Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two: For the Small Slow Cooker

by Beth Hensperger

Not Your Mother's guide to 125 recipes for delicious meals created for preparation in a small slow cooker (1 1/2 - 3 1/2 quarts).

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference, How To

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2006

About the author

Beth Hensperger is a passionate professional- and home- baker who is both extremely creative and extraordinarily prolific as an author and developer of quality recipes. Her training included a ten-year apprenticeship as a restaurant and hotel pastry chef as well as having her own custom wedding cake business and attending classes given by some of the top bakers in America. Though restaurant trained, she considers herself more of a dedicated home baker than a chef.
Beth’s writing career began when she was chosen as the Guest Cooking Instructor for the March 1985 issue of Bon Appetit. She is now the author of fifteen cookbooks, many of them best sellers. Her most recent books include: Williams Sonoma Breads (Weldon Owen), Bread For Breakfast (Ten Speed Press), and The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook (HCP). The Bread Bible (Chronicle Books) is the recipient of The James Beard Foundation Award for Baking in 2000. Beth's Basic Bread Book (Chronicle Books), a sequential text for the beginning home baker, published in the Fall of 1996, was chosen as one of the best baking books of the year by People Magazine. She has been nominated twice for the IACP Julia Child Cookbook Awards. Her books are all represented at the prestigious Culinary Collection of the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When she isn't up to her elbows in flour, Beth is a monthly food columnist with the San Jose Mercury News "Baking By the Seasons". She is a regular contributor to Cooking Pleasures, Food & Wine, Shape Magazine, Bon Appétit, Veggie Life, and Pastry Art and Design Magazines.

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

EDIT: 7/23/2011

Since I wrote my original review, I have tried several more recipes from this cookbook and I have been impressed. The cauliflower soup is amazing, and freezes well. Today I made the butternut squash soup, and while it isn't as amazing as the cauliflower soup, it was very satisfying and I will make it again, but maybe next time with more apples. One thing I love about the soup recipes is that you can adjust the seasonings (salt, pepper, or even curry, or whatever seems right to you) for each individual serving. And I'm looking forward to experimenting with the individual servings of the butternut squash soup by seasoning them with a bit of curry and some cream or half-and-half. Very tasty. This is my favorite slow cooker recipe book so far.

Original Review:
I got an amazing (yet smallish) slow cooker for Christmas, along with this book. So far, there are several stand-out recipes that are simple, easy, and delicious. And there's many more that I'm definitely going to try.

First of all, there's the Slow Cooked BBQ Chicken. Who knew that chicken in the slow cooker could be something amazing instead of dry and horrible, or cooked with a can of mushroom soup? I make this recipe on a weekend day, and I have plenty of slow cooked BBQ chicken for sandwiches or wrapped in lettuce leaves all week long.

Lamb Stew with Peanut Sauce is also very good, especially served over couscous. I never thought that a simple sauce (based on something as simple as peanut butter) and lamb would be so amazing in a slow cooker.

Then there's the Salsa Chicken. A very easy, basic recipe. All you need is chicken, some cheese, and your favorite jarred salsa. All my friends already knew this recipe, but this book introduced me to it, and made me confident that it would be good. And it was!

[Chaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rarely use a single cookbook enough to justify review, but this one more than qualifies, and I don't even own it. The library practically had to issue a warrant to get it back from me, and before I finally relinquished it this morning I scanned some recipes to tide me over until another copy is available for checkout. AND I had to stop myself at 14 recipes!

As a student, it fits my lifestyle perfectly, and thus has me eating well, cheaply, at home, during finals, and with my fiance out of town. Between this and my other standby of late, The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker, Ms. Hensperger has become my own personal kitchen goddess.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This cookbook contains clear instructions and has a lot of pictures - which I think are essential for knowing whether I want to try a recipe or not.

As previous reviewers have noted, just about everything except beef will be finished cooking before a person could leave for the day to work and commute home. So if you don't love beef, or have the ability to finish a recipe in less than 8 hours, this cook book won't be practical for you. I like to prepare soup recipes, leave to run errands, and return home to have a soup and sandwich for lunch. Or, if you have small children, these are the types of recipes that you can prepare in the morning, before crankiness sets in, (or work part-time or from home) and enjoy at dinner time. If that's your lifestyle, then I highly recommend it.

Many of the recipes suggest a 3 quart slow cooker. I make all of them in a 1 1/2 quart oval cooker and reduce the amount of ingredients accordingly. I'm not sure what the author counts as a serving size; but I think all of the portions are large and produce more than two servings.

[Robyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had this cookbook for about 18 months and never used it, because I only use my slow cooker on days we both work. I enjoy being able to do all the prep for a recipe before leaving for work and coming home to a completed meal and a house that smells fabulous. With these recipes I can't do that.

