Crockpot Recipes & Cookbooks

Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Questions

Healthy slow-cooker cookbook

Oct 2010

I am looking for recs on a healthy slow-cooker cookbook...the ones I've looked at use ingrediants like condensced cream of mushroom soup, ketchup and onion soap mix. I'd like some recipes with just simple, healthy ingredients. Thanks

I won't say there ISN'T a 'healthy' slow cooker cook book, but I've looked at many and they all seem to be like you described. I have 2, and I just substitute ingredients and kind of make up my own stuff. I've also gotten some good ones on line. Good luck. anon

I'm usually very happy with 'art of the slow cooker' by andrew schloss. We also slow cook a number of the stews from 'the best recipe' Many of our favorite meals are from these two books some of the recipes don't really need slow cooking, but no harm done either. I just cook using a Le crueset pot in the oven (not w a slow cooker. still figuring out slow cooking

try: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2009/10/slow-cooker-fall-favorites.html anon

I have been enjoying 'Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook' by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. A lot recipes and many many tips that will help you convert regular recipes to the slow cooker and teach you to modify recipes to suit your needs/tastes. I also have the Cooking Light slow cooker cookbook. It has healthy recipes and good instruction, too. It isn't as extensive as 'Not Your Mother's' and some of the recipes are a little too sophisticated for a 'throw something together for the kids' weeknight meal. So if you want one book, I'd get 'Not Your Mother's.'

I love my slow cooker, have several slow cooker cookbooks, and try to get everyone addicted to it. The two cookbooks I have that I use most - and that have lots of options other than the cream soup base - are: (1) Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes for Healthy and Hearty One-Pot Meals That Are Ready When You Are by Robin Robertson (2) Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann Enjoy! Slow Cooking Family

Cooking Light Slow Cooker is great. Tasty all natural recipes. Minor draw back - because you're not using cans of stuff & fat to add flavor, many of the recipes require a lot of different herbs/spices. As I'm not a real cook, I had to sometimes leave out items or make sure I bought ahead of time. Crockpot Queen

I hate cooking, but I love using my slow cooker! Two books I like: Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook and Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever (my personal favorite!) Here's the link to the second one: http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Cooker-Cookbook-Easy-Make/dp/0811866572 Happy slow cooking to you! Pam

Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Slow Cooker Willaims-Sonoma Essentials of Slow Cooking The Gourmet Slow Cooker (Lynn Alley) Secrets of Slow Cooking (Liana Krissoff) Not a can of soup in sight... I would check Amazon.com or Ebay for these cook books as none are very new. two vices - coffee and cookbooks

Good cookbook for a crock pot?

Nov 2009

Hi Busy Parents, I would like to cook more efficiently. It's hard getting home from work with hungry people and no dinner, yet impossible to cook dinner with little kids around. I would love recommendations for a good recipe book for a crock pot. Thanks in advance! - busy mom

I would like to chime in with a recommendation for a good cookbook. I love ''Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook''. I've made lots of recipes from it and have been very pleased with how they've turned out. Monica

Crock Pot Cooking Ideas?

Jan 2008

I just got a Crock Pot and I'm learning what do to with it. In the last Advice Given email there was an idea about how a parent might use it to cook easy, delicious meals. The idea of being able to slap in the ingredients before I go to work (10:30am) and have dinner magically ready when I walk in the door at 6:30pm is very enticing! I have found recipes on the internet, but any tried-and-true and EASY ones out there? Crock-Pot-Mom Ready to Go

You know who has given me the best tips? The butcher at our local Safeway. I was also struggling with recipes for my crockpot, 'cause the cookbooks seemed to be just as elaborate as regular cooking. He gave me one idea that I use at least once a week. You can buy a large piece of meat, like a roast (and they're often relatively cheap), and you first brown it in a frying pan. No need to be very careful. Just quickly brown all sides and add seasonings if you'd like. Put about an inch of water in your crockpot and add some garlic, salt, bay leaf, onion and maybe other vegetables. Then add the meat and close the top. If I do this early in the AM I leave my crockpot on a low setting. I sometimes do this around noon and then I leave the crockpot on high. Either way, by dinner time I have this incredible piece of soft meat that falls apart and that is just delicious. With parts of the remaining juices I make gravy and there is usually not a piece of meat left. Even the kids, who are very picky, eat all their meat. JOJ

I love my crock pot. It gets us through the cold winter months. All of my favorite recipes come from the Eating Well magazine. Their recipes can all be found online on their website. www.eatingwell.com/recipes Do a search for crock pot and you'll get a list of the recipes. ENJOY! Shoshana

I have found great recipes in ''Not Your Mother's Slowcooker Cookbook'' http://www.amazon.com/Your-Mothers-Slow-Cooker-Cookbook/dp/B000Q67862/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8=books=1199804764=8-1

What I have learned is that there actually is some need to cook some of the ingredients in order for things to be really tasty. It is not quite enough to just pour ingredients in the pot. Nikki

Even as a SAHM, I have found that the easiest time to get dinner started is usually while my older son is at school and the little one is napping in the morning. My husband just gave me a Crock Pot for Christmas (which I asked for), along with a copy of Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger.

