Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just for You: More than 100 Delicious One-Pot Meals for Your 1.5-Quart/Litre Slow Cooker

I love using my slow cookers (I own four in various sizes!) during busy weeks so I can have a hot meal waiting when I get home from work. I already own  The Vegan Slow Cooker: Simply Set It and Go with 150 Recipes for Intensely Flavorful, Fuss-Free Fare Everyone (Vegan or Not!) Will Devour  and I really like it, but the recipes in that make a LOT of food, and, since it's just my husband and me, we sometimes get sick of having so many leftovers, especially if they don't freeze well. I was excited to get this new cookbook by Kathy Hester since I love that it focuses on smaller portion sizes that are perfect for just one or two people!The recipes are designed for using a 1.5-quart or liter crockpot, so they're perfectly proportioned for smaller households.The book is organized as follows:* Chapter 1 provides a nice overview about how to use your slow cooker effectively* Chapter 2 focuses on making what Hester calls "pantry staples" -- things like tofu sour cream and nut ricotta that you might want to have on hand for other recipes* Chapter 3 focuses on breakfast* Chapter 4 focuses on dips that can be eaten as appetizers or a main meal* Chapter 5 focuses on soups* Chapter 6 focuses on stews, curries, and chilis* Chapter 7 focuses on sandwich and taco fillings* Chapter 8 focuses on one-pot risottos, pastas, and pasta sauces* Chapter 9 focuses on full-meal dishes* Chapter 10 focuses on drinks, syrups, and dessertsThere is also a list of recommended shops to order your spices from.For any recipes that are soy-, gluten-, and/or oil-free, there is a designation at the top of each recipe page. It seems like quite a few are all three.What I also really like about this book is that hardly any of the recipes call for pre-cooking ingredients. When I use my slow cooker, I'm all about saving time, and I love that you can make most of these recipes by just tossing the ingredients into the pot. Hester does recommend that you pre-cook your onions, but, conveniently enough, she provides a recipe for how to cook them in your slow cooker, and then freeze them so you have them on hand when you need them.The directions don't involve a lot of steps, which is nice, too.Chapter 1 also gives some really useful pointers about meal planning on a smaller scale, and here Hester talks about how you should plan out your recipes so that you use up all your ingredients. For instance, if one recipe calls for using just half a can of beans, she encourages you to find a second recipe to make that week that will use up the second half.As I mentioned in my review title, I also really like how this book uses whole foods, with only a few processed ingredients.Last night, I made the Pumpkin Caramel Breakfast Barley, and it turned out great! Tonight I'm making the White Bean Quinoa Gumbo. I snuck a taste of it earlier, and it looks to be another winner.Also, if you need a small slow cooker recommendation, this one is great:  Proctor-Silex 33112Y 1-1/2-Quart Portable Oval Slow Cooker . I also just got this  Crock-Pot SCCPMD1-BL Hook Up Double Oval Connectable Entertaining System, 1-Quart, Metallic Blue  and think it will be perfect to get two recipes going at the same time.As I use this book more, I'll be sure to update my review. For now, I can already tell that I'm going to get a lot of use out of this -- and my hubby won't have to suffer through endless leftovers! :-)Happy cooking!

