Healthy Recipes That Are Ready When You Are - 100 Easy

This arrived yesterday and although I have not used it I looked through it and it appears to be exactly what I need. Recipes look easy without strange ingredients which I have never heard of. Looking forward to using it.

Every single recipe I've made from this book has been delicious. I'm not longer vegetarian, but still love vegetarian and vegan meals. This might sound weird, but I've thrown meat in a few of these -- they're so flavorful and delicious, I find the versions of these recipes to be better than any of the ones I've tried with meat in them.

The book is beautifully laid out and includes some pleasantly casual commentary here and there. Would give it five stars if it weren't for some of the recipes being so short that I wouldn't consider them recipes in and of themselves. Despite this, it is, for the most part, worth it and has some great combinations and super savory dishes.

I love Toni ever since she started Plant-Based on a Budget, I love her super friendly approach! Her tips and recipes are super practical. I was long waiting for this kind-of book and from what I saw it's really great.

I have to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. I am going through a healthier eating journey and decided I needed to improve my diet. Mainly this means I am opening myself up to more food options. I am not a vegan, so it took me a while to review this book, because I'd try one recipe every other week or so. I have to say, I am really impressed. I've only tried a handful of recipes so far and they all have been so tasty and flavorful. I am looking forward to many more once it gets a bit cooler again.

First impression- quite disappointed. First of all it is a "slow cooker" cookbook but yet there are at least 15 salad recipes. If I wanted a salad cookbook, i would have bought a salad cookbook, or recipe book....So that started out bad. Then i looked through the recipes and didn't really see anything that looked all that great. I came to the aloo gobi recipe and i just LOVE Indian food. So I tried it. I was so hoping it would be great that i doubled it. Then I ate it. And it sucked. I added a bunch of salt and pepper and it was still kinda cruddy. In the future, I suppose I will look at all the reviews and not just the good ones....and especially not the ones that were posted by people that were given the book for free from the publisher. How does one get free books from publishers??? Ill give it another shot and try something else but if that is no good, then I will be really sad that I spent $13 on this book. Oh, and there is a recipe in there for carmalized onions....that take 10 hours...who has that much time to slow cook for 10 hours and then another 6-8 to put it in a recipe. And the reviewer that said it was kinda just a dump and cook book is right. I have another book from Robin Robinson (ALL of her recipes that I have tried have been great), that has you saute ingredients first for better flavor...and that works.

I love trying to come up with new meals for my family and I'm in love with my slow cooker. My husband and I are vegan, so this cookbook just made sense to try out. The way I rate cookbooks these days is I try to find at least 5-8 recipes that I truly like. On rare occasions, I will accept less if they are phenomenal.
This cookbook has more than five that my husband and I liked and I've made more than once. We really like the variety of chilli dishes in this book. There are some good breakfast ideas that I would love to try. It's nice to have a hundred recipe ideas to cycle through.
Overall, the ingredients needed for most of the recipes are items that I have in the pantry or fridge. There isn't really anything that would be hard for me to find around town or even online and have delivered to my house.

There were a few recipes that we tried that were fairly bland, but I tweaked them a bit to make them yet better.
The directions are easy to follow, nothing too complicated. I really having this book in my kitchen and look forward to trying out more recipes soon. I received a complimentary copy from the publisher.

I really wanted to love this cookbook, but I don't understand the prep time estimates. It'll say "15 minutes" but the truth is some of these have so many ingredients - many totally random that you wouldn't likely have standardly - that you'd surely have to run out to the market to make almost any of them happen. Sure, once you set the slow cooker it's "easy," but having to run in and out of the house for random ingredients that you'd never use for almost anything else makes many of these recipes feel like more effort than they're worth.

Also, some of the macronutrients breakdowns seem to be pretty generous. You'll be working with mostly tomatoes and a single can of beans (with the rest of the ingredients being green or starchy vegetables of some kind) and the recipe will say it has like >30 grams of protein per serving. There's no way.

I love the author's "super easy" philosophy, both in cooking and in writing this book. All of the recipes are really simple and straightforward, and the book itself is too. There's a nice, short intro section and then lots of yummy-sounding recipes. Chapter 2 is one basic recipe and two different ways to incorporate that recipe into a meal. Chapter 3 is the recipe, a variation on that recipe, and a salad pairing. Chapters 4 and 5 are self-contained one-pot meals. She really emphasizes real life cooking for busy people (with not a lot of time or effort)--doing most of the prep work on Sunday, not creating too many dirty dishes, using all of the produce you buy, etc. Of course I would have liked to see more pics of the dishes to further entice me to try making them, but I don't think that will discourage me from trying them out. Last, but not least, I love that this book is 100% vegan! Yay! I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher.

