Saturday, July 03, 2010

Fix It and Forget It Cookbook

The Fix It and Forget It Cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good - newly revised and updated - contains 700 recipes for your slow cooker, from breads to drinks to appetizers, mains and more.

As someone who has very little imagination when it comes to my slow cooker a book like this is a great addition to my kitchen. With so many recipes you are bound to find recipes that appeal.

This is a no frills cookbook. There are no photos of finished dishes, no rambling chapter or recipe introductions. Recipes come 2 to 3 to a page. Each recipe comes with serving amounts, prep times, cooking times, and what size of crock pot is ideal. Most have serving suggestions, and some have variations to change up the dish.

The book is peppered (hee hee) with tips and tricks for cooking with crock pots.

I've made 4 recipes from the book so far:

page 208 Sausage Bean Quickie - sausages, beans, and pineapple with a cooking time of 1 to 10 hours. Nice and simple. Delicious.

page 197 One Dish Chicken Supper - this was my favorite! It's like a turkey dinner in a crock pot. Chicken breasts are cooked with cream of mushroom, chicken or celery soup and stove top stuffing. If you ever want a Christmassy dinner without the fuss, make this.

page 40 Taco Soup with Whole Tomatos - another winner. Southwest flavors - beans, corn, onions - without standing over the stove all day.

page 169 Pizza in a Pot - we took the advice of the serving suggestion for this one and served this sausage-y cheesy dish over noodles. Filling and hearty.

The servings in all the recipes are very generous. The taco soup serves 4, I got 8 servings out of it. Ditto with the chicken supper. But when it's a good meal, leftovers are very welcome.

Some people may complain that this book relies heavily on processed food - cream soups, gravy mix, velveeta. Yes, there are plenty of recipes that call for such convenient ingredients. But there are plenty that don't. (Personally, I am fond of occasional sauces made with canned cream of mushroom soup.) Many many recipes are full of healthy wholesome ingredients, and most have no added oil.

I would wholeheartedly recommend the Fix It and Forget It Cookbook for anyone who owns a crock pot. And if you don't, pick one up while you're out buying this book.