The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker

by Lynn Alley

Vegetarian cook book.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Vegetarian, Reference, Health

116 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Lynn Alley began her career as a cooking teacher at a middle school, where she and her students gained fame for selling handmade, gourmet items at Neiman Marcus. Since then, she has taught the art of cooking throughout the United States and France. Lynn has written for the San Diego Union Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fine Cooking, and many other publications.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the recipes in this book look and sound absolutely delicious. I did not end up trying any, however, because I am not seriously going to grind my own cinnamon sticks or allspice berries. C'mon, man. The author doesn't offer any measurement alternatives, either. She just expects that you will indeed ground up four allspice berries but I think it would be nice if she said that four allspice berries equals a teaspoon, or something. The recipes might seem easier, being for the slow cooker, but you probably spend as much time prepping as you do cooking them!

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vegetarian and slow cooker are the 2 words that made me think I would like this book. I liked the pictures and that it was organized into cuisines from different countries. But the recipes were hard! Too much work for slow cooker recipes!! I made the Armenian apricot soup. I loved the idea of apricots with lentils but the soup was simply so-so. Plus, I definitely think the cooking time for beans should be way longer. It was a great idea but I think I would have liked it had it been a bit different.

[MD · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t take the “gourmet” in the title seriously enough. Most recipes call for ingredients I’m not interested in buying. Many recipes also have more preparation outside the slow cooker than I’m interested in doing. She suggests wines to complement each dish. If that interests you, you may find these recipes more to your taste than I did.

I do like that this book includes a variety of international recipes. And it does include one or two very simple recipes that I might try.

[Phyllis · Rating 2 out of 5]

there are a few OK recipes but the author rarely indicates what size slow cooker best suits the receipes and too many of them are cook the beans in the slowcooker & finish on the stovetop. i usually prefer slowcooker recipes that allow me to put everything in it & let it cook while i am away from it.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of these recipes seem like they might be good but are just as easily made without the slow cooker. They require prep and follow up that involve shorter amounts of time that preclude being gone at work all day.

[Mootika · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fresh take on slow cooking. I am especially enjoying this author's approach to using dried beans without soaking, and with a multi-step method to add ingredients in part way through cooking those beans. Give it a try :)

[Pete Apple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much cheese

There was too much use of cheese for my tastes. Good variety of ethnic dishes though. I would recommend to those who are into more dairy.

[John Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy tasty recipes.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good recipes in here.

[Amanda Dicicco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave a variety of recipes from four different countries. The recipes sounds delicious and it also pairs it with drinks.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was quite excite when I found this book. I work long 10-12hr days and the thought of coming home to cook something tires me out. I own a crock pot that I just haven't gotten to use yet and I don't think I will be any time soon or at least not with these recipes. Flavor wise the book doesn't sound bad. It's the cooking that seems to be a problem. The premise of a slow cooker is to put in the ingredients and then when your ready, you got a beautiful home cooked meal. But this book was complicated and had so many steps. A lot of the recipes needed to be mixed or messed with on the hour. I can't really do that so that cuts out a bunch of the useable recipes for me. The point of the crock pot is so I don't have to finagle with it. I already had to cut out a lot of recipes do to short cooking time of 3-4hrs. I can't even switch it to longer on a lower temp because they are already on low. Also some of the dishes are impractical in the crock pot. They would honestly be better cooked on the stove because your not saving a grand amount of time and you have to stand over them anyways. Another thing that bugged me a bit was the use of dry mushrooms. Now I don't have a problem with dry mushrooms but if your doing a slow cooker meal, its because your trying to save time. The dried mushrooms she adds to recipes takes 30mins to soak. That's 30 minutes I now gotta wait till I can make the meal. For me, I'm good with a knife. It would take me about 1-2 minutes depending on the amount of mushroom to chopped them. Lets say someone who isn't as fast, they would take around 5 minutes. That's still a big savings of time. These recipes are just way to labor intensive for me and would not work for me at all. Now I'm actually vegan, not vegetarian. And on a good note, there are quite a bit of vegan items. Plus the most of the recipes in the book that aren't can easily be made such with very little effort. There are a few recipes would take some creativity to turn vegan but they can be done. It would just mean a bunch of extra work if your willing to do so for a crock pot meal. This book seems more for the stay at home mom or dad that has more time to mess with things. Not for someone looking to set it, go out, and then come back to a meal.