I work 8 hours plus a 1 hour unpaid lunch, and have a commute both morning and evening. There are only 4 recipes in this cookbook that have a long enough cooking time to leave that long. Several require steps during the cooking process (High for 5 hours, then Low for 2 to 3 hours, chickpeas and cherries added after 4 hours), which means that even if I were to make them on a weekend I would have to have timers set every few hours to add ingredients, change the temperature, etc.

The 49 pages of soups and chili are too much, I can't eat pork or lamb so those 23 recipes were not useful, and 17 non-slow-cooker side dishes would only be useful if they were new recipes or techniques, not Basic Wild Rice and Boiled New Potatoes.

Some of the Chicken, Turkey, and Beef dishes look good and I hoped to have a weekend that I could devote to making them someday, but in the end I passed the book on to someone else, in hopes they'd find a use for it.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a godsend! I love using my crock pot, but I hate having leftovers for a week after using it! This book really helped me to try some new things, curb down recipes to appropriate portions for 2, and keep some variety in the "rotation."

I work 12 hour shifts and the last thing I want to do when I get home is cook. I would be cooking for my husband and I or just me since my hubby is often out of town on business.

I can recommend the following recipes as I have tried them and would definitely make them again:
Beef Ragout (over mashed potatoes!)
In a pinch black bean chili
Risotto with pancetta and potatoes
any kind of oatmeal
To be reviewed--tomato lentil soup (will be ready for tonight)

[Gabby Gilliam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only made 3 of the recipes in this book so far, but all of them have been beloved by my husband. I initially borrowed the book from my local library, but due to its reception at my house, I have since purchased a copy for my Kindle. Absolutely worth every penny. I look forward to making even more recipes from it!

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really a great book

I expected recipes designed for two and slow cooker NOT oven nor wrapped in aluminum foil. A n update is needed.

[Anthony Ragan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a preliminary review, as I haven't made any of the recipes in it yet, but I have read the book and have some comments on it as an e-book. First, it loses a star for the index; it's almost useless, lacking page numbers or active links. You're better off highlighting things you want to refer back to. There are also an inordinate number of typos: words split into two, "1/2" rendered as "1.2," and so forth. I found myself using the "Report an error" feature on my Kindle more than I liked. This is indicative of an OCR scan that wasn't properly edited afterwards, which should be unacceptable with e-books. Thus, another star lost. And I believe her recommended internal temperatures for poultry were high at 180 (Kindle location 1940) as against USDA recommendations. This could reflect older practice, though.

On the other hand, many of the recipes do look good, particularly for someone who doesn't want to spend all day in the kitchen or the weather is just too hot to be dealing with an oven. And this book is perfect for one or two people, a boon to those of us who live alone.

Recommended on a provisional basis. I look forward to actually making the recipes.

[Picky Virgo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, as I found the concept of slow-cooker recipes that don't (always) create leftovers very appealing. And being retired I don't mind the extra steps such as browning the meat first. So I proclaimed "Crock Pot Week" and made four different suppers, but both my husband and I found the results lacking. One dish was so unsuccessful that I called him at work and asked him to stop and pick up fast food. (That one was partly my fault, for choosing a recipe that probably wouldn't have appealed to him at its best.) One was very good, and I'll make it again. The other two dishes ended up tasting as though a 1950s cook had prepared them on the stove: mushy and bland. I have other slow-cooker cookbooks whose recipes result in bright-tasting food, and I'll concentrate my energies on modifying those recipes to fit my small slow-cooker.

[Lisa Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the recipes in this book. I did purchase a 3 qt crockpot as most of the dishes recommend that size. Some of the dishes have short cooking times which does work for me, but may not for others. I am used to cooking for a big crowd, and now that it is just me I needed a little help getting the smaller meals figured out. This book is just the trick for that!

[EmmyT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love a Cookbook for Small Sized Meals

It's so nice to have a reference for 1-2 person meals. Nice that I don't have to do the conversions/dividing myself. Great variety among the meals offered.

[Jodi Geever · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recipes sound solid. Far too few photos.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not enough recipes that I want to make to keep.

[Susan in NC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I made one of the recipes, Italian Meat Sauce, and it was very tasty, and made enough for dinner and about 3 cups left over to freeze (good for one more dinner for three people). I picked this up at the library because I love using my crock pot and figured it would be great to get some more recipes for smaller groups (lots of crock pot recipes serve 6-8) and since my two guys are not fans of leftovers, I wanted enough for a meal and some to freeze or eat for lunch next day. These recipes definitely fit the bill and I will try more of them before I decide to purchase the book. It recommends a 1.5-3 quart cooker for all the recipes, and I was unable to find one that size at my Target or Bed, Bath and Beyond; however, I used my 4 quart cooker for the meat sauce and that worked fine. So, I could see using this as a great source of smaller meals with the lighter, zippier, ethnic flavors we like (Asian, Mexican, Middle Eastern)without getting stuck with enough to feed an army!

