'll probably spend a bit more time prepping ingredients (though not more than 30 minutes), but the payoff comes in great tasting meals that don't look as if they came from a penitentiary cafeteria.

Yes, some of the recipes DO take some time, and others take less, but there's plenty of variety here for everyone. Rodgers often recommends taking certain additional preparation steps, and that's what makes his recipes SOOOOOOO much better than some of the awful things that a few of the manufacturers have published. I especially like Hot Fudge Spooncake, and prepare it regularly--it's great to come home to the smell of of freshly baked dessert! For those recipes that require a precise cooking time, I just use a $4 lamp and appliance timer that I picked up at my local hardware store to turn the pot on while I'm at work--problem solved! Now that I have this book, my slow cooker stays on top of the counter and gets a regular work out.