Neal Bertrand - Slow Cooker Meals: Easy Home Cooking for Busy People

by Neal Bertrand Mouth-Watering Family Favorites:Cajun-Style Meals, plus Appetizers, Pastas, Seafood, Meats, Soups,Stews, Chili, and 17 Desserts all made in your Slow Cooker! SMASHWORDS EDITION Copyright 2011 by Cypress CovePublishing All rights reserved, including the right toreproduce this book or portions
thereof in any form whatsoever. Published by Neal Bertrand at Smashwords, June2011 ISBN: 978-1-936707-13-3 Smashwords Edition License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each person youshare it with. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it,or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should returnto Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. ABOUT THE FRONT COVER
Thisbeautiful, mouth-watering dish of Cajun Pepper Steak on the frontcover is one of many meals that can be made in your slow cooker.Look for the recipe inside. ABOUT THE FRONT COVER
Thisbeautiful, mouth-watering dish of Cajun Pepper Steak on the frontcover is one of many meals that can be made in your slow cooker.Look for the recipe inside.

AUTHOR, EXECUTIVE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER NealBertrand
FOOD STYLING AND COVER DESIGN Elizabeth Bell, eBell Design,Lafayette, La.
FRONT COVER PHOTOGRAPHY Travis Gauthier, Zoom Photo Studio,Lafayette, La.
BOOK DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Jeremy Bertrand, Cypress CovePublishing ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all of the nice ladiesassociated with the LSU AgCenter and their members of theVolunteers for Family & Community (VFC) homemaker clubs acrossthe state of Louisiana who contributed recipes and advice, and fortheir help in making this cookbook a success. In particular, QuincyCheek, Rapides Parish; Mandy Armentor, Vermilion Parish; ConnieAclin, Caddo Parish; Elizabeth Lynn, Bienville Parish; KathyMauthe, Tangipahoa Parish all with the LSU AgCenter. I would alsolike to thank Cathy S. Judd, LSU AgCenter Lincoln Parish, forcontributing a few recipes from her Lunch and Learn recipebooklet. TABLE OF CONTENTS (linked to recipes) (linked to recipes) INTRODUCTION In 2008, I wrote and published my secondcookbook, "Rice Cooker Meals: Fast Home Cooking for Busy People." Iwas so excited about cooking a one-pot meal in 30 minutes that Iwas spreading the word about my book, and it became very popularwith busy people who still like to cook, as opposed to feedingtheir families fast food. In the process of distributing my book around myhome state of Louisiana, I met a lot of people who were fans of mybook.

They kept asking me questions that, at first, I found to be alittle irritating, such as, Will these rice cooker meal recipeswork in my slow cooker? When are you coming out with a slowcooker meals cookbook? Initially, in my mind I scoffed at the idea. Ithought to myself, These people just dont understand! Here youhave a Rice Cooker Meals cookbook where you can cook aone-pot meal in 30 minutes. Why would you want to cook the samething that takes 8 hours? I had a hard time with that at first. Then I realized wait a minute they have apoint here! Put the ingredients in the slow cooker pot, turn it on,and go to work and forget about it. When you get back home the foodis ready to eat! That basically amounts to the same thing. Preparethe ingredients, put them in the pot and forget about it.

Not only that, but I had a rude awakening when Ifound out that most people dont have a rice cooker. (WHAT? How canthat be? Almost everyone in south Louisiana has a rice cooker! Igrew up cooking rice on the stove, then the rice cooker came along,which was a major kitchen miracle, in my opinion.) However, morepeople own a slow cooker or Crock Pot. So, thanks to my friends andcustomers, this book has been birthed. So, I wanted to find out if my Rice Cooker Mealsrecipes can be cooked in a slow cooker. Yes, I converted many ofthem to be cooked in a slow cooker; they are very delicious andappear within these pages. I wanted to provide you with a lot ofrecipes, so I got help from homemaker clubs associated with theLouisiana State University (LSU) AgCenter.

I asked these clubmembers to submit their tested and proven recipes that are familyfavorites, and I present them to you within these pages. Neal Bertrand, Author & Publisher
Cypress Cove Publishing
Lafayette, Louisiana, USA FOREWORD WHAT THE LSU AGCENTER LADIES HAVE TO SAY Working with the LSU AgCenter CooperativeExtension Service has taught me so much about the people ofLouisiana, and one lesson in particular I learned recently has leftme baffled. In south Louisiana (loosely defined as south ofAlexandria) many families have, and use a rice cooker on a regularbasis. North of Alexandria, rice cookers are scarce. Its rare tosee them for sale at local discount stores in the northern part ofthe state. In central Louisiana its a sort of mixed territory.Some people have them, some people dont.

I recently had some Northerners visiting myhome in Lecompte, La., about 15 miles south of Alexandria. Whenthey noticed my rice cooker on the counter they anxiouslyexclaimed, Oh, Ive never seen one of those in real life! Slow cookers are a whole different story everybody has one and many people I know from all over the stateuse them on a regular basis. As a Family & Consumer Sciences ExtensionAgent, I get many requests for recipes for healthy, wholesomemeals. Slow cooker recipes are always the most popular withclients. Slow cookers were first introduced to the general publicin the early seventies, but the greatest advantage to using themstill rings true today about 15-20 minutes of preparation time inthe morning yields a welcoming aroma when you walk in the door anda nutritious, tasty meal to enjoy with your family at the end ofthe day. Many of the recipes provided in this book can beeasily adjusted/modified to include less fat and sodium forhealthier meals.

There are many cookbooks out on the market forslow cooker recipes, but Neal does such a good job of focusing onrecipes with Cajun flair, that home cooks in Louisiana, and manyother places, for that matter, want to provide for theirfamilies! Quincy L. Cheek, M. Ed
Family & Consumer Sciences Agent Nutrition
LSU AgCenter
Rapides Parish ~~~~~ A WORD FROM MANDY Slow cookers have been around for numerousyears. As a busy mom and wife who works outside of the home, theslow cooker is a life saver some days for me because before I leaveI can put some food in the slow cooker, put it on COOK and by thetime I come home a healthy, nutritious and delicious meal is cookedand ready to serve to my family. Slow cookers are available in numerous sizes andfound at most retail outlets. They are convenient time-savers forbusy families like mine, and a money saver.

This recipe book has recipes for all tastes andevery type of meal you can imagine! Who would have thought afterreviewing this book I can actually make desserts in the slowcooker? With this cookbook you are sure to find some newfamily favorites all while not breaking too much of a sweat overthe stove. Enjoy cooking and trying the recipes in this book,because I know I cant wait to try some more recipes. Thanks! Mandy G. Armentor, MS, RD, LDN
Associate Extension Agent-FCS-Nutrition
Vermilion Parish Extension Service
Abbeville, La. THE SLOW COOKER A KITCHEN GENIE Because of a busy schedule and a hecticlifestyle, Mom needs relief from heavy kitchen duty. Meals that aresimple, light, nutritious and fast especially fast save hertime without sacrificing her familys nutrition.

Fortunately,saving on meal preparation time doesnt have to mean drive throughsandwiches, leftovers or frozen dinners. Planning and organization do take an initialtime investment but ultimately save more time in the kitchen. Startby planning your meals, keeping in mind how much time you have forpreparation. Then prepare a grocery list based on the meals youhave planned. The better job you do of planning, the fewer tripsyou will make to the store, saving you both time and money. One valuable tool that will help save you mealpreparation time is the slow cooker.