The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson is a cookbook with recipes that are not only convenient, they are great healthy eating!  It includes more than 100 recipes .  All of them take advantage of the convenience of the slow cooker to provide a tasty, nutritional meal.

Along with tips on using your slow cooker, there are chapters entitled:

• Bread & Breakfast
• Soups
• Poultry, Seafood & Fish
• Meat
• Pasta & Grains
• Just Veggies
• Desserts

About The Recipes In The Healthy Slow Cooker

This book has a lot of information included with each recipe.  To start with, there are labels above the title of each recipe for those that are compatible for vegetarian or vegan diets.

Above each recipe you’ll also find a short comment about that particular recipe from the author. That helps you get a better idea about the recipe.

On the left hand side of the page are even more tips for each recipe that give you variations on how it can be prepared.   One nice addition here is a box entitled “Make Ahead” with instructions on how to make the dish ahead of time and use it later.

Getting The Right Sized Slow Cooker

The main part of each recipe page begins with information on the size slow cooker needed for that particular recipe. This is important information and sometimes left out of slow cooker cookbooks. It really isn’t a “one size fits all” situation. You need to have an idea what size cooker you should use for the recipe to turn out properly.

Naturally, just like usual for cookbooks, there is an ingredient list. The steps for making the dishes are thorough and easily understood.

The Healthy Slow Cooker

Each Recipe Has Lots Of Info!

At the end of each recipe there is even more information. There are four blocks included:

1. Mindful Morsels: Usually has specifics about nutrients in the food, such as what vitamins there are and how they are helpful to your health.
2. Nutrients Per Serving: Specific information on calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber, sodium and cholesterol.
3. Natural Wonders: Expands on one of the ingredients in the dish, with more information on its’ nutritional value.
4. Good Sources: The last box gives a short overview on the nutrients available in the featured ingredient.

There are also diabetic food values for each recipe included at the end of the book.  It's not as handy as having them right on the page, but they are available if needed.

Bread & Breakfast Recipes in The Healthy Slow Cooker

This section includes such recipes as:

• Pumpkin Date Loaf
• Breakfast Rice
• Multigrain Cereal with Fruit
• Banana Walnut Oat Bread
• Apple Oatmeal with Wheat Berries
• Irish Oatmeal
• Apple Cranberry Bread

Breads are made in the slow cooker by putting a smaller pan inside a slow cooker and letting the bread "bake" inside the cooker.

Recipes for breakfast cereals are nice because you can start them the night before and the food will be ready when you get up the next morning.

As an example of ingredients, the Pumpkin Date Loaf has flour, baking soda, dates, pecans, eggs, sugar, olive oil, pumpkin puree, and spices.

Here's What's In The Soups Chapter

A cookbook for slow cookers has to include soups!  This one is no exception, and a variety of recipes are included. There are over 20, including:

• Turkey and Black Bean Soup
• Two-Bean Soup with Pistou
• Thai-Style Pumpkin Soup
• Caldo Verde
• New World Leek and Potato Soup
• Cockaleekie
• Greek-Style Split Pea Soup

The cookbook incluses many different cuisines and flavors in the recipes, so that there should be soups included for about anyone’s taste.

As an example of ingredients, the Turkey and Black Bean Soup uses onions, carrots, celery, garlic, oregano, cracked black pepper, lime zest, tomato paste, cumin seeds, chicken stock, turkey, ancho chili powder, jalapeno or chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, and bell peppers.

The Healthy Slow Cooker

Poultry, Seafood & Fish Recipes

Main dishes using poultry, seafood or fish, do well in the slow cooker. There are 21 recipes in this chapter, with such offerings as:

• Chicken Cassoulet
• Chicken Cacciatore with Broccoli
• Spicy Peanut Chicken
• Peppery Turkey Casserole
• Creamy Tuna Casserole
• Caribbean Fish Stew
• Salmon Loaf
• Onion-Braised Shrimp
• Thai-Style Coconut Fish Curry
• Louisiana Seafood Stew with Chicken and Sausage

As with the soups, there is a wide variety in styles and tastes.

For an idea of the ingredients used, the Chicken Cacciatore with Broccoli is made with olive oil, onions, garlic, dried oregano leaves, salt, cracked black peppercorns, cremini mushrooms, wine or chicken stock, tomatoes (canned), chicken thighs, dried red chili peppers (optional), green bell peppers, and broccoli.

