Friday, July 2, 2010

Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook



With four children still at home and many activities on our calendar, using the crockpot is essential to our budget so good crockpot recipes are essential. I was excited to have the opportunity to review Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook which has 700 recipes including main dishes, soups/stews/chilis, veggies, desserts, breads, breakfasts, appetizers and beverages.

The first recipe I tried was Ruth's Slow-Cooker Chicken. I wasn't sure how much 6 boneless chicken breast halves was weight-wise but I used about 2 lbs since that feeds my family. I made a number of substitutions/changes: I used two cans of Campbell's Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup (instead of 1) since we like 'sauce' for our rice and I was trying to be healthier with less fat and sodium, I couldn't find dry mushroom soup mix so I used dry mushroom gravy mix instead, I used 1/2 lb fresh sliced mushrooms instead of a 4 oz can and low fat sour cream instead of full fat.
The recipe called for 6-8 hours on low; I cooked for only 5 hrs on low but still some of the chicken pieces were not tender. In addition, it was BLAND. I can't blame that on the recipe as I think much of the flavor probably comes from the soup that I changed. So I think the next time I make a recipe, I will not use Healthy Request soup unless there are other ingredients for added flavor.

Another busy night, another crockpot recipe. This time I tried Enchilada Casserole (which my family decided is mexican lasagna). I used a bit more ground beef than called for, I skipped the cream of onion soup (#1 - I couldn't find it and #2 - it sounded a bit strange) and used a few extra tortillas. Again I cooked for only 5 hrs instead of the recommended 6-8 hours. This recipe was a hit!!! All I need to do next time is make more.

You can try out Broccoli Corn Bread with this recipe

Thanks to Anna Suknov of FSB Media for providing me with a complimentary copy of Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook.

4 comments:

Erin P. said...

I still pull a few recipes from this book and its counterpart (Fix it and forget it lightly) but by and large I do not like these books and I am a big crockpotter. The main reason is that so many of them require you to precook the meat or saute the veggies. I do like the cranberry roast pork and the lasagna from the lightly version. Don't buy both. A lot of the recipes are very similar with changes like use reduced fat cheese or ground turkey which I usually do on my own. But really the only crockpot recipes I make now are from Stephanie O Dea--the crockpot lady. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Renee said...

I figured the light version was common sense. I also noticed lots of recipes were very similar but any new recipes I can add to my lineup are always welcome esp this coming Aug-Dec when Abigail has LOTS of theater and James could have a job

MaryAnne said...

I have to agree about these cookbooks. They remind me of church cookbooks...a few gems, but mostly kind of mundane recipes. I primarily cook crock recipes from Leanne Ely over at savingdinner.com. Much more flavorful, fresher ingredients, much lower in the use of processed soups etc.

Renee said...

I'll have to check out both websites for more recipes