Kathy Hester's Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just for You fit a much needed niche for the many small households that love the convenience of the slow cooker. It was an excellent purchase, and I highly recommend it.I have tried the following recipes, and my comments are based upon my experiences with those recipes:Italian seitan CoinsExtra-thick silken tofu sour creamPear rose cardamom oatmeal (the rosewater is unnecessary, and it is hard to find for me)Overnight tofu root vegetable hashEvery season minestroneWhite bean quinoa gumboItalian Seitan and Pepper StewItalian soy curlsGreen beans in black bean sauce with tofuTamarind tempehPotato cauliflower curryCreamy veggie curryCarolina barbecue soy curlsLentil quinoa taco fillingSloppy black-eyed peasNew England tofu rollsCheezy butternut squash macaroniMushroom bourguignon with pasta (I cooked the pasta separately)CaulifredoNo more bottled pasta sauceBean and oat veggie chili over banked sweet potatoTempeh with apples and cabbageBlack pepper Portobello and baked potato dinnerMushroom tempeh over potatoes and carrotsThe recipes are very easy, and most are yummy. I have made several many times. I often add additional ingredients to the final serving (e.g., I might serve a recipe over rice or steamed potatoes, or I might add additional veggies, etc.) A few recipes were not very good, but most every cookbook has a few ho-hum experiences. For this book, the every season minestrone and the tempeh with apples and cabbage were ho-hum and not good, respectively. The others were good to excellent.Most ingredients were easy to find. Any recipes calling for oil of any sort can easy be omitted.More dinner recipes could have been included and replaced the "sweet treat" recipes, but that is just a personal preference. As you can see from my "made" list, I have not made any of the "sweet treats" yet, but I have been tempted. The funny thing about that is that when I want to use the crock-pot, I want to save time on dinner. If my crock-pot is full for dinner, then it is not free to make a sweet treat. So, in short, I don't find those recipes very practical.Additionally, finding a small slow cooker with at least two settings (low and high) or three settings (warm, low, and high) is pretty easy to do on amazon.com. Here is the one that I purchased. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003K7XI1I/ref=twister_B00ENA455OIn fact, I recommended this book to my mother, who also bought a small slow cooker, but hers had no settings besides "off" and "on." She says it also works great with these recipes.In short, if you have a small cooker or can easily acquire one, this book is a great investment. I love to cook, but some days I am just too busy with other commitments, so I throw ingredients in the crockpot seemingly at the last minute (morning or midday), and then dinner is ready at dinner time. What could be simpler?I highly recommend it.

I already cook 3 or 4 times a week with a "standard" 5 litre(ish) slowcooker. It's brilliant for making big chillis and curries and then having leftovers to freeze BUT sometimes you don't want to make a huge amount. That's where this book comes in.I bought a 1.5L slowcooker for £12 and started cooking. Being able to make 2 servings of tomato sauce for pasta is brilliant, as is making 3 servings of pin-head oatmeal which would have burn to a crisp in the big crock.I was intrigued by Sietan and bought some Vital wheat gluten off a well known auction site to give it a go. It turned out very well and I turned it into "crumbles" in a food processor and made spag bol! Delicious.Very easy to follow recipes and most ingredients are reasonably accessible.I now have both slow cookers out on the counter and in use most days.

I have been a vegan for many years, though relatively new to slow cooking, which I love. Interesting recipes. I generally use a larger slow cooker, though these recipes could easily be doubled in quantities. It is very American, but most of the vegan slow cookers books seem to be. I like the style and am sure it will be very useful.Not every recipe has a picture, although many are illustrated with coloured photos, but that is not so important in these types of recipes.Each recipe has its own page, it is clearly written, well set out, with helpful hints and extras.

This is one of the best vegan cookbooks I have bought. I have a tiny slow cooker, which is really useful, and now it really is used to the full. Her way of preparing dried beans (except kidney beans) is excellent; I love the idea of a bean-based fondue dip, kept warm in the slow cooker, to replace a cheese fondue, and without mimicking cheese flavour. It is an American book, but most of the ingredients are easy to find. I love this book! Inspiring!

Was disappointed with this which I bought for my new mini slow cooker on my kindle app on my I pad. Like a previous reviewer I did not recognise half the ingredients. As It did not make clear that it was for U.S. A vegan recipes not U.K. Also it said the recipes were very easyto prepare,a lot of them sound quite complicated to me. With many of the recipes you had to use a food blender, I wanted ones that Icould put the food to prepare straight into slow cooker. Katy Hester seemed to assume that everybody has a food blender, which isnot the case. A lot of my friends are good cooks, and I don't think any of them have or use a food blender

A great little book! Lots of tasty recipes including recipes for stock, sauces and mixed spices for the cupboard. I have other slow cook books where half the cooking is done out with the slow cooker, but that is not the case with this book. All the recipes start from scratch using the slow cooker and lots of alternatives given too.