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Fix-It and Forget-It Diabetic Cookbook: Slow Cooker Favorites to Include Everyone!Woodinville, WA
Fix-It and Forget-It Diabetic Cookbook: Slow Cooker Favorites to Include
Everyone!
Phyllis Pellman Good with the American Diabetes Association. Publisher:
Good Books, Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Date of Publication: 2005. Price:
$15.99
With our hectic schedules, after-school activities, long hours at the office, and lengthy commutes, it is tough to put a healthful home-cooked meal on the table. There has been a welcome trend emerging recently: many families are choosing to prepare meals at home again! A convenient way to prepare meals in advance is by using a Crock-Pot or slow cooker. If you have not used or even thought about a slow cooker in recent years, you will be delighted with the more than 600 recipes featured in the Fix-it and Forget-it Diabetic Cookbook: Slow Cooker Favorites to Include Everyone! These are not the types of slow-cooker recipes my mother used to make that included ingredients such as canned vegetables, onion soup mix, and bouillon cubes. This cookbook was written by the New York Times best-selling author Phyllis Pellman Good with the American Diabetes Association. The author has written several other slow-cooker cookbooks, but this one is specifically devoted to people with diabetes. However, true to the title, everyone will enjoy these delicious recipes. The exchange list values have been provided in bold type immediately following every recipe as well as basic nutritional values. It would have been nice if the author also included the carbohydrate choices for each recipe, as many people with diabetes are now using the carbohydrate-counting meal-planning approach over the more traditional exchange list approach. Grams of carbohydrate are included for each recipe. However, this information is located within the basic nutritional values section in a smaller font, making it a bit more difficult to find. At the very beginning of the cookbook, the author informs the reader how the nutritional analysis for the recipes was calculated. This is helpful information because foods listed as "serve with" at the end of the recipe or accompanying foods listed without an amount were not included in the recipe's analysis. The suggested "serve with" foods often include starchy foods such as cooked pasta, rice, and sandwich rolls. Unfortunately, many individuals using a cookbook do not always read the forward, and this important information could be easily missed. This omission could result in the novice chef's consumption of significantly more carbohydrates than listed in the recipe. The book is organized in a very straightforward format. Recipes are grouped by categories: main courses, soups, and vegetables. What surprised this reviewer were the sections on things you could prepare in a slow cooker that most of us would never consider possible such as desserts, appetizers, breakfast dishes, and breads. Ms Pellman Good also includes recipes for low-sodium mixes and sauces. If a recipe calls for canned soup or other types of typically higher fat and sodium convenience items, the author usually recommends fat-reduced and/or lower sodium alternatives. There are no pictures in the book to illustrate the recipes. Most pages include only 2 to 3 recipes, with an occasional small graphic food item to adorn the page. If weight loss is a goal, this book provides a week of menus using 1 or 2 recipes from this cookbook each day. Each day in this week of menus is designed with 3 meals and 2 snacks, for a total most days of approximately 1500 calories. The author has included the exchange list value for every food item included in the menu that is consumed throughout the day. For individuals using the carbohydrate-counting meal-planning approach, the grams of carbohydrate as well as the other major nutrients are given for each part of the meal as well. Recipes are quick and easy to prepare with a complete nutritional analysis. The concept is simple: put a few ingredients in the slow cooker, and depending on the recipe, it will be ready without anymore effort on your part in a few hours. Most of the recipes include ingredients that would be easy to find in most neighborhood grocery stores. This book would be a good choice for someone with basic cooking skills or a busy family who wants to quickly prepare a healthful meal in advance.
Books submitted for review may be sent directly to the Book Review Editor. See Information for Authors at www.diabeteseducator.org.
The Diabetes Educator, Vol. 32, No. 1,
61-62 (2006)
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