Flipping through and reading all of the recipes, I am very excited to start trying them. It has everything from breakfast to soups, rice, beans, meats, jams and desserts covered.

My first attempt was disappointing - bland pot roast with underdone vegetables (it improved with a little doctoring). Then I went back and read the first chapter (which I had skipped) and figured out what I had done wrong. I also found useful tips on this page: http://www.fabulousfoods.com/school/cstools/slowcooker.html. Today I am attempting a Mexican lime and cilantro chicken, and tonight I will put on oatmeal before bed so that we can all (hopefully) enjoy a nice, hot breakfast. Crock Pot novice

I am definitely a fan of the crock pot. The key is not to try to use it for more than really makes sense. You'll see all sorts of crazy recipies for things like spaghetti or brownies or other things that you really don't need to cook in a crock pot. Stick to the basics of large cuts of meat that get nice and soft after cooking for eight hours.

The best cookbook I've found is called The New Creative Crock Pot Cookbook. It's from Rival, the company who makes Crock Pots and the author is Robin Taylor Swatt. I don't think you can buy it in bookstores, but it is sold at places that sell Crock Pots. I got my copy at Raley's supermarket, for example. HMJ

Chile Verde in Crock Pot - Large hunk of cheap pork, new or leftover, browned or not browned. Two bottles (green) Chile Verde from Trader Joe's (which tenderizes the meat). That's it. Cook until it falls off the bone. I serve it with tortillas, Spanish Rice (Uncle Ben's Microwave) and a can of refried beans. My kid loves it. Keeps well in fridge. anon

Crockpot recipes without a lot of canned, processed ingredients

Nov 2006

I finally bought my first crockpot and realized what a great way to have dinner basically cook itself. The problem is, I can't seem to find many recipes that don't use onion soup mix or cream of whatever so I'm limited to just a few dishes and my family is getting tired of chili (although they love it)! Can anyone recommend a good slow cooker cookbook or recipe source, one that doesn't require a lot of prepackaged, canned, branded ingredients? I love the convenience of the slow cooker, but want the focus on healthy, low-sodium ingredients. All ideas are appreciated. Thanks.. Crockpot challenged

i like ''Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker'' by Robin Robertson kat

I have never found a good slow cooker cookbook - besides the one that came with mine (and that's actually pretty good, but only has about 5-6 recipes.) Anyway, I've liked using Epicurious.com to find recipes. They're all compiled from Gourmet, Bon Apetit, etc. (Conde Nast, maybe?) Anyway, just go there, sign up ( for free) and then start a recipe box by searching for ''blank meat/veggie'' and the words crock pot or slow cooker. One thing I love is the rating system where others have made notes about things they liked and didn't like, ingredients to eliminate, etc. If you hate something, you can just remove it from your recipe box. If you like it, leave it there for next time - or print it out and keep a file. -Slow cooker addict.

Here are some crockpot ideas: Split pea soup. I don't follow a recipe, but the one on the 16 oz bag of split peas would probably work. Be sure that some of the time early on the crockpot is on high to really cook the split peas, then hours on low is fine. for a vegan soup w/ a smokey flavor I add liquid smoke at the end. lentil soup--ditto, adding spinach (organic, local) and parmesan at the end. any bean based soup like minestrone would work, but add veggies like green breans late. Beef stew--i use wine and/or canned tomatoes as the liquid, but not canned soup. chicken in a pot. brown a chicken and place the desired root veggies on the bottom of the pot. place whole or cut up chicken on top. add white wine, chicken broth, water, some herbs. make noodles or not when you get home. chicken pot pie. leftover cooked chicken, sliced potatoes, celery, carrots, mushrooms,water or chicken broth. come home, thicken liquid if desired, place frozen peas, pie crust on top, remove lid (important!)and finish in oven.spaghetti sauce. brown ground meat turkey pork etc. brown onions,garlic, add tomatoes and wine,herbs, onions and meat to crock pot. cook all day and serve over noodles. basically focus on soups and stews, use water, broth, wine, beer, tomatoes in lieu of canned soups. you can always thicken the resulting broth to get that 'cream of mushroom soup' effect. I tried but did not have good luck w/ coconut milk, so if I want a curry, I add that when I get home. I have used the occasional can of pineapple and its unsweetened juice for a hawaiian style pork roast. thanksgiving tip: you can cook potatoes (sweet or white) in water in the crockpot ahead of time,(one the day before, the other overnight) whip them and make your casserole,chill, and only heat the casserole prior to meal. then you can make homemade cranberry sauce in the crockpot on thanksgiving and scoop it out warm at serving time Jessica

