Myrna Collins, Appleton Post-Crescent 02/02/2005
Lots of good advice for cooks who have never used a slow cooker... specialized advice on going meatless.

Book Description
Vegetarians can enjoy all the benefits of slow cookers. Slow cookers have been rediscovered by a whole new generation of busy families, students and professionals. Those on the go love being able to throw wholesome ingredients into a cooker, close the lid and come home to a hot, satisfying meal at the end of the day. However, most slow cooker cookbooks feature recipes using meat, poultry and fish, and include only a few vegetarian recipes. 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes features outstanding vegetarian recipes including: - Cannelloni with Tomato Eggplant Sauce - Three-Bean Chili with Bulgur - Louisiana Ratatouille - Rice and Bean Casserole with Cheese and Chilies - Creamy Leek, Potato and Mushroom Stew with Blue Cheese - Succulent Succotash - Potato-and-Cauliflower Dal with Spicy Shallots - Cider Baked Beans - Meatless Moussaka - Mushroom and Artichoke Lasagna. Also provided is useful information about the basics of slow cooking and tips like using whole leaf herbs and spices. Common pantry ingredients are particularly helpful in turning out great-tasting and innovative slow cooker food.

About the Author
Judith Finlayson is a food journalist and author. She began her career writing featured food articles, reviewing restaurants and developing recipes for magazines. This is her third cookbook.

Excerpted from 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes by Judith Finlayson. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction Since writing my first slow cooker book, I've become even more 3convinced of the value of this amazing appliance. Not only is it a great convenience, it fits so well with the way I like to cook that it constantly inspires me to think of new ways to incorporate its services into my life. Given our increased emphasis on nutrition, the time seemed right to do a book focused exclusively on vegetarian recipes. Today, many people -- even those who are not vegetarians -- are eating less meat. Not only is a diet high in vegetables, legumes, grains and fruit lower in calories and saturated fat, plant foods have many other health benefits, such as disease-fighting properties, which we are only now beginning to understand. Combining the advantages of eating more vegetables with the convenience of the slow cooker seemed like a great idea. As in my previous books, I've tried to include a wide range of recipes that will appeal to many tastes and requirements -- from great family food to more sophisticated recipes for entertaining, including desserts. There are more than 60 "vegan-friendly" recipes in the book, which have been identified as such for easy access. And many recipes that contain eggs or dairy can be easily substituted with egg substitutes and/or non-diary ingredients that suit your taste. As a committed slow cooker fan, it doesn't surprise me that the slow cooker, invented in the 1970s as a device for cooking beans, is enjoying a lively revival in the early years of the new millennium. Quite simply, it is one of the most effective time-management tools any cook can have. With its help, even the most time-pressed people can arrive home after a busy day to an old-fashioned home-cooked meal, ready to serve. As enjoyable as it is to recreate many of the more traditional dishes that were a meaningful part of the past, such as Blue Plate Chili or Rigatoni and Cheese, in developing this book I've also had great fun experimenting with more exotic dishes that reflect the expanding horizons of home cooking in our global world. Creamy Braised Fennel, with an intriguing sauce flavored with lemon and saffron and Parsnip and Coconut Curry with Crispy Shallots are two favorites that represent Mediterranean and South-East Asian cultures, respectively I particularly enjoy using herbs and spices in such dishes as Caribbean Pepper Pot Soup, Black Bean Torta and Vegetable Curry with Pepper and Cilantro Tadka. And I love updating old standards such as French Onion Soup or transforming dishes such as Stroganoff into a vegetarian version. There's more to using a slow cooker than putting food on the table. In my opinion, the meals it allows you to prepare nourish both body and soul. Made from fresh and wholesome ingredients, with levels of fat and salt controlled by the home cook, slow cooker dishes are certainly nutritious. But more than that, they offer a reassuring antidote to the stresses of our fast-paced, high-tech age. There are few experiences more pleasurable than arriving home to be greeted by the appetizing aroma of a simmering soup or stew, the kinds of dishes that the slow cooker excels at producing. About six million slow cookers are sold every year. This makes it one of our most popular appliances, which isn't surprising since it is also one of the easiest to use. Once the food is in the slow cooker, you can usually forget about it until it's ready to serve. With the slow cooker's help, anyone can prepare delicious food with a minimum of attention and maximum certainty of success. I sincerely hope you will try these recipes and that you will enjoy them and make the slow cooker a regular part of your life. - Judith Finlayson

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Introduction

Since writing my first slow cooker book, I've become even more convinced of the value of this amazing appliance. Not only is it a great convenience, it fits so well with the way I like to cook that it constantly inspires me to think of new ways to incorporate its services into my life. Given our increased emphasis on nutrition, the time seemed right to do a book focused exclusively on vegetarian recipes. Today, many people -- even those who are not vegetarians -- are eating less meat. Not only is a diet high in vegetables, legumes, grains and fruit lower in calories and saturated fat, plant foods have many other health benefits, such as disease-fighting properties, which we are only now beginning to understand. Combining the advantages of eating more vegetables with the convenience of the slow cooker seemed like a great idea.

As in my previous books, I've tried to include a wide range of recipes that will appeal to many tastes and requirements -- from great family food to more sophisticated recipes for entertaining, including desserts. There are more than 60 "vegan-friendly" recipes in the book, which have been identified as such for easy access. And many recipes that contain eggs or dairy can be easily substituted with egg substitutes and/or non-diary ingredients that suit your taste.

As a committed slow cooker fan, it doesn't surprise me that the slow cooker, invented in the 1970s as a device for cooking beans, is enjoying a lively revival in the early years of the new millennium. Quite simply, it is one of the most effective time-management tools any cook can have. With its help, even the most time-pressed people can arrive home aftera busy day to an old-fashioned home-cooked meal, ready to serve.

As enjoyable as it is to recreate many of the more traditional dishes that were a meaningful part of the past, such as Blue Plate Chili or Rigatoni and Cheese, in developing this book I've also had great fun experimenting with more exotic dishes that reflect the expanding horizons of home cooking in our global world. Creamy Braised Fennel, with an intriguing sauce flavored with lemon and saffron and Parsnip and Coconut Curry with Crispy Shallots are two favorites that represent Mediterranean and South-East Asian cultures, respectively I particularly enjoy using herbs and spices in such dishes as Caribbean Pepper Pot Soup, Black Bean Torta and Vegetable Curry with Pepper and Cilantro Tadka. And I love updating old standards such as French Onion Soup or transforming dishes such as Stroganoff into a vegetarian version.

There's more to using a slow cooker than putting food on the table. In my opinion, the meals it allows you to prepare nourish both body and soul. Made from fresh and wholesome ingredients, with levels of fat and salt controlled by the home cook, slow cooker dishes are certainly nutritious. But more than that, they offer a reassuring antidote to the stresses of our fast-paced, high-tech age. There are few experiences more pleasurable than arriving home to be greeted by the appetizing aroma of a simmering soup or stew, the kinds of dishes that the slow cooker excels at producing.

About six million slow cookers are sold every year. This makes it one of our most popular appliances, which isn't surprising since it is also one of the easiest to use. Once the food is in the slow cooker, you can usually forget about it until it's ready to serve. With the slow cooker's help, anyone can prepare delicious food with a minimum of attention and maximum certainty of success. I sincerely hope you will try these recipes and that you will enjoy them and make the slow cooker a regular part of your life.