Hundreds of recipes from appetizers to desserts from Better Homes and Gardens.

One nice feature is that the bottom half of each recipe's page is blank--room for notetaking.

I'll be making the Ranch Potatoes this weekend. ( )

Not so much for the experienced cook. So many of the recipes are variations on soup and stew, and those of us who know our way around the kitchen already know that you don't need a recipe for those. For a heck of a lot of 'em you don't even need a slow cooker as you're going to be browning the meat and adding the veges and sauce ingredients at different times, so it'd be easier to use a dutch oven.

On the other hand, it's not for a novice, as there are no overall or chapter notes, no guidelines or appendices.

But I do have to admit there are some recipes I'm going to use as inspiration (that is to say, I'll try them, but make adaptations for my family's taste and for my pantry). So, if your library has this or you see it in a thrift store, sure, pick it up.

Slow cookers are terrific tools for hot summers, as they don't heat up the kitchen but still can help us create a satisfying dinner.

**Ham and Salsa Soup w/ Lime
**Sweet 'n' Snappy Beef Stew
**Panama Pork Stew (includes my beloved sweet potatoes)
**Scandinavian Fruit Soup (well, I'm of Scandinavian heritage)
Pork Chops w/ Spiced Fruit (to use up Costco size bags of dried fruit)
**Sweet and Sour Cabbage Rolls (reserve leaves, shred the rest to layer on the bottom of the cooker - this recipe is vegetarian)
**Creamy Ranch Potatoes (adapted, it's only three ingredients, and could mean that we could enjoy potatoes even in the summer)


( )

Overall a pretty good crock pot book.

The Good: Lots of useful recipes with pretty normal ingredients I can find at any grocery store. The organization of the index is quite nice and makes it easy to find things. I also like that it gives you approximate nutritional values right on the page.

The Bad: I would have liked a few pictures rather than black and white useless clip art. Quite a few of the recipes are ones I'll never use. They sound interesting and i may try them just because I like trying new things but the normal person probably won't ever try them. And finally, many of the recipes also call for precooking on the stove like browning meat etc. For those of us who like the "fix-it-and-forget-it" method these will seem tedious and totally counterproductive. ( )

This is the best slow cooker cookbook I have! ( )