Recipes For Meat In The Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook

There are a variety of meats are found in the 16 recipes in this chapter, including veal, beef, lamb, and pork. A sampling of the recipes offered include:

• Spanish-Style Pork and Beans
• Veal Goulash
• Greek-Style Beef with Eggplant
• Lamb with Lentils and Chard
• Ribs with Hominy and Kale
• Buckwheat Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
• Indian Beef with Cauliflower and Peppers

Once again, many different cuisines are represented in the recipes. To give you an idea what kind of ingredients are used, in Spanish-Style Pork and Beans, you need olive oil, boneless pork shoulder, onions, garlic, oregano leaves, salt, cracked black pepper, white wine or chicken stock, sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar, tomatoes (canned), white kidney beans, paprika and kale.

Pasta & Grains Chapter

Recipes ini the pasta and grains chapter utilize rice, barley corn meal, millet and more. It also includes some sauce recipes for use over top of pasta and grains.

Included in the 15 recipes included are:

• Tamale Pie with Chili Millet Crust
• Barley and Wild Rice Pilaf
• Creamy Polenta with Corn and Chiles
• Shrimp ‘n Grits
• Vegetable Cobbler with Millet Crust
• Mushroom Tomato Sauce

There is also a recipe for Basic Polenta and a yummy sounding Caramelized Onion Sauce with Whole Wheat Pasta.

Ingredients example is for the Mushroom Tomato Sauce, which uses olive oil, onion, celery, garlic, rosemary, salt, black pepper, white wine or chicken or vegetable stock, tomato paste, canned tomatoes, and optionally, red pepper flakes. The sauce is served over whole wheat pasta, polenta or grits, with an optional sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Just Veggies Chapter of The Healthy Slow Cooker

You can also cook side dishes in Slow Cookers! And of course, sometimes veggies make a great meal all by themselves. There are another 15 recipes with such offerings as:

• Vegetable Curry with lentils and Spinach
• Ratatouille
• Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
• New Age Succotash
• Vegetable Chili

There are many delicious sounding recipes for vegetables!

Ratatouille provides our ingredients example, using eggplant, salt, olive oil, zucchini, garlic, onions, herbes de Provence, salt, black pepper, mushrooms, canned tomatoes, bell peppers, and parsley or basil leaves.

And We Can Forget Desserts!

It's a real treat to have a nice warm dessert ready in the slow cooker at the end of the meal is a great way to finish things up. Some of the recipes included are:

• The Ultimate Baked Apples
• Cranberry Pear Brown Betty
• Coconut Cranberry Rice Pudding
• Basmati Rice Pudding
• Apple Oatmeal Pudding

Another recipe for Pumpkin Rice Pudding uses brown rice, pumpkin purée, dried cranberries or dried cherries, evaporated skim milk, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and other options.

Comment From Others About The Healthy Slow Cooker

Most of the people reviewing The Healthy Slow Cooker cookbook at Amazon gave it a 5-star rating, the highest available. Most comments were quite favorable.

Some of the comments include:

"This book has been a life saver for having healthy cooked meals, during the week, at a decent hour.". – Actual User Comment on Amazon Canada

"I like the slow cook alternative, particular those delicious, quick to prepare recipes that I can throw in the cooker at the start of the day and have ready for supper. That these meals are actually nutritious is an added bonus." – Actual User Comment on Amazon Canada

". . .best slow cooking book! I own many, but this is easily my favourite." – Actual User Comment on Chapters.Indigo

The only complaints seem to be that some of the dishes require a little prep work beyond just throwing raw ingredients into the slow cooker, such as this review comment:

“…. there's a LOT of prep...including sautéing food before putting it in the crock pot. A good buy if you have time, but if you're looking for … throw it all in and leave… this one may not be right for you.” - Actual User Comment on Amazon.com

Miscellanous Info About The Healthy Slow Cooker

This is a paperback by Judith Finlayson and has 288 pages. The publisher is Robert Rose (December 2005). It includes several color illustrations of the food included.

If all this sounds like a cookbook you can use, it's available at Amazon:

The Healthy Slow Cooker