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually cook and I stopped reading cookbooks for pleasure a long time ago but this book fits my current life-style (not home for dinner three nights out of the week). The recipes are pretty simple but we only tried one. It was a delicious lamb dish. We had enough for several meals for two, so if you only want to eat whatever you cook once, rethink the amounts of ingredients in these recipes. Another thing to be aware of is that most of these recipes require a lot of pre-processing so that you will be using other cooking methods before putting the slow cooker to use. I was really looking for a cookbook that told me to dump stuff into the slow cooker in the morning for a dinner at night. This is not that kind of cookbook. If it had been, it would have gotten a better rating.

[Rukshana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried a few recipes out of this book and really like the Zucchini Hominy Chili. Too many of the recipes, however, included meat. There were vegetarian recipes but they were definitely in the minority. A lot of slow cooker recipes also call for the use of various canned goods. I would prefer using fresh ingredients.

I think the slow cooker book I am currently reading, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson will be much more relevant for me! I like her aesthetic better as well.

[Amy the book-bat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, some of these recipe sound so tempting and delicious. I may need a smaller crock pot though, since this book focuses on meals for two. Some of the recipes sounded like they would be enough for 3 or 4 people though. Anyway, using a slow cooker is one of my favorite ways to prepare a meal since I can make really tasty and hearty food without slaving over a stove or oven all day (but it still tastes like I did). I plan to try out some of these recipes right away and also want to look for the other books in this series.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked how this book used mostly fresh ingredients (not common in slow cooker recipes), however many recipes have shorter cook times, which is ok since I work at home but if I needed to prepare something for a long day away, it could be problematic. Yes, you have to do some prep work (searing meat in a skillet, for example), but that is how you bring flavor to a long-cooked, braised meal. She uses spices lightly (to my taste) but honestly, since I rarely follow a recipe exactly anyway this didn't bother me much and the recipes are easy to adapt to your own tastes, to add veggies, etc.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining stories and interesting food. HOWEVER! If you are looking for one-pot recipes, this is not the book for you (the vast majority of recipes with meat or pasta require them to be cooked prior to placing in the slow cooker). And if you are a person who doesn't keep alcohol in your home, don't even bother. Almost every meat recipe has wine, sherry, brandy, chianti, or some other alcohol involved. I gave up when I saw the corned beef required wine (wine?? WINE?? I can understand beer, but wine???).

[Beppe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful. I had a large slow cooker and I used it very seldom. Now I bought a small slow cooker and was given by an expert cook, friend of mine, this book as a guide. Very good hints and very modern recipes, practically perfect. Mostly I eat raw food because it is so fast and so simple, and healthy of course. The small slow cooker with the help of this book gives me a nice change, once a week maybe, with very interesting and solid recipes.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice slow cooker recipes for 2-4 people that are better than your standard "cream of mushroom/cream of celery/cream of chicken"-based recipes. We've had some good meals from this cookbook but, I must admit, I'm a bit of a picky eater so there are some that I just won't try. Why did I buy it? Because I bought it from Amazon without having picked the book up to flip through. It still gets pulled out when I'm wanting something from the slow cooker but it's not my go-too book.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really had high hopes when I bought this book, because I only cook for 2. What killed this book for me is the fact that she is in love with cooking with wine (she heartily endorses it) and most of the recipes call for various types of high-priced wine. Don't happen to have those lying around and am not about to spend $12 on a bottle of wine to use a cup for a recipe.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a proficient cook & like to try new recipes but some of the flavor combinations in this book had me grimacing. I think I found, max, 5-6 recipes I was willing to try. If you are a fan of things like Spicy Chicken Cacciatore w/ Fennel Seed & Balsamic Vinegar or Lamb Stew w/ Peanut Sauce then go for it. This right up your alley.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the recipes are perfectly sized for a small slow cooker. Everything I've made in it is very good. I'm particularly fond of the risotto and polenta. I would have liked more vegetarian dishes, however.

[Ruth]

I was looking forward to reading this one, but after seeing the negative reviews on Amazon, I won't be reading this one.

Cooking times too short
Uncommon ingredients for recipes
No pictures of the finish products

[Shana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I *highly* recommend the Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker series of cookbooks.

Fresh ingredients are highlighted. Fantastic flavors. I have yet to make something bad.

The author(s) did an excellent job of "re-imagining" the traditional canned soup crock pot recipes of the 70s and 80s.

[Janet Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed it from the library then decided to order my own copy. Great to use my smaller crock pot again. As I am typing this I can smell tonight's dinner cooking. Includes both basic recipes and some new combinations. Still experimenting...

[Leslie Ferrari · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for those using a 1.5 or 3 quart cooker. In addition to numerous recipes, the book provides tips for converting your both your recipes to a smaller cooker and converting not slow cooker recipes for the cooker. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but look forward to doing so.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found a couple of recipes out of here that I liked, but I didn't try most of them. Some of them sounded like more work that I was willing to put into a slow cooker meal.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good recipes, but there is also a lot of fluff. Nice variety though.