Cookbook Review: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow

I've been dying to get my hands on Stephanie O'Dea's new cookbook, "Make it Fast, Cook it Slow." She rose to fame with her "A Year of Crockpotting" blog and I still follow her posts happily.

I liketo cook, but I don't like to have a lot of cookbooks. I find it confusing to remember which book harbors which recipe, and it's just easier to search for or save recipes on my computer. So I tend to be a minimalist when it comes to cookbooks. Rather than purchase them, I'll borrow one or sign one out of the library. When I found out our library had "Make it Fast, Cook it Slow," I quickly placed a hold on it. I wanted to see how it was formatted before buying it, and I've decided that I'd love to have it in my kitchen after seeing it and holding it in my hands. I like the format, and the publisher still printed some of Stephanie's pithy comments.

Last week I tried out the Taco Soup recipe in the cookbook when making a meal to take to a friend. I was pleased with the results. I omitted the ranch dressing packet from the recipe, used black beans instead of kidney beans, and used 2 tablespoons of homemade taco seasoning. Yummy! I will definitely make this one again for my own family.