Edwards - Cook Slow: Light & Healthy: 90 easy recipes for both slow cookers & conventional ovens

Well, here we are again! When I started on my slow-cooking journey with Cook Slow: 90 Simple, Chilled-out, Stress-free Recipes for Slow Cookers & Conventional Ovensback in 2018, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined how much love the book would get and how successful it would be. If Im being totally truthful it was a very hard book to put on paper because every recipe has two cooking methods: both a conventional method and a slow cooker version. It took forever to write and test, but guess what? I loved the style of cooking so much that I wanted to do it all again.

The idea behind this follow-up, Cook Slow: Light and Healthy, is to show that slow cooking doesnt have to be indulgent, calorific and heavy. Okay, it can be all of those, but the recipes can also be light, healthy and lean. Food can do magical things for you. In its purest form its the fuel we require to run our bodies, and if you arent putting in the right fuel, then you arent going to be running at your full potential. Its like putting unleaded petrol into a diesel engine you get the picture?

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Slow cooking doesnt have to be indulgent, calorific and heavyThe recipes can also be light, healthy and lean.

The process of slow cooking is by no means confined to meat dishes either. Vegetables are a huge part of the slow-cooking process. Onions melt away and add huge flavour, while root vegetables become tender and sweet. And dont forget fish and shellfish by cooking the sauce or broth over a prolonged period of time and then adding the fish at the last minute, you can create dishes that are both delicate but complex in flavour.

, form an important part of a balanced diet and another bonus is that these ingredients are relatively inexpensive, which definitely ticks a box for me. Even if you decide to bulk your meals out with veggies rather than making them the star of the show, the possibilities are endless.

I was truly humbled by the reaction to my first Cook Slowbook, but one thing that stood out when speaking to people who enjoyed cooking from it is that they saw slow cooking as something they did once the first frost of the year had set in. Then, after the colder months, the slow cooker or casserole pot was placed back into the cupboard to gather dust for the rest of the year. In this book, I want to dispel this idea that slow cooking is only for chilly days. I cook this way all year round there is no reason why this beautiful way of cooking should be restricted to the winter.

I love it when people tweak my recipes to work with the ingredients they have in the house or if they make adjustments to suit their diet. Whether its something as simple as switching out soy sauce for tamari if youre following a gluten-free diet or replacing natural yogurt with coconut yogurt for a vegan or dairy-free diet, feel free to use the recipes in this book as inspiration, then take them in any direction you want. The more you cook them, the more they will become your recipes to enjoy for years to come.

Another way to make these recipes work for you is the cooking times. Depending on what method you use, the recipes in this book can be cooked over 1 hour, 2 hours or even 8 hours, whatever your schedule allows. Sometimes the longer the dish cooks, the better. Just set the oven or slow cooker to low and allow the ingredients to create their own magic.

Dont own a slow cooker? Dont panic! The recipes in this book can be cooked either conventionally (in the oven or on the hob) or in a slow cooker, so whichever way you decide to go, both bases are covered.

Whichever method you decide to use, slow cooking doesnt mean that it takes a long time to prepare your meals. I actually enjoy the process of chopping, mincing and slicing the ingredients that go into my dinner, but that doesnt mean you have to. At the end of the day, enjoying the food that goes into your mouth is the all-important aspect of any style of cookery.

Cooking with a slow cooker is supposed to make life easier, and to many families its a godsend not only because of the convenience, but also because of the logistics of managing a busy family life. Lots of us dont sit down to an evening meal together anymore thats the rose-tinted idea of how family mealtimes should be, but its not always as easy as that.

Kids coming home from school screaming that theyre hungry, parents eating at different times due to work commitments youre probably all too familiar with these scenarios. A slow cooker gives you the freedom to get on with your day and always have a delicious meal ready to devour when you walk in the door.