[Emelda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Green Vegetable Curry- a solid 3 stars. It was "meh," but alright and filling. Maybe it would have been better if I: (a) would have used thai eggplant, (b) had had galangal or macadamia nuts on hand, or (c) used fresh green beans instead of frozen. Major plus- I learned how to make a green curry from scratch!

Potatoes and Carrots in Coconut Curry- Another meh. It's nothing like a good, Indian curry full of meddled spices. More like vegetables in a coconut sauce. Had to cook everything longer then the recipe said because the carrots were still very crunchy.

Spiced Basmanti Rice Breakfast Cerreal- OMG YUM. I was very concerned about rice for breakfast (I know, I know, I'm a stupid American) but the slow cooker turned it into half mush, half rice and the spices were amazing!

Baby Limas with Spinach- A good one. Simple, but not bland- yummy. I unfortunately overcooked the beans (the timing in this book is all wrong, imo!) so it was almost a dip- which is awesome in and of itself! Lovely side dish in either case.

Chickpea Harira- Good stuff here. Nice & simple. I think it'd go great with crusty bread, served at the beginning of a wholesome, yummy food.

Potatoes & Peas in Red Curry Sauce- again, with the timing off this book being off (or maybe my thrift store slow cooker has weird temperatures?). But this was OK. Maybe curries just aren't great in the slow cooker. It seems to stew the spices too long.

[MissAnnThrope · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up in hopes to find easy, throw-everything-in-together slow cooker recipes that I could use on my 14-hour school days. Unfortunately, that is not the kind of cookbook this is.

However, this is a beautiful cookbook with tastes ranging from Asia, Mexico, Italy, India, Greece, France, and the Middle East. The recipes would be easy on the weekends when you have the extra time to prep the slow cooker meal, then return periodically to toss in some additional ingredients.

The author advises the reader to grind their own spices for each recipe. So you will need to invest in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder if you don't own one.

The photography is gorgeous, but there isn't a picture for every recipe. Each recipe also comes with the author's recommendation on wine pairing for the meal.

Although this didn't meet my needs of being fast and easy, I'd definitely add it to my library.

[Saara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The words "Vegetarian" and "Slow Cooker" drew me to purchasing this book. I honestly didn't spend too much time flicking through the recipes before buying it. I liked that the meals were divided into regions of the world, and most of them sounded delicious, so I just went ahead and brought it home.

Unfortunately upon further inspection, I was a little disappointed. While I must hasten to add that I have yet to try any of the recipes, and therefore cannot vouch for their deliciousness...a lot of the recipes are complex, or involve cook time in the slow cooker before finishing up the dish on the stove, or involve a lot of extra prep. This is not what I am looking for when I want slow cooker/crock pot recipes. I look for easy meals where I can throw everything into the pot and leave it for 8 hours while I'm at work, and come home to a finished meal. However, I will update this review once I've tried some of the recipes, and see how well I like them.

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some pretty good meals in this cookbook, though nothing my kids would eat. The recipes are mostly near/far eastern, with only a scant handful of Mediterranean or Latin dishes. I was disappointed with the diversity of the recipes.

Also, the book's format is NOT user-friendly; beautiful, stiff pages with bright, bold photographs, yes, but most of the recipes carry over onto the next page. Who wants to turn the pages of such an elegant book with ingredient-tainted hands while cooking?

Also, the ingredients were too hard to find in my area. Don't buy this book unless you have access to:

--Smoked salt (called for in several recipes)
--Levain
--Galangal
--Lemon grass
--Red curry paste (more than one recipe)
--Chayotes
--Green cardamom pods (several recipes)
----Miso paste
--Coconut cream (several recipes)
--Tamarind concentrate (more than one recipe)

[Tara Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I heard about this cookbook from a friend's review here on Goodreads and checked it out from the library since I'm always looking for more vegetarian recipes. After loving the looks of the recipes and really enjoying the 1st one we tried (Curried Chickpeas with Ginger and Cilantro) we were thrilled to find the book in pristine condition at our local Half Price Books. We have tried two more recipes since then and loved one (Potatoes and Peas in Red Curry Sauce) and didn't love the other (the sauce for the Japanese Style Braised Tofu was too strong). But I'm really looking forward to trying a lot more. Especially since soccer practices keep us busy two nights a week and I love coming home to dinner finished in the crockpot. There are a few breakfasts that look interesting too.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous photos and, to my mind, reasonably simple recipes from a book with the word "gourmet" in the title, but definitely not for the lazy cook. what I found odd was the use of cumin in practically every recipe - yes, it is a common spice in a lot of the regions she picked, but in *every* recipe? Also, some of the recipes seemed like she was trying too hard - quiche in a slow cooker? I guess if you don't have an oven...

