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gluten_freeNatalie Perry's The Big Book of Paleo Slow Cooking is my go-to crockpot cookbook. (That link will take you to her website and an Amazon link for the books). I generally annotate recipes after I make them--comments like "easy, everybody ate it," "sub green beans for zucchini," or "way too much prep." Flipping through this book, I see a lot of "good" comments, with a healthy dose of "good!!" I find getting the spice ratio correct to be one of the larger factors in a successful crockpot recipe, so the exclamation points say that at least for my tastes, Perry usually gets the spices right.
The book includes a very brief intro on slow cooking, sizes of slow cookers, and how full you should fill your crockpot to avoid tragedy. The recipes do call for varying sizes of crockpot; most savory are for 4-quart (3.8 liter), while some of the sweet/baking recipes want a 2- to 3-quart (1.9 to 2.8 liter) cooker.
There is a brief "special ingredients" section where Perry details common ingredient substitutions in paleo cooking that are used in the book, like coconut aminos, ghee, and tapioca/arrowroot starch. Since it's a paleo cookbook, recipes don't contain grain, but may include eggs, nuts, or sweeteners. I find the author's tone pretty neutral; she says things like, "Natural sweeteners are a tricky subject...In this book, I have used...." without moralizing.
There are sections for various proteins as well as appetizers/snacks, soups, vegetable sides, and desserts. There's also a section in the back for "paleo pantry basics," which includes recipes for items like chicken stock, paleo mayo, and homemade spice blends.
The recipe pages are structured in columns and split out into numbered paragraphs. Between this and the straightforward, minimalist text, I find the recipes blissfully easy to follow. Each includes a brief commentary blurb (might be a sentence or two of personal story, might be suggestions for storing the dish or for substitutions). About half have photos. Recipes are written for pounds and quarts, but seem to include conversions for anything larger than a tablespoon amount. If the recipe calls for a spice blend or a sauce, Perry notes this in the ingredients along with the associated page number. With the exception of one or two spices, I have found all the ingredients in this book at my local grocery store, although granted my local grocery store is very comprehensive.
My favorites from this book include the Thai Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Kha Gai), the Chicken and Andouille Sausage Lettuce Wraps, the Easy Pork Chili Verde, and the Honey Dijon Pork Chops. We also like pretty much all of her curry variations, and I use her Cajun Spice Blend on chicken or in skillet gumbo type recipes.
Paleo crockpot baking is a pretty hard sell--grain-free baked goods often have a weird texture, and using a crockpot doesn't help--but we liked the Pumpkin Spice Cake and the Blueberry Muffin Cake and I've made them multiple times.
I get a lot of use out of this book and recommend it. Recipes from it are not available online (and I'm not sure where the book might be purchased outside of Amazon), but Perry's site has a ton of free recipes that you can look through to see if your tastes match up.
The book includes a very brief intro on slow cooking, sizes of slow cookers, and how full you should fill your crockpot to avoid tragedy. The recipes do call for varying sizes of crockpot; most savory are for 4-quart (3.8 liter), while some of the sweet/baking recipes want a 2- to 3-quart (1.9 to 2.8 liter) cooker.
There is a brief "special ingredients" section where Perry details common ingredient substitutions in paleo cooking that are used in the book, like coconut aminos, ghee, and tapioca/arrowroot starch. Since it's a paleo cookbook, recipes don't contain grain, but may include eggs, nuts, or sweeteners. I find the author's tone pretty neutral; she says things like, "Natural sweeteners are a tricky subject...In this book, I have used...." without moralizing.
There are sections for various proteins as well as appetizers/snacks, soups, vegetable sides, and desserts. There's also a section in the back for "paleo pantry basics," which includes recipes for items like chicken stock, paleo mayo, and homemade spice blends.
The recipe pages are structured in columns and split out into numbered paragraphs. Between this and the straightforward, minimalist text, I find the recipes blissfully easy to follow. Each includes a brief commentary blurb (might be a sentence or two of personal story, might be suggestions for storing the dish or for substitutions). About half have photos. Recipes are written for pounds and quarts, but seem to include conversions for anything larger than a tablespoon amount. If the recipe calls for a spice blend or a sauce, Perry notes this in the ingredients along with the associated page number. With the exception of one or two spices, I have found all the ingredients in this book at my local grocery store, although granted my local grocery store is very comprehensive.
My favorites from this book include the Thai Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Kha Gai), the Chicken and Andouille Sausage Lettuce Wraps, the Easy Pork Chili Verde, and the Honey Dijon Pork Chops. We also like pretty much all of her curry variations, and I use her Cajun Spice Blend on chicken or in skillet gumbo type recipes.
Paleo crockpot baking is a pretty hard sell--grain-free baked goods often have a weird texture, and using a crockpot doesn't help--but we liked the Pumpkin Spice Cake and the Blueberry Muffin Cake and I've made them multiple times.
I get a lot of use out of this book and recommend it. Recipes from it are not available online (and I'm not sure where the book might be purchased outside of Amazon), but Perry's site has a ton of free recipes that you can look through to see if your tastes match up.