Every Recipe I Try From This Cookbook Is a Home-Run!

I am a lazy cook. There was a time when I spent a lot of time poring over cookbooks, fine-tuning shopping lists, experimenting with bananas flambeau, stuffing a rainbow trout and stitching it closed.

That was Then, this is Now.

• Then, I was learning to separate eggs to create the fluffiest omelet, to stir a roux until no lumps remain.
• Now, if I spend more than fifteen minutes over a special dish, I feel that I should be [choose one] writing a novel, cleaning the kitchen, visiting a sick friend….

So I’m convinced that the crockpot, the pressure cooker and the microwave are all God’s gifts for the modern American woman. Anything that can save me a few minutes when I’m preparing dinner and let me get back to the Real Work of surfing the web or dusting the bookcase is a good thing, right?

So when Fix-It and Forget-It Slow Cooker Magic showed up in my mailbox, I was pumped! I opened the book, flipped through the full-page, full-color photos of family recipes, and settled on a recipe for pork chops and apples, and threw a bunch of stuff into the Slow Cooker. Five hours later, voila! A masterpiece that brought raves from our guests. It had taken me, seriously, about two minutes of “cooking” time.

Author Phyllis Good is a busy mom who eschews expensive ingredients and exotic flavors in favor of truly foolproof recipes. There are 550 good ideas, from easy renditions of old favorites (soups and stews and casseroles) to novelty recipes (zucchini hamburger bake, peanut butter fudge pudding cake, raspberry chocolate chip bread).

I’ve tested a few other recipes–all healthy, easy, colorful and creative. Last night, for example, I tossed a turkey breast in the slow cooker along with a package of onion soup mix and a can of cranberry sauce. A few hours later, the turkey was moist and flavorful–and a little more interesting than plain roast turkey. Since my kids are grown and I’m not feeding an army most days any longer, this was perfect! (Although it would have fed a busy family, too.)

So as the holidays approach and I begin posting more and more book ideas for Christmas celebrating and Christmas gift-giving, I share this with you. For yourself and for your family, who would rather have you playing Rummy in the family room instead of cooking alone in the kitchen, check out Fix-It and Forget-It Slow Cooker Magic: 550 Amazing Everyday Recipes. You’ll thank me later.