I am not vegan, so take this review with a huge grain of salt based on that omission. I have wanted to go vegan for some time but the flavors are not all that. My mind says "lets be vegan", but my tongue says "oh no, you did not just try to put that in my mouth". I found many of the recipes lack luster at best. BUT, maybe someone who is vegan would be thrilled with this book? I say buy it and try it! If anything your mind will thank you even if your tongue does not.

I've followed Toni Okamoto's blog and loved the recipes and love of slow cooking!

Can I even contain my love that there is a cookbook? NO

Her recipes are to dream of.
Think a Kale Caesar salad is yucky? NO

The recipe for "Spicy Ethiopian Lentil Stew" is now my go to.

There are many miso recipes which totally wow.

"Meaty Chili" with no meat? YES

"Cauliflower Bolognese"? YES

Chapter 5 "Sunday Staples" is for sure a favorite. Mushroom Gravy, Perfect Peanut Sauce. What a great guide to cook vegan.

Ive spent a few weeks cooking from this gem and I love it. Never imagined Id use my slow cooker so much.

This is a gem and more.

The publisher sent me this awesome cookbook at no cost.

Ok, three strikes your out. So far all three recipes I have tried have turned out either too spicy to eat or bland. The Curry Stew Was watery. I have been using cook books for the last 4 out of 5 years that I have been vegan and this one is the worst. My other vegan slow cooker book requires some additional prep which includes sautéed onions and spices but it’s much more tasty. This book has a “dump cake” prep philosophy so you definitely can’t take the love. Don’t waste your money, recipes on line are better and free.

Well, not all recipes are prepared in a slow cooker, which I thought the Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook would contain. However, the first dish that I prepared right after I got the review copy of the book from the publisher, was the Homemade Hummus (p. 130). I used a food processor to prepare this dish, and it was fast, easy and delicious. A slow cooker waited in the wings, but was not needed. Although it was my first time making hummus, yes, really, it won't be the last. As the author wrote, "the freshness is unbeatable, and it's significantly cheaper" (than buying it in the store). She's right, and I'm sold on making my own now! She suggested adding roasted pine nuts would be an option, and I did and think that they added texture and taste. The instructions were easy to follow and complete. I like the tip about how to store and use leftovers...as if there is a lot likely to be leftover. It's too good to waste, for sure. As the weather turns cooler, I'm going to try some of the slow cooker soups. Here's to our health...

Just got my copy and I'm remaining cautiously optimistic, but am a bit perplexed. Many of these recipes don't use a slow cooker, and some have 900+ calories per serving. Not sure how useful this cookbook will be.

Ok, this cook gets it! Thank you, thank you, thank you. No pre-cooking anything! It totally defeats the purpose, IMO, to saute this and that before adding it to the slow cooker. If I wanted to cook on the stove, than that's what I would be doing. NO, I want quick, easy, no-fuss, add it all in the slow cooker, turn it on and walk away with no extra dirty dishes and all that. Toni Okamoto is a cook after my own heart. The recipes are pretty freaking awesome too :-)

I wish I had realized before buying this cookbook that a crock pot was good for more than making soup or cooking meat. I've had the pot for decades but now it is worthy of countertop space - one pot of delicious dal or mixed bean chili and a batch of rice gives us lunches for two all week. Bought it four weeks ago and these recipes are so good I've made them twice! There are so so many more to try. Get this book you won't regret it.

I didn't realize that the slow cooker recipes contain frozen vegetables and/or canned beans, or I would not have pre-ordered it. Half of the recipes are for green salads. I would return it, but there is a $4.98 return fee.

I don't think of myself as a picky eater, my vegan meals were healthy first and if they tasted great it was only a small benefit. I was only cooking for myself.

Then I saw Toni Okamoto featured on the NBCNews website and thought I’d give her book a try. Wow, what fun I’m having! For someone like me with just over zero cooking skills, I got to learn a couple new things, tired a couple new ingredients, and amazed myself with the tasty new dishes I’m cooking up.

I think of The Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook as a book of adventures and for a small price, I now have 100 new experiences waiting for me, ones that I would have never found on my own.

