I had such high hopes for this book based on all the positive reviews, but I must join the other 1-star reviewers. Many of the recipes are just variations on each other, and not even interesting ones at that. Often they are under-seasoned. Sometimes the author seems to throw in ingredients that don't belong (the olives in the tamale pie are awful). Also, as mentioned by another reviewer, you generally will use 1 or 2 other pots/pans while prepping recipes. I say keep shopping and try another book.

I originally took this book out of the library to try out my new slow cooker. Thought I'd find maybe one or two recipes that would be keepers. Well, this is an amazing book. At my last count, there were over 20 recipes that I am eager to try. My first slow cooker meal was the sweet potatoes with a touch of chipotles, which I highly recommend. Although I am a vegan and my husband is a vegetarian, we both agree that meat eaters would not miss animal products in these recipes--they are hearty, creative, and incredibly satisfying. Very economical too. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a slow cooker--in fact, get one so you can try out these recipes. You won't be dissappointed.

I think this is a wonderful book! I had looked for a slow cooker recipe book that was vegetarian and my mom found this one for me. I love the variety of meals offered and also the beverages, breakfast foods, desserts, and so many others. I look forward to fall and winter to pull out the crock pot and the cook book, throw everything in the crock pot before work, and come home to dinner ready for me! I recommend this cook book to any vegetarians looking for some meatless crock pot dinners!

Too many vegatarian cookbooks are difficult using ingediants I don't have on hand. This book, so far, has been simple to use and delicious results.

This is one of my favorite cookbooks. I love it! I've made so many recipes out of it and all have turned out great. My absolute favorite is the southwest potpie with cornbread crust. We also like the mac and cheese, orange flavored beets, potpie with biscuit crust, and others. If you are interested in, or already like, crockpot cooking then this book is a good find. I really enjoy it and will be on my shelf for years to come.

This book is great. The categorization and thoroughness of the index makes it easy to find the recipes I'm looking for. I have tried several of the recipes and they have all turned out really good. I love the convenience of taking a few minutes to throw something together and not having to fuss over it while it cooks.

I was a bit nervous to purchase this book because I live in NZ and find US cookbooks quite baffling in terms of ingredients and measurements. But any deciphering I have done has been well worth the effort. Delicious recipes that the entire family have loved.

When visiting my son and family in Massachusetts, I was really impressed with the delicious meals she produced from her slow cooker. She's a very creative person, and I wondered whether her special touch had made the meals taste so special. Taking a chance, I ordered the book for myself.
Back in California, I'm delighted to find that the meals I have tried are just as delicious as the ones I was served.
This is no quick-and-easy fix, but the preparation time is well worth the result. The recipes are flexible, and one can use canned green beans, for instance, instead of fresh, adding them only in time for heating with the rest of the already-cooked ingredients. Substitutions can be made: zucchini for eggplant or canned tomatoes for fresh.
Each recipe is an adventure, but I haven't yet faced up to Vegetarian Haggis.

The title should say it all. I have an hour and a half commute to work and I go to night school - I don't have time to cook. Ever. But these recipes (some are better than others, be forewarned) ensure that I eat something other than frozen vegetables and rice. The bean and grain focused sections feature recipes that are all about the glory of the vegetable and don't require cheese, milk, cream etc. Nor do you necessarily need to rely on pretend meat items or soy for these recipes. I live in a rural part of the US and finding something exotic like "tofu" can be challenging but the essential ingredients in these recipes are fairly easy for me to find.

In short, buy the book if you are busy, have a crock pot, and don't want to eat animal products.

The title should say it all. I have an hour and a half commute to work and I go to night school - I don't have time to cook. Ever. But these recipes (some are better than others, be forewarned) ensure that I eat something other than frozen vegetables and rice. The bean and grain focused sections feature recipes that are all about the glory of the vegetable and don't require cheese, milk, cream etc. Nor do you necessarily need to rely on pretend meat items or soy for these recipes. I live in a rural part of the US and finding something exotic like "tofu" can be challenging but the essential ingredients in these recipes are fairly easy for me to find.