Anyway, I'm making a recipe out of the book for dinner tonight and I'll adjust my rating if it's a disaster (I did have to make some substitutions so I'll be fair), but I have faith that it'll be pretty tasty.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

potatoes and peas in curry sauce - totally a keeper as well as butternut squash in green curry sauce - super yum! I tried the white beans and olives which was okay and the polenta gnocchi which was another okay dish. this was not a throw ingredients in the morning and forget about them recipe, it required you to add things hours before you were done, so good for weekends or if you work from home. overall a nice cookbook with great pictures and i got 2 great recipes I will use over and over again.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars because the recipes call for whole spices to be ground as you use them... since I don't have the capability to do that right now, I just guesstimated and I think they turned out well.

That being said, I LOVE the recipes in this book - so flavorful and unique - and if you've never cooked beans in a crockpot, you are missing out! They develop an almost silky texture that I can't even get in my pressure cooker! Delicious!

I'll definitely be adding this one to my collection!

[Yahaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

made a few recipes from this book - chili, curried chickpeas, potatoes and peas in curry sauce. they were pretty tasty, though I wouldn't say these are throw ingredients in the morning and forget about them recipes. they all required you to add things hours before you were done, so maybe better for weekends? or if you work from home? the ones I tried came out good, but I always thought they needed some salt at the end.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to find a book on slow cooking for vegetarians when so many slow cooker recipes involve 'dump this chunk of meat into the pot with these vegetables'. I found the recipes in this one the recipes tasty and easy to prepare. Having to pre-prep some of the ingredients by, for example, sautéing them first was a plus as it really did add flavour, but also a minus as I often figured 'since I cooked this much already, I might as well just regular cook the rest.

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited for a vegetarian crock pot cookbook! Sadly, I don't think the authors quite understand the purpose of a crock pot- it's supposed to make your life easier. If I'm going to use 27 ingredients, I'll just cook, and probably not at 7 am before work, which is when I'd need to load the thing up. Argh.

[Margo Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Korean -Style Black Beans were out of this world good. I will definitely be making them again. Potatos and Peas in Red Curry Sauce was good--but could have been jucier. My husband liked them better than the beans.

The book is interesting because it has recipes from all over the world. Definitely something I want to cook from more and I may buy.

641.5636
Alley

[Just · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the title of this book in the hopes of finding some great vegetarian, slow cooker meals to help with my teenagers vegetarian diet but a slow cooker recipe should be simple not multilayered. I like to use my slow cooker to throw things in and leave it go and have it ready for dinner that night with minimum fuss.

[Victoria Weinstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very tasty recipes from various cuisines!! The lower rating is for the slow cooker title, which would indicate ease of preparation: prep, throw in crockpot, be done with it. These recipes require more intermediate steps than the usual crockpot recipes, but I do notice that's a trend in cookbooks lately so I didn't judge too harshly. I love the arrangement by world cuisines.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content of this cookbook is true to its name, 'gourmet.' It is wildly exotic for a family with a toddler and little time to literally chop and throw things into a crock pot. However, for someone with the time and interest in trying international tastes, this is definitely for you.

[Julie Darling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has some fantastic recipes for use with a slow cooker/crock pot. Good illustrations and nice step-by-step instructions. A nice array of International cuisine using a medium amount of ingredients.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the recipes I made, but they weren't all the type where you take everything put it in and come back six-eight hours later. They were a little more complex than that asking you to add different ingredients at different times.

[Nina Mcdaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

We've been enjoying all of the bean recipes: warri muth, daal, and black bean. They're so gourmet and SO cheap to make! The book is organized by the regions of the world so once you have the spices for that cuisine, each recipe costs merely cents per serving. Plus, they're totally yum.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to follow slow cooker cookbook for vegetarian cuisine that includes wine/beer pairings. Some of the spices can be hard to find if you do not live in an urban area. But almost all are available on-line.