So far I really like this. Being that it is summer I have not made a lot yet from it, but what I have is good, it is easy to make and uses common sense. In other words you are not spending an hour with prep time. I cannot give it 5 stars yet because I have not used it enough yet.

There are over a dozen salad recipes, and the writer refers to herself as a “lazy cook” so uses boullion cubes, etc. I’ve found recipes on line I like much better than most of the co tents of this book. Not for me.

If you are thinking of going vegan this is the cookbook for you. This book is full of healthy vegan recipes that will start you of on your journey to be a vegan. I am very pleased with this book. Would I recommend this book to other people? Yes I would including friends and family..I absolutely think this is great book . All opinions are my own if you found this review helpful please vote yes below.

Not my cup of tea -- or at least not my slow cooker pot. Most of the recipes I've looked at use either canned or frozen ingredients. And don't really need a slow cooker, so there's that - if you're looking for something that doesn't take all day to cook.

I'm trying to make our dinners healthier.....I was so glad to receive this book from the publisher, and thought I "could always add chicken" to the recipes to keep my family happy......not needed! The recipes that I've tried have been flavorful and satisfying. I especially liked the page with ingredients to have on hand, mainly because I had no clue where to even begin. But it was simple! I will use these recipes a few days a week to help us change to healthier eating!

Well, not all recipes are prepared in a slow cooker, which I thought the Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook would contain. However, the first dish that I prepared right after I got the review copy of the book from the publisher, was the Homemade Hummus (p. 130). I used a food processor to prepare this dish, and it was fast, easy and delicious. A slow cooker waited in the wings, but was not needed. Although it was my first time making hummus, yes, really, it won't be the last. As the author wrote, "the freshness is unbeatable, and it's significantly cheaper" (than buying it in the store). She's right, and I'm sold on making my own now! She suggested adding roasted pine nuts would be an option, and I did and think that they added texture and taste. The instructions were easy to follow and complete. I like the tip about how to store and use leftovers...as if there is a lot likely to be leftover. It's too good to waste, for sure. As the weather turns cooler, I'm going to try some of the slow cooker soups. Here's to our health...

Just got my copy and I'm remaining cautiously optimistic, but am a bit perplexed. Many of these recipes don't use a slow cooker, and some have 900+ calories per serving. Not sure how useful this cookbook will be.

Ok, this cook gets it! Thank you, thank you, thank you. No pre-cooking anything! It totally defeats the purpose, IMO, to saute this and that before adding it to the slow cooker. If I wanted to cook on the stove, than that's what I would be doing. NO, I want quick, easy, no-fuss, add it all in the slow cooker, turn it on and walk away with no extra dirty dishes and all that. Toni Okamoto is a cook after my own heart. The recipes are pretty freaking awesome too :-)

I wish I had realized before buying this cookbook that a crock pot was good for more than making soup or cooking meat. I've had the pot for decades but now it is worthy of countertop space - one pot of delicious dal or mixed bean chili and a batch of rice gives us lunches for two all week. Bought it four weeks ago and these recipes are so good I've made them twice! There are so so many more to try. Get this book you won't regret it.

I didn't realize that the slow cooker recipes contain frozen vegetables and/or canned beans, or I would not have pre-ordered it. Half of the recipes are for green salads. I would return it, but there is a $4.98 return fee.

We had to either add cheese sauce, or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos to most of the recipes because they were quite bland. I have included a picture of the cheese sauce recipe we used from a wonderful cookbook called "Non-dairy Revolution".

I've made several recipes out of this cookbook and they turned out pretty great. I randomly pick recipes each week to do and so far, they've all been super scrumptious and nutritious. I will say that I always tweak recipes to fit my own preference and liking, but these are some solid bases to start from. The only one I need to really try over again is the Mushroom Stroganoff. It didn't quite come out how I'd prefer, so I'm going to give it a second whirl, this time with baby spinach (I like cooked spinach) instead of kale (I like raw kale) and/or both. I'm also going to serve it up on some spiralized rainbow noodles (zucchini, beet, and carrot) for some extra veggie goodness. The recipes also include tips and suggestions and can be modified to fit a variety of diets. Of my current collection of vegan cookbooks, this has become one of my favorites.

