{Cookbook Review} Year-Round Slow Cooker: 100 Favorite Recipes for Every Season by Dina Cheney

A little something different today. I got this cookbook from Netgalley but maybe this will become a new feature? Or maybe just feature a yummy recipe? I'm always on the hunt for new delicious recipes, what do you think?

Slow cookers are popular for good reason: They’re the ultimate kitchen problem solvers. If you’re watching your budget, they’re well worth the $30 they cost since they can turn the cheapest cuts of meat into unctuous, mouth-watering results worthy of a five-star restaurant. Slow cookers also do the hard work, cooking for hours while you’re out of the house only to come home to a meal just about ready to eat. And since slow cookers keep food warm, they allow different family members to eat at different times: a practical option in a world of staggered schedules.
Yet, slow cookers have an image problem. Most home cooks use them for cold weather meals only, while others think slow cookers can only produce food that’s mushy, bland, and watery or rely solely on shortcut ingredients like spice packets, bouillon cubes, and bottled sauces.
No longer does this must-have kitchen tool deserve to be stored away when spring months hit. In Year-Round Slow Cooker, home cooks will find 100 delicious, modern, practical slow cooker recipes featuring seasonal produce. Recipes speak to the home cook whose palate is more sophisticated and who wants to incorporate seasonal produce into all of her meals.
Organized by season, Year-Round Slow Cooker features notes about the featured seasonal ingredients as well as invaluable tips throughout to help cooks maximize the power of the slow cooker. (Blurb via Goodreads)

{Details} Paperback, 224 pages. Published January 22nd 2013 by Taunton Press. Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

{Review}

This definitely elevates slow cooker cooking. No 'cream of...' anywhere to be found. They don't just have a recipe for beef stew, it's 'Beef, potato and pumpkin stew with soy sauce and mirin' and not just pot roast it's 'Pot roast with root vegetables and red wine over lemony polenta with Parmigiano-Reggiano'.

The recipes cover all the bases, savories and sweets and recipes for vegetarians and omnivores. The recipes are very detailed, down to how many grinds of pepper, but there are lots of ingredients and lengthy prep times. Another concern of mine is that you need a well stocked grocery store near you, I've never seen Jerusalem artichokes at any of my grocery stores in the last 7+ years I've lived here.

The layout was also visually appealing with lots of white space and the titles were color coded for the season. The photos were hunger pains inducing. The book also has educational features such as 'spotlight on', about ingredients such as taste and preparation and what to look for and slow cooker secrets about how to get the most out of your slow cooker.

Would I recommend this book? If you're looking to step up your slow cooker meals definitely give it a flip through. If you want simple recipes that take a few minutes this probably isn't the book for you.