Current Cookbook - 200 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes

200 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes: Healthy Dinners That Are Ready When You Are! - Dana Carpender

This cookbook has a copyright of 2005. I have no idea where I bought this book. I have never cooked from this before.

I bought this book several years ago when I was trying to eat low carb. I wanted the convenience of using a crock pot without the standard crock pot staples of lots of potatoes, rice and carrots. This book still uses carrots but it's not in every recipe. Some of the recipes aren't exactly low calorie. Some of the meats used aren't friendly to South Beach, Somersize or Atkins.

The introduction section gives some tips on how to use slow cookers. One section about timing mentioned something I learned the hard way when I first started using crock pots....just because the recipe says to leave in the pot for 7 or more hours, doesn't mean it will actually taste good if you leave it heating for more than the 7 hours  listed. There is an ingredient section that goes over ingredients that some people might not be familiar with. The chapters are divided into standard sections: Poultry, Pork, Soups, Desserts etc.

To me there really weren't any "out there" ingredients...if she lists things like "rice protein powder" she'll tell you where to get it or what to substitute. Most of the recipes call for poultry/meat/fish and herbs or veggies. She does use turnips and carrots in some recipes which doesn't work for some low-carb diets. If she lists a low carb ingredient (like low carb ketchup) I figure I'll just use regular (or non sugar). She does give recipes in the back  of the book (non crock pot recipes) for low-carb ketchup, barbecue sauce etc.

The one thing I don't like about the recipes is that a lot of them call for guar or xanthan as a thickener. I'd probably just leave this out (and I did in the recipe I cooked).

Lots of good sounding, easy recipes to make. Except for browning the meat or chicken before putting it in the crock pot, you usually just have to put the measured ingredients into the pot before turning it on. I really like the convenience of using the crock pot and having the meals low-carb friendly. If you're trying to eat low-carb, I think this book would have quite a few things to try that might work for whatever diet you are on (most of the reviews on Amazon were positive taste wise.) That being said, if you don't care about carbs, you can always make the recipes and serve them over rice, noodles or potatoes :)

Note: She has written many other low-carb cookbooks.