A Few Photos:
#1. "Nacho Cheese" on my version of a wild rice and bean burrito.
#2. A take on the "Mixed Greens with Citrus Dressing" to turn it into a meal instead of a side.
#3. "Perfect Peanut Sauce" on a Thai-inspired stir-fry. It thickened in the fridge.

I don't think of myself as a picky eater, my vegan meals were healthy first and if they tasted great it was only a small benefit. I was only cooking for myself.

Then I saw Toni Okamoto featured on the NBCNews website and thought I’d give her book a try. Wow, what fun I’m having! For someone like me with just over zero cooking skills, I got to learn a couple new things, tired a couple new ingredients, and amazed myself with the tasty new dishes I’m cooking up.

I think of The Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook as a book of adventures and for a small price, I now have 100 new experiences waiting for me, ones that I would have never found on my own.

There are over a dozen salad recipes, and the writer refers to herself as a “lazy cook” so uses boullion cubes, etc. I’ve found recipes on line I like much better than most of the co tents of this book. Not for me.

If you are thinking of going vegan this is the cookbook for you. This book is full of healthy vegan recipes that will start you of on your journey to be a vegan. I am very pleased with this book. Would I recommend this book to other people? Yes I would including friends and family..I absolutely think this is great book . All opinions are my own if you found this review helpful please vote yes below.

Not my cup of tea -- or at least not my slow cooker pot. Most of the recipes I've looked at use either canned or frozen ingredients. And don't really need a slow cooker, so there's that - if you're looking for something that doesn't take all day to cook.

I'm trying to make our dinners healthier.....I was so glad to receive this book from the publisher, and thought I "could always add chicken" to the recipes to keep my family happy......not needed! The recipes that I've tried have been flavorful and satisfying. I especially liked the page with ingredients to have on hand, mainly because I had no clue where to even begin. But it was simple! I will use these recipes a few days a week to help us change to healthier eating!

Ok so it's been 3 months since I bought this book and I haven't actually used it as a recipe book yet but the cover is really pretty and leaving the book out in plain sight has inspired me to use my slow cooker more often than I used any punctuation in this run-on sentence.

I think my favorite recipe so far was the Lavender/Lemon Love soup that I made for my partner's birthday.

I secretly call it anti-SAD soup because all 3 L's help with depression/ anxiety/ Seasonally Affected Disorder and that makes the world a little happier.

^ that's no longer a secret

The soup is concocted such:
Start by combining equal parts purple sweet potatoes and parsnips in a slow cooker with a base of vegan legume broth (for protein) and then add your choices of:

Lemon (I used dried lemon peel but you could grate fresh peel or use a food-safe lemon oil)
Lavender (I used food-safe essential oil but you could also use dried, ground lavender) and
Love (I used equal parts romantic and self-reflective love but you could also use parental love or even resentful spousal love just so long as you don't use the Love that the FDA rescinded from Love Crunch's ingredient list because apparently that stuff wasn't ok...? Or maybe the FDA is off their meds again...)

Let the 3 L's meld together in their purple potato parsnip wonder for - I dunno maybe a few hours? ?‍♀️- until it smells like heaven and then blend with a stick blender to hide the fact that you may or may not have salivated into it.

It looks, smells and tastes just like a Lemon/Lavender/Love soup ought to. ?

I don't think that this recipe is actually in the book though because I'm pretty sure I made it up while drinking a sweet white wine, which paired quite well with the meal.

Also because I haven't actually used the book yet. But I have every intention of doing so!

...just as soon as I'm done with my soup.

Great cookbook. Love the layout of this book and the organization. The marinara sauce was a breeze and delicious. This inspired me to use my slow cooker more, if not year round! (I received this book free of charge from Callisto Publishers for my unbiased honest review.)

So far I really like this. Being that it is summer I have not made a lot yet from it, but what I have is good, it is easy to make and uses common sense. In other words you are not spending an hour with prep time. I cannot give it 5 stars yet because I have not used it enough yet.

One of the recipes I made (can't remember the name) had a lot of ingredients including canned mandarin oranges, and after it was done cooking it was so over cooked and ruined I threw the whole thing out, including the book. Don't know if it was the slow cooker or a bad recipe and directions. Wasn't going to take a chance of wasting good money on ingredients I don't stock normally and wasting my time again.

