The recipes tended to be pretty standard, though, like the stew on the cover. There's nothing too surprising about beef with carrots, onions, potatoes, and celery.
As is the case with nearly any appliance-based cookbook, this did have its fair share of recipes that could have been better and/or made just as easily (maybe more easily) without slow-cooking.
You might be thinking that stuffed squash makes sense in a slow cooker, but the recipe isn't for a hard winter squash. Sure, you could cook pattypan in salted water for 6-7 hours, but since we're talking about a summer squash, you could also just boil it for about 10 minutes (and probably have it taste a whole lot fresher). Then maybe stuff it with something that's not frozen creamed peas.
Hoffman was clearly one of those cooks who LOVED canned fruit with meat. Turn to the "Beef," "Other Meats," and "Poultry" chapters, and you'll find several variations of the featured protein coated in canned fruit cocktail or peaches. I was especially impressed with the Golden Glow Pork Chops for taking the canned fruit play to a new level.
Apparently, the canned peach halves aren't enough to give those pork chops the warm hues they so desperately needed. This one features canned peach halves mixed with a can of tomato sauce.
Of course, one of the best things about slow cooking is coming home to that divine smell, so the book found a way around that advantage too. Just imagine coming home to the smell of...
Hot, soggy tuna-egg salad rolls! Everyone will be thrilled... when the dry heaves subside.
Diabetic Coma Pork chops, yummy! Also tuna & egg sald together would smell like a bag of farts
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! I can't imagine coming home to that smell.
DeleteYour book is really a winner this time! But people are still making stuff very much like that in their updated Insta-pots and the like. The more pre-pre-prepared ingredients the better, in some cases.
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
That's true. Of course, a lot of people have multiple jobs now, so finding the time to make anything is a challenge.
DeleteI'm impressed that you managed to find crock pot recipes that do not included canned cream soups!
ReplyDeleteI had to pick carefully to miss them! The book has plenty.
DeleteI see overstuffed tuna egg salad rolls being used in a campaign to get someone else in the house to take over the cooking. After a week of coming home to recipes like that, any sane person would decide that they really can't do any worse even if they don't know how to cook.
ReplyDeleteOr it could be a way to get rid of house guests who have overstayed their welcome.
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