In short, buy the book if you are busy, have a crock pot, and don't want to eat animal products.

Overall I like the recipes in this book. They taste good, and I like her idea of sauteing the onions and other vegetables on high for a half hour before adding the other ingredients so that you can avoid "cooking" and dirtying a skillet. However, she wants too many things precooked. The sauteing is alright, but her bean recipes are too complicated. Soaking beans overnight is normal, but then she wants the beans to be slow cooked for 8 hours prior to using them in the recipe! I personally find this suggestion overkill since this means by the time the recipe is done the beans may cook for 16 hours.

I've been vegan for 6 years now & vegetarian for well over 10. I LOVE cooking and baking, and am always looking for new cookbooks to add to my collection. However, the problem is that once I have my hands on a new cookbook, I skim over the recipes & then hardly ever touch it again! That might just be my style... I let the recipes inspire my cooking, but rarely follow the directions to the letter.

Anyways, last year I purchased a crock pot to attempt try slow-cooking. After several unsuccessful tries I gave up. I just assumed that I could throw ingredients into the pot, wait 7 hours, and then *poof*, a yummy dinner would magically appear. Sadly that is NOT the case. So, I began shopping around for a good vegetarian/vegan slow-cooker book.

Well, let me say that after ordering this cookbook (Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker), I've gone from using my slow-cooker once every 3-4 months to 3-4 times per week! All of the recipes I've tried are AMAZING! And, unlike some other reviewers, I've found the cooking times to be right on. (I have a 5-quart crock pot by Rival. If you order this book, I would recommend cooking with either a 5 or 6 quart crockpot, nothing smaller)

There is a wonderful array of ethnic-inspired dishes included in this collection, (middle-eastern, italian, indian, etc) as well as dishes using meat substitutes, (seitan, tofu, tempeh) and legumes-a-plenty (the split pea & parsnip soup is killer!!!)

Not to mention that the book includes everything from appetizers, entrees and soups to desserts and hot drinks! And the majority of it is nearly 100% vegan, and vegan substitutes are readily discussed throughout the book. Can it get any better than this? I think not!

Finally, its such a wonderful feeling to know that when I get home from a long day of work & roller derby, a yummy, healthy, home-cooked and hot meal awaits me!

It should be noted, however, that many of the recipes require around 10-15 minutes of prep work either at the very beginning (sauteeing onions, for example) or at the end of the cooking process (cooking & adding couscous to a dish). Additionally, many of the bean dishes require soaking the beans overnight. But, if you don't mind the time spent, its WELL worth it! In other words, would I sacrifice 15 minutes of my morning so that I could enjoy a slow-cooked soup in the evening? YES, without a doubt!

By far, this is the most used cookbook in my collection, and, unlike my other cookbooks that sit on my shelf looking pretty, I actually enjoy following the recipes because I know that the finished product will be totally delicious!

Highly, highly recommended book for all you vegan/vegetarian crock-pot lovers!!! Very recommended for all of you vegans on the go!!! And especially recommended for all of you veggies out there who - like me - have been resistant to cooking with recipes and/or cookbooks. This book will help you develop a true appreciation for cooking with recipes, while inspiring you to create your own vegan slow-cooked delights on your own! Its the best of both worlds!

My copy of this book is well-worn and filled with post-it page markers. We have not yet been disappointed by a recipe, and we've tried many of them. Ingredients tend to be relatively simple to find, and there are instructions for both dried and canned beans for recipes that use them. You'll need a well-stocked spice rack, but the results are quite rewarding--each dish is full of flavor and absolutely delicious. While some express concern about the use of soy products in some of the recipes, these can be left out or replaced; for example, the tempeh in the (heavenly) Hungarian Goulash recipe can be replaced with chunks of winter squash. Even so, there are plenty of recipes that do not call for soy or tempeh. I myself am allergic to a couple of items, but when I encounter a recipe calling for those items, I either substitute or omit them--I don't expect them to never be included in recipes just because I can't eat them, as I know that other people enjoy them! One tip I will leave you with: The recipes call for vegetable stock a lot; I use Organic "Better than Bouillion" for these, as it makes things very simple.