I just bought this cookbook for myself and my daughter, who doesn't eat much meat. I wanted to make more vegan meals, but didn't want "weird" recipes, and I wanted to use my crockpots more. This book seems to have many recipes we'd actually eat, which is wonderful! It also lists whether a recipe is gluten or soy free, important for us. HOWEVER, almost all of the recipes that were not listed as gluten or soy free could easily be both, simply by subbing coconut aminos for the regular soy sauce! Why did the author not know this, and say so, so more people would know they could safely make that recipe? I also was not thrilled with her suggestion to use canola oil (utter garbage) in some recipes. There are plenty of safer, mild oils out there. Again, something easily fixed that should have been known by the author. And lastly, on a purely superficial note, the lipstick the author is wearing in her picture on the back cover is hideous and unflattering. Yeah, I know. But honestly, for a picture that was going to be shown to thousands of people, no lipstick would have been better than that insane dayglo slash across her face. So all in all a pretty decent bunch of recipes. Just needs a couple of important tweaks in the second edition.

This was my first foray into a plant-based cookbook. I have no particular allegiance to any specific diet. I just like eating food that tastes good and doesn’t involve a lot of work. Using my slow cooker to get this done was part of the appeal. Most ingredients used here are readily available in most supermarkets and don’t require a lot of prep work. In fact, you probably have a lot of ingredients in your pantry and cupboard.

The first chapter of recipes is titled “Unbeatable Basics.” It starts you off with a basic recipe and then gives you 2 additional recipes that build off of that one. For example, you’ll start off with “Lazy Lentils” and then follow that with a recipe for lentil tacos and then a lentil and black bean chili.

The next chapter features “Main Dishes” – each main dish recipe has a recipe for a suggested side and then there is a variation of the main dish. So for vegetable stew, there is a recipe for braised endives, and the variation of the stew is a curried vegetable stew. I really like this format – it keeps you thinking about the different ways you can change things to avoid monotony.

“Stand-Alone Suppers” follow the mains. Jackfruit is featured in several recipes, unfortunately I can’t get my hands on one to see how this fares as an alternative to meat. Tofu and tempeh are readily available however, and there a few featured recipes that taste pretty good.

The last chapter features “Sunday Staples,” which appear to a hodge podge of recipes like guacamole, mushroom gravy, mango chutney, to name a few. The book ends with a list of the dirty dozen and clean fifteen and a helpful measurement conversion chart.

Overall, I’m glad I tried this cookbook and have since incorporated a bunch of recipes into the regular rotation of things I cook.

This book is great. The author tends to rely heavily on canned beans, but soaked and cooked beans work well with her recipes as well.Also, some of the recipes are laden with salt, watch out for products like garlic powder (second ingredient is salt), onion powder (second ingredient salt), and soy sauce (very heavily laden with salt - even the low salt versions).

We had to either add cheese sauce, or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos to most of the recipes because they were quite bland. I have included a picture of the cheese sauce recipe we used from a wonderful cookbook called "Non-dairy Revolution".

I've made several recipes out of this cookbook and they turned out pretty great. I randomly pick recipes each week to do and so far, they've all been super scrumptious and nutritious. I will say that I always tweak recipes to fit my own preference and liking, but these are some solid bases to start from. The only one I need to really try over again is the Mushroom Stroganoff. It didn't quite come out how I'd prefer, so I'm going to give it a second whirl, this time with baby spinach (I like cooked spinach) instead of kale (I like raw kale) and/or both. I'm also going to serve it up on some spiralized rainbow noodles (zucchini, beet, and carrot) for some extra veggie goodness. The recipes also include tips and suggestions and can be modified to fit a variety of diets. Of my current collection of vegan cookbooks, this has become one of my favorites.

A Few Photos:
#1. "Nacho Cheese" on my version of a wild rice and bean burrito.
#2. A take on the "Mixed Greens with Citrus Dressing" to turn it into a meal instead of a side.
#3. "Perfect Peanut Sauce" on a Thai-inspired stir-fry. It thickened in the fridge.

Ugh, I loathe writing less than stellar reviews. However, in fairness to potential buyers I must disclose that this book contains many recipes for salads -- yes, SALADS -- which are not prepared in a slow cooker. Also, soups make up a large percentages of the actual slow cooker recipes. As another reviewer observed, this edition appears to be an abridged version -- perhaps that's why it seems a bit stingy on substance (?)

Had to have it, can't live without it. This is a no-frills, easy, SENSIBLE vegan book that makes life easy for the busy vegan. None of those thousands of ingredients, fancy equipment and techniques are required. Easy to obtain ingredients and clear directions.