Tanya Dennis 2008-10-13
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Disappointing. I wish I hadn't spent the money. Speaking of money's worth, the binding is of poor quality. I've only had mine for a few months and already pages are falling out. Overall, I'm not happy with this purchase. Here's why.
1- There are no pictures. Isn't part of enjoying a meal the visual appeal? What's a cookbook with no pictures? Photographs of the finished meal encourage me to try recipes I might otherwise have ignored. Without photos, I've ignored a lot of these recipes.
2- A huge portion of this book is devoted to secondary courses: sauces, breads, sides and desserts. If I want to make a cake, I'm going to use my oven, not my crockpot. Maybe I'm being too traditional. I understand the point of this book is to be less traditional, so I guess these recipes are consistent with that purpose, but many take only 1-2 hours to cook. Isn't the point of a slow cooker to make your meal in the morning and eat it later? I want recipes that make main courses and give me at least 5 hours of "down time" between prep and serve.
3- The recipes I did try were not great. In fact, there are only two recipes from this book that I've marked "keepers." The Corned Beef and Cabbage is fantastic and recurs frequently on our menus; the Pork with Apples was also good. Other than these two, I've not found much we like from this book.
If you're looking for 16 different ways to make oatmeal and 14 different chili recipes or you want your slow cooker to be an all-purpose appliance, this may be the best cookbook for you. Otherwise, try another.
