Review: The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook & Giveaway

No luck finding Carrie’s book at my local book sellers, but I did find it at a little cookbook shop in Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to the winner, Michelle P.! 

Those of you who know me well know how much I love to say, “Yes!” when a fellow blogger friend emails me and asks if I want to do some recipe testing for their cookbook they are working on.  I get excited for my friends who are venturing into writing a cookbook for the first time or working on another one.  Yes, I love supporting other people’s dreams.

For some reason I did not take pictures throughout my recipe testing for Carrie Forbes’s (Ginger Lemon Girl) The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook.  Call it brain fog. I did take some after making more of the recipes once I had a copy of the e-book.

Carrie shares why using the size slow cooker recommended for recipes is important.  I learned this the hard way and is why I have more than one now.  She also shares how to care for your slow cooker.  Stuff no one ever tells you!

Here are some of the recipes I tested before publication & made once I had the book (in no particular order):

• Breakfast Quinoa with Fruit
• Millet Porridge with Apples and Pecans
• Pear Clafoutis
•  Amish Apple Butter
• Sweet and Sour Mini Hot Dog Snackers
• Homemade Ketchup
• Vegetable Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings
• Chinese Congee
• Slow Cooker Pork Posole
• Cincinnati Chili
• Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya
• Chicken Pesto Polenta
• Mango Duck Breast
• Tarragon Chicken

I shared the Amish Apple Butter with some friends because I had so much and they loved it.  All the recipes are simple to make and easily made dairy-free.  I stuck with using nutritional yeast, soy-free Earth Balance spread, and dairy-free milks when making recipes that called for dairy.  Anything that called for cream cheese I have not tried.  If you make the Pear Clafoutis in a larger slow cooker, make sure you adjust your cooking time!  This was the lesson I learned the hard way.  I made it in my 7 quart cooker and it burned a little because I did not adjust the cooking time.   And if you make the Sweet and Sour Mini Hot Dog Snackers…be prepared to do several “quality control” checks while they cook.  My favorite from the book is the Chicken Pesto Polenta.  Easy to make even if you are making your own pesto.

She has a chapter just for Holiday dishes that you can make in your slow cooker.  Have you ever used your slow cooker for holiday cooking?  Saves space in the oven and saves you time from constantly going into the kitchen taking things out and putting things in the oven.  I highly recommend it.

Breakfast Quinoa with Fruit

Sausage & Shrimp Jambalaya

Amish Apple Butter

Cincinnati Chili

Are you drooling yet?  I hope so.

I am giving away one The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook provided by Carrie.  Deadline to enter is 7pm Eastern Time, Friday, December 14, 2012.  Giveaway is open to those living in the Continental U.S. only.

To enter leave a comment in the comments below with how you would like slow cooking to help you out in the kitchen.  There are no wrong answers and the winner will be selected by a randomizer.

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