500 Easy Recipes for Every Day and Every Size Machine

This book is absolutely genius. If you are looking for a slow cooker book, you really need look no further than the Great American Slow Cooker Book. First, each recipe is adapted for three sizes of slow cookers. So no matter what size cooker you have, you can make each recipe without trying to figure out the proportions yourself. I've never seen that feature in any other slow cooker book I've read.

The best part about this book, though, is that all of the recipes use real ingredients. You'll find no cream of something soup, no dry onion soup mixes, nothing like that (if a recipe from another book calls for that kind of ingredient, I'd encourage you to make the ingredient yourself). There are definitely recipes you'll recognize: tuna noodle casserole, macaroni and cheese, even sloppy joes. But there are others that I've never seen for a slow cooker before, and it's obvious their focus is on real foods: potato leek soup, spaghetti squash with pine nuts and sage, root vegetable tagine with pistachios and dried cherries. I'm incredibly excited to try some of these recipes. Sometimes, I can get in a rut with slow cookers and make the same boring dishes or I only bust them out for just me, Jason and Bug and don't use them for fancier occasions. But with recipes like sour cherry and almond cobbler, I feel like I'll be out of a rut and making dishes for big family gatherings in no time!

In a typical kitchen, you are probably going to find a coffee make, a toaster, and my favorite kitchen appliance the crock pot. Who doesn't love throwing your ingredients in and letting the slow cooker do everything else. That's where this book comes in. The Great American Slow Cooker Book is a really good companion for anyone who loves using their crock pot.

The biggest plus for this cookbook is that it has something for everybody. Whether you've got a tiny crock pot or a giant one. You'll find recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. And for the adventurous types and hunters, you'll find recipes for veal, duck, lamb, and even rabbit. It is a very comprehensive guide to getting the most out of your slow cooker.

My only wish is that there had been more recipes using staple ingredients. There are 500 recipes in this book and there are quite a few that use special ingredients like wine and some special spices, that some people probably do not keep in their pantries.

Overall I think you will enjoy this cookbook and will find many recipes your family will love. Enjoy and happy eating!

*I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

I have small and large slow cookers and sometimes I just use my small 2 1/2 quart and sometimes I pull out the large 6 quart for large meals. I hate having to figure out how much to use for a small meal for two since most cookbooks seem to be tailored for the large crockpots. I like the variety of recipes it offers most of the recipes are simple not that many ingredients but most all take fresh ingredients not just bottled sauces you throw in the pot. We have food allergies so I like to prepare my own sauces and limit preservatives and artificial colors or additives. They state in the book you can always add ingredients that you prefer or adjust ingredients to your taste. I like that the cook times seem more realistic. I am a stay home mom so I like to use my crockpot for lunch time and 3-5 hours cook times is much better than 8-10 hours plus I think some chicken dishes turn to shreds with 8 hours. Good variety of recipes. I plan to use it often.

"The Great American Slow Cooker Book" is a life-saver! I thought I used my slow-cooker a lot before, but now I plan on using it all the time! Slow cooking is a great alternative to having to turn the stove on and cook dinner at the end of the day. Just come home and dinner is ready. Having categories like "desserts & party drinks" really opens up my concepts about how to use my slow cooker. I feel like maybe I've been under utilizing it this whole time, maybe even my whole life. I am particularly excited about the Fish & Shellfish recipes because I love eating fish during the summer, but have never even considered using a slow cooker for it. I have a feeling my stove is going to be jealous!

The easy to follow recipes clearly state how much of each ingredient is needed for each size cooker. Using a shaded table makes it easier to follow your specific size. The testers notes are incredibly useful, giving you advice on ways to make it better or to change the recipe up a bit. I really enjoy this, because when I look at recipes online, I always go to the comments and reviews to be able to see what other people think and have done with the recipe. The Ingredients explained sections help give a little Alton Brown twist to your ingredients, allowing you to learn a little bit more about cooking and the ingredients you use. I think my favorite aspect of the book is the "Serve it up" blurbs found on recipes which offer helpful suggestions about what to serve the items with. Sometimes I end up focusing on the main dish and forget about side dishes until the end. I think this will help me tie my meals together better.

I thought that this was a really good cookbook, especially if you are a slow cooking fanatic like me. I love using my slow cooker/crockpot because I can prepare my meal and put it in the crock pot and go to classes, and when I get home I have a nice meal ready for me to eat! I also really like meat that is slow cooked, it really helps to hold in the flavor and moisture.
Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to get to review this cookbook. I love the sheer amount of recipes that there are! There are over 500 recipes in this book, that will really keep me busy for a few days! I also like that they have interesting recipes for each category of meals, like they have some for breakfast, lunch, dinner, soups, and even dessert! The format of the book is also really easy to follow, and I like way that they have the ingredients kind of gridded out so that the cookbook flows easier. My only nitpick about this book is that it had very little images, and for me, images really make a good cookbook that I enjoy reading, however this was still a pretty interesting cookbook, and I'm definitely trying the Cabbage Roll recipe later this week (thanks to our surplus of fresh garden cabbage)!