I've posted a similar question to the food forum on Craigslist, and the cookbook that seemed to get the most recommendation was: ''Slow Cooker Cooking'' by Lora Brody. Amazon has it for a little over $17, and you can read reviews there. Of course, if you search on Amazon, you'll get many more recommendations and reviews for slow cooker recipe books. I haven't bought the Lora Brody book yet, so can't give a personal opinion Gonna get cookin'

I had one slow cooker cookbook I finally gave away, but am happy to recommend the one I use semi-regularly now: _Complete Slow Cooker Cookbook_ by Carol Heding Munson I found it on sale at Barnes and Noble for $7.98. Hope that helps! coleen

This is an excellent cookbook. The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Simple and Sophisticated Meals from Around the World by Lynn Alley. slow cooker

The recipes that came with my Crockpot are actually pretty good for the most part. Instead of the cream of mushroom soup and packaged soup mixes (yuck and double yuck), I use regular packaged low-sodium chicken or beef broth and herbs. You can remove whatever you cooked, take off the lid, and cook on high for 15-30 minutes (while you're making salad and yelling at the children to set the table;) to concentrate the juices and you'll have a nice sauce. Happy Cooking

I recently started using a crockpot and like Judith Finlayson's ''Delicious & Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes.'' (I do not have her earlier ''150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes'' mentioned in the archives.) I do find many of the recipes require a bit of prep time, but also think it's usually worth it. I also own Mable Hoffman's ''Crockery Cookery,'' which is just okay -- it's a revised edition of a cookbook originally published in 1975. Anon

I love the crockpot concept. I got a great cookbook w/ a wide array of recipe types. It is called: Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger & Julie Kaufman. Happy cooking! Julie

I quite like _Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker_. The recipes often require some prep time and minor pre-cooking (browning onions, etc.) before slow cooking, but they're generally pretty tasty...and much more inventive than traditional crockpot cuisine. You can always do prep the night before and refrigerate the crockpot insert until ready for cooking. Tiffany

Crockpot cookbook with good, healthy recipes

Sept 2004

Hi all. I'm looking for a crockpot cookbook that has good, healthy recipes (i.e., recipes that don't call for ingredients like powdered onion soup and bac-o-bits). Vegetarian emphasis would be preferred, but I know that may be asking a lot... I really like the crockpot cooking style, but truly need new recipes at this point. susan

I hear you about the crockpot recipes...We received one as a wedding gift, but never used it because all of the recipes we could find called for instant soup and other highly processed ingredients (if you're using all these convenience foods, then why do you even need to use a crockpot in the first place??). Plus, most recipes were meat-based, and we don't eat a whole lot of meat. Anyway, my mother-in-law gave us this book last year called ''The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes'' by Judith Finlayson (ISBN 0-7788-0038-5). The majority of recipes are still meat- based, but you could probably make some substitutions. But there are some vegetarian recipes and a chapter on vegetables. Good luck! Tonya

I have yet to find a great crockpot cookbook, but I have found one that's pretty good. It's called ''Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes'' published by Better Homes and Gardens. Most of the recipes call for fresh, real ingredients instead of canned mushroom soup, etc. Even better, it has a chapter (25 recipes) called Meatless Main Dishes. Anon

I don't know about a cookbook, but I recently discovered a website called www.crockerykitchen.com where they have lots of recipes that use real ingredients. I haven't tried them yet, but I sure intend to! Erin

Slow Cooker Cookbook

Feb 2003

I received a slow cooker for Christmas. I think it will come in handy and I am looking for recommendations for a tried and true slow cooker cookbook. I have looked online and at bookstores - and there are so many to choose from. I do like to cook. I am looking to use the slow cooker for those days that I do not have time to spend in the kitchen; but would still like a tasty, not- bland home cooked meal. Thanks.

I've been having great luck with the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes. I asked for it for Christmas (primarily because it was the only one I'd seen that had a bunch of vegetarian recipes) so I could finally start to make use of the Crock Pot I'd received a year before and never used, and now I'm using my Crock Pot at least four times a week. Some recipes are definitely better than others, but no real duds so far, and lots of yummy stews and soups. Plus all recipes include nutritional info like calories, fat, fiber, etc, per serving. I love assembling dinner while my 1-year-old naps in the morning, then not having to think about it again until it's time to eat. Happy Cook

Before the birth of my 2nd son, my Mom sent me a slow cooker with a few cookbooks and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I tried it, and now use it at least 2x a week!! I have made mac and cheese one night, then the next night osso bucco for a dinner party. Slow cooking is now even recognized by the Dining In/Out section of the New York Times (Cover Story, January 29, 2003; see NYTimes.com).

The two cookbooks I use are: Fix it and Forget it Cookbook; Feasting with your slow cooker and Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes. Also, www.justcrockpotrecipes.com has literally 1,000's of recipes.

Have fun, it is so convienent and I guarantee you will get hooked! Courtney