This book is a great way to introduce the crock pot into veggie cooking with wonderful tips, insights and recipes. I found everything extremely easy to follow, plus most of the ingredients I already own. I recommend this one for the collection.

A good book with lots of interesting ideas, but you should make sure to know what temperatures your own slow cooker reaches. She says that low is 200 degrees F and High is 300 degrees F, but when I couldn't figure out why my potatoes were still underdone after eight hours, I checked the temperature and it turned out that my slow cooker's low is at 175 and high at 205. I understand that that is a fairly standard range though, so it's the book that's off. Anyway I still recommend it, just be careful.

Just spent an hour prepping and cleaning up from my first recipe. Most of the recipes require cooking of ingredients before putting them in the cooker (read more time and more dishes to clean up).

I received this book as a gift. There are quite a few books on this subject on the market and this one is the best. I too could not put it down and finished it in 3 days. It's a huge book, a great resource that is well researched and written.. I have a few friends who've purchased this book and really loved it too. I can highly recommend this book.

Author of
The Truth aboutt
Cafffeine

I love this cookbook! There are some really great recipes in it for every event, and every situation. The recipes are also comprised of everyday ingredients, not elaborate or exotic ingredients that no one has. Great stuff! A must-have for any slow-cooker-loving vegetarian!

The recipes are good, especially the potatoe and pesto dish. I did not like the dish called Breakfast bread pudding,due to the fact I thought the flavors contradicted each other.

Overall, I did and will again recommend this book.

I'm not new to cooking by any means, but I am new to slow cooking. I was looking for a slow cooker cookbook that would contain vegetarian, Kosher and/or low-fat or low-salt recipes. The last thing I wanted was a dozen ways to make pork roast. This book fills the bill, in part, in that a lot of the recipes are healthy although no one seems to be watching their salt intake. I realize that this is not the purpose of this cookbook but it would be good if alternatives were available.

The cooking times are way off. The book seems to have been written with much older or less powerful models in mind. The cooking time for dried black beans, for example, is 12 hours on high. This is anything but true -- at least with my model (Rival programmable) it took 4 hours on high. At 12 hours on high, I would have ruined the dish and possibly had a fire hazard.

So the times have got to be updated post-haste. The recipes are interesting and somewhat creative. Personally, I don't want to do too much outside of the slow cooker. I want to throw things in the pot, set it and go to work, and a great number of the recipes have requirements of satellite or preliminary cooking, such as some sautýeing. I don't mind a little of this but not at the beginning of the cooking time. Who wants to fry onions right before work?

A slow cooker is meant for people who are going off to work or elsewhere and want a meal ready when they come home. While some extra work is sometimes needed, it's needed with too many of these recipes. If the cooking times could be adjusted so as to better reflect reality, and the recipes adjusted so as to also better reflect users' needs, my rating would be higher.

I've tried many of the recipes in this cookbook and have yet had one fail to please myself and my husband. The flavors are wonderful, and the recipes are quite varied! Most involve no more prep time than chopping the veggies and giving some a brief sautee to bring out the flavor. Some recipes include making a home-made curry paste first, but this only added about 15 minutes of extra prep time. Others are quick to get going - great for prepping before work. Most recipes use canned or precooked beans to ensure that the beans are fully cooked by the end of the cooking time.

I read a complaint in the first reviews about the peppers (in particular, the chipotle) being too hot after eight hours of cooking, but the recipe says to add the chipotle at the end of the cooking time, which makes it savory but not molten! The recipes were obviously pretty well-tested before publication!

I am really enjoying this cookbook and it's collection of tasty, easy to prepare meals! This has joined my list of favorite vegetarian cookbooks!

