Flavorful Crock Pot Meals: 40 Dump Meal Recipes for Busy People: Slow Cooker Meals

By Natalie Smith

More and more people are turning to crock pot meals to help them eat healthy, fresh and homemade meals without having to spend hours in the kitchen. The magic of the crock pot is the ability to just dump in some ingredients, set the timer and go on with your life without having to stir and baste and carefully watch over your food. This book is the introduction and beyond to that magic- including some of the easiest dishes that have ever been created but moving on to fancier dishes that are perfect for family and even formal gatherings.

This book will teach:

• Recipes for beef, poultry and even wild game
• Side dishes that can also be used as vegetarian main dishes
• Soups and stews, perfect for cooler weather
• How to use these meals to make life easier including double batching and freezing for future meals that are even easier.

Whether you are trying to eat low carb, no carb or anything in between all of these recipes can be adapted and adjusted to help fit your dietary needs. If you are sick of bland take out or feel like a total flop in the kitchen this is the book for you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Guava Books
• Release date: Feb 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386799894

Book preview

Author’s Foreword

Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are. – Jean Antheime Brillat-Savarin

When I was younger, I learned cooking not from my mother but from other people. I learned Italian cooking from a tiny little woman who lived in the apartment above my great aunt. Hers was a place of light and brightness, airy and inviting with the ghost of basil and sauces and things so delicious that my mouth waters at the memory. I learned to cook Hungarian dishes from my grandmother- she had learned from her mother-in-law largely in silence because they did not speak each other’s language but the food bound them. By the time I was in middle school, I had a pretty firm grasp of cooking in general. I breezed through home ec and was even tasked with cooking breakfast for the principal, a high honor to be sure.

Mom never begrudged the fact that she was not known for her food. In fact, just after I moved out she bought me a crockpot, a pretty little thing with flowers on the outside and a pale pink interior. I loved it immediately. I used it frequently even though I really had little call to do so at the time. And then the kids came along.

Let me tell you; a crockpot is like a life-saving, time saving magic machine. Two babies, 15 months apart and my brain was mush, but I still managed fairly decent meals with very little thinking involved thanks to the crock pot. There was a time when I did not have gas in my home, so I had to be very creative with my cooking- I employed two crockpots and let me tell you, no one ever walked away hungry. I even made a full Thanksgiving dinner with 2 crockpots, an electric griddle, a microwave and some creative time management skills. Yep, I am that good.

Do not be afraid of the lengthy cooking times listed in the following recipes. You are not even going to be in the kitchen most of the time. I highly recommend that you be comfortable with your crockpot before doing the set it and forget it thing, but once you know how it behaves you can pop in the ingredients, head to work and come home to the warmth and aroma of a house that is welcoming you home. You will find recipes that you want to double