In a Nutshell:

Great Cookbook to have if you're a fan of slow cooking/crockpot cooking. This cookbook is laid out really well, which is especially nice since its stuffed full of recipes! It's a bummer that there aren't as many images as I usually like to see in a cookbook.

If you are looking for a great slow cooker cookbook, with tons of recipes, this book for definitely for you! "The Great American Slow Cooker Book" is a collection of amazing (and simple!) recipes that you can make in your slow cooker. What is really cool about this particular cookbook is that each recipe gives you the ingredients for three different sized slow cookers, which I really liked. Each recipe includes the ingredients for a 2-3.5 qt slow cooker, a 4-5.5 qt slow cooker, and a 6-8 qt slow cooker. This way, even if you have a smaller slow cooker, you can still make every delicious recipe in this book.

Each recipe also features "testers' notes", which are helpful tips for each recipe. For example, the testers' notes for french onion soup (page 59) tell us not to use frozen chopped onions for this dish because they will be too soft and wet and will not caramelize well. These are super helpful notes that can help make sure the recipe turns out as delicious as intended.

The directions for these recipes are all very simple, and easy to follow. Most ingredients I came across were easy to find, or items I already had on hand in my pantry or refrigerator. There are a wide variety of recipes in this cookbook, as well. Delicious recipes for breakfast, Soups, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Veal/Rabbit, Poultry, Fish/Shellfish, Vegetables, Side Dishes, and Desserts are all included in this cookbook. So there is easily plenty of variety to use the slow cooker daily without repeating recipes!

I would highly recommend this cookbook to anyone. I am a mom of two and find that the slow cooker helps me to prepare healthy and delicious meals for my family without having to sacrifice time with my children. This would also be a great cookbook for busy working moms (and dads!), or even singles or couples who don't have any children. Who doesn't want to come home at the end of the day to a delicious meal, ready to eat?!

This is the ultimate Slow Cooker Cookbook. It has directions for three different sizes of slow cookers for every recipe, so you are never left guessing or doing the math. Concise and well tested recipes are at the core of this extremely helpful cookbook. The book appeals to gourmands as well as beginning cooks with a vast array of ideas for easy one pot dishes that you can start in the morning and come home to in the evening.

Mark and Bruce are a unique force in the field of food writing. They come up with ideas that are clearly unique and appealing and explain them so that they are easy to replicate. This book also makes a perfect gift for almost anyone interested in putting together healthy and delicious meals. I have seen many slow cooker cookbooks, but this is one that I use frequently because of the vast array of recipes and the fact that I can make them for two people in my smaller slow cooker or 8 people in my large one.

Ah, finally a crockpot cookbook for those of us who want real food . I love the convenience of my crockpot but I like to use real ingredients, and now I am able to. No canned cream-of-this-or-that soups, just straightforward recipes using real ingredients.....and all the recipes are scaled for different size pots, which makes it quite flexible. Fish filets in the crockpot, yum! And I made the Chicken Tikka Masala and it was perfect.
Recommending this book to everyone I know who has a slow cooker sitting unused in a closet!

the Gteat American slow cooker cookbook is truly like no other slow cooker cookbooks. Not only are the recipes unique in content, but the preparation methods are incredibly easy to follow no matter what size slow cooker you are using.
Although I have owned a slow cooker for many years, I have seldom used it. This book has me taking the slow cooker out often. So far, I have tried several,recipes ... All fabulous and easy to prepare.
Thanks, guys

This books is well thought out, well written, and has many great tips and information for cooking with a crockpot. The recipes sound delicious. And I sure some of them are. But I thought this book was going to have more "easy recipes for every day". Sorry but duck, veal, rabbit, and monkfish are not ingredients I would use and they definitely not what I would call "every day" foods.

If you are looking for easy simple dishes this is NOT the book for you. If you are looking to make osso buco or muscles in a crockpot then this is the book for you.

No nutritional information. Few recipes for vegans. Too many recipes that use dairy products. Too many sweeteners. For authors who have writing credentials with Weight Watchers and Cooking Light, they have let down those of us who purchased the book based on those credentials.

*Snippet from the book*
The ultimate in slow-cooker books--with 500 recipes, each adapted for three sizes of appliance. From breakfast to soups, mains to grains, vegetables to desserts, this guide is the only book you'll ever need to master your slow cooker or crockpot.

*My Review*
My mom bought me my first crock pot when my husband and I got married, but I never really used it much. I didn't think I could use it for so many different things. This book is truly amazing, and will be used often.

*Disclaimer*
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

*Snippet from the book*
The ultimate in slow-cooker books--with 500 recipes, each adapted for three sizes of appliance. From breakfast to soups, mains to grains, vegetables to desserts, this guide is the only book you'll ever need to master your slow cooker or crockpot.

*My Review*
My mom bought me my first crock pot when my husband and I got married, but I never really used it much. I didn't think I could use it for so many different things. This book is truly amazing, and will be used often.

*Disclaimer*
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

No nutritional information. Few recipes for vegans. Too many recipes that use dairy products. Too many sweeteners. For authors who have writing credentials with Weight Watchers and Cooking Light, they have let down those of us who purchased the book based on those credentials.