After sitting in my closet for the past 4 years, I finally dug out my slow cooker and tried it.  I'm hooked!!

I've been using a few cookbooks from the library for now, but would like to invest in one for my collection.  Does anyone have a favorite slow cooker cookbook they can recommend? 

Thanks!  :)

My favorite is a best seller from the mid 70's.  Mable Hoffman's Crockery Cookery.  If you get it I hope you like it as much as I do.

I have Crockery Cookery too.  Another is Fix and Forget Feating with Your Slow Cooker.  I just used my slow cooker yesterday.  McCormick makes a pot roast seasoning mix that my husband says is the best he ever had. I add sliced onions to the bottom of the cooker then lay the roast over it.  There is so much gravy at the end that I can add some beef broth to it with the leftover roast chopped up along with cooked pearl barley for soup.  Wonderful with cold weather.

I did a pork roast with veggies.  I'm having left overs tonight and loving it.  The roast is fork tender.  I don't even bother to put mine away during cold weather.  I'm planning the congressional bean soup next.

Thanks for the suggestions!!  I'll have to check them out!

(And, Carol, I'll definitely seek out that pot roast seasoning mix.  I've never been a pot roast fan, so never cooked it.  But, hubby loves it, so I guess it's time to try it out!)

It is in the spices section with the other mixes.  Let us know what he thinks.  We lapped up the beef and barley soup yesterday, it didn't last a whole day.

Carole (with an 'e')

Mable Hoffman's Crockery Cookery.  I ordered this book from PBS. It looks so great. Thanks for the recommendation, girls.

It is gonna get cold this weekend, sounds like a crockery meal day on Sunday!!  Now, what to make?

Mary, did yours arrive?  What do you think you'll try first?

Amy, did you find the seasoning mix?

Tammy, how was the bean soup?

The bean soup is amazing.  It's suprising what the bay leaves add to the recipe overall.

Book is here. I will look at it tomorrow & choose recipe. Some look good. 

I am going to make that bean soup with the ham bone I'll have next week.  Looks like a real rib-sticking soup for a cold day.

Enjoy.

"Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cook Book,"   Also the new issue of Cooking Light (December) mag. has a major feature about using slow cookeres, with lots of tips and tricks I had not seen before. A very worthwhile article.

I did not use mine for a long time because 1. I live in S. Fla. and it's just too hot for heavy slow-cooker food, and 2. most everything in a slow cooker seems basiclaly like some kind of stew or soup. But the "Not Your Mothers...." cook book helped me see beyond that.

Thanks for the tips, Betty!  I'll check out that issue of Cooking Light, and the book recommendation.

Mary, did you make a recipe?

Yes. The Senate Bean soup is great

I needed a good meal for a weeknight tonight.  I put a roast in the slow cooker this morning with the Crockery Cookery recipe on page 62 - Pot Roast with Mushroom sauce.  I have done roasts with onion soup mix before, and ones with mushroom soup before, but it has never occurred to me to do both which is what the recipe called for.  It was really yummy, with the gravy over wide egg noodles.  It's a winner, and I will make it again.

This thread makes me so sad, because I haven't cooked - AT ALL - in probably two weeks!  I hurt my knee, so I've been in physical therapy 3 nights a week, and by the time I get home, it's after 7.  Honestly, I'm just too lazy to cook after that!  (I know, I know - that's exactly what the slow cooker is perfect for!  LOL)

Carole, I still have that seasoning mix on my list.  As soon as life gets back to normal, I'll be checking it out!  (Although, with the holidays coming up so soon, who knows when 'normal' will resume, anyway!)

Yep, you need to load up that slow cooker in the morning before work.  It was so nice to have a meal ready when I got home.  All I had to do was cook the noodles and steam some broccoli (easy enough for hubby to do if he had to).

I know what you mean about physical therapy, it is exhausting to work all day and THEN have to go do that too.  Hope your knee is better soon.

ditto on the knee.  when I worked second shift I had to go to physical therapy before work and it was a killer making through the shift.

I finally took time to check out the cookbook. I think the soups sound best to me. One problem with slow cookers, for me, is the lack of browning the meat. I have never had success in browning in crockpot!!! 

The recipes that look best to me are:

Baked Apples, pg 236

Traditional apple Butter, pg 238

Next best are:

Soups

Touch of Green Soup with Goat Cheese Topping, pg 30

Potato Soup , Florentine Style  (without the ham, I am on low sodium diet) pg 29

Party-style Ratatouille pg 11

I will report later.

IF I FIND ONE WONDERFUL RECIPE FROM A COOKBOOK, IT IS A KEEPER FOR ME. 

HAPPY TURKEY

I would try one meat recipe before you give up on it.  But I'm sure you'll find several recipes that will please you.  I've never noticed a lack of browning with the meat dishes.

Maybe because my crockpot is the original. Nothing special.

I sometimes will brown the meat in a skillet before putting it in the slow cooker.  I don't take the time to brown roasts though, they are covered in sauce anyway so are flavorful without it.  I have an original one too, Harvest Gold, LOL!!  But I also have a newer one that has a removable crock for cleaning that I use most often.

Pre-searing is typiucally recommended.

Carole, my crockpot  is the original color. Orange, but it was called something more EARTH TONE. lOL.

I am going for the apple recipe tonight. I have the ingredients and love baked apples.