This is an excellent book on this subject - comprehensive and easy. It is by turns classic and contemporary in its focus, and always interesting. If you are a vegetarian or semi-veg and have a crockpot, you need this book. Everything turns out wicked and yummy, and the recipes are easy and quick. A really great purchase.

I love using my slow cooker, and I was thrilled to find such a comprehensive vegetarian cookbook. This book is LOADED with recipes (no photos) that are multi-cultural and vary in level of difficulty, ingredient list, prep time required, expense, etc. etc. I have made the French Onion soup, which is quick to prepare and has a very short ingredient list, and I've also made the Enchilada Casserole which requires more ingredients and prep time. There are quite a few recipes that go above and beyond throwing everything into crock pot and walking away-- many have "toppings" that need to be assembled ahead of time and added within the last 30 minutes or so of cooking. For those in a hurry, this is not ideal, however, for those of us who like more complex dishes that are difficult to assemble in a crock pot, this book really steps up to the table. If you are vegan, this book provides the information you need to supplement the ingredient lists. I highly recommend this book to everyone, it will definately appeal to all cuisine preferences, including non-vegetarian!

I've now made 4 recipes from this cookbook and been disappointed with all of them. I would have to agree with another reviewer in that it doesn't seem that any of these recipes had been previously tested before being published. The cooking times are completely off. Two of the recipes I made contained potatoes, and at the end of the recommended cooking time, the potatoes were still completely raw, while the other ingredients were nearing being overcooked. I also made an Indian coconut vegetable stew which sounded wonderful on paper, but turned out bland and an un-appetizing brown color despite the colorful ingredients and extensive spices. Tried two stuffed vegetable recipes, both of which turned out ok, but not spectacular, and ended up taking far more time in the kitchen than a non crock pot recipe. I thought slow cookers were supposed to be time saving. That being said, I'm going to give this book one more shot, as all of the recipes sound good on paper. Hopefully fifth time's the charm.

I love my slow cooker so when I saw this cookbook come out I had to get it. The recipes are vegan, using non-dairy alternatives where needed. There's a delicious French onion soup recipe here that is terrific, a great Vietnamese Pho recipe, wonderful stews - some of which are asian/Indian inspired. There are also some terrific baked bean recipes. I've had success with everything I've made so far and am just really loving this cookbook. It's the first one I turn to when I want to try something new. There are also deserts listed in the back but I haven't tried them yet.

I'm a lone artist working at home and am not into cooking. I gave away my microwave because it was so noisy and also because I couldn't get the hang of the short times, and had to check all the time, or else forgot about it when engrossed in a project.

So most of my evening meals are cassarole type one dish things I do in a conventional oven. I eat little meat, because I can't keep it and don't like to shop more than once every week or two. I'm the type who figures out what to eat no more than an hour before it goes in the oven. I figured out how to do rice and pasta dishes in the oven as one shot, one dish operations, although they would probably dismay a "real cook". I use frozen soy meat subsitutes a lot because I don't have to worry about waste from spoilage.

Some relatives gave me a little 1.5 qt slow cooker for Christmas, and I thought it might work out because I remembered the bean pot and soup pot my mother had going all the time when I was a child (we had a wood stove for both cooking and heat.)

But when I read the book that came with the cooker and saw all the recipes need stove top preparations, I almost gave it away. But discovered two uses for it: baked potatoes and hot sandwiches. You wrap up a big potato in foil at breakfast time and its done for supper (top with plain yogurt and/or cream cheese); breakfast sandwiches are cream cheese and jam on brown bread wrapped in foil ready in an hour. Lunch sandwiches are brown bread and cheese with chopped stir fry veggies (snow peas, green beans, water chesnut, carrot etc. and wrapped in foil.

I got this cookbook in hopes of extending my recipes, and I probably will be able to; it explains better about beans than the one that came with my cooker. But I virtually live on rice and pasta dishes, and those all seem to need extra stove top steps.

As other reviews say, lots of slow cooker recipes are NOT one step "put all the ingredients in and plug it in" operations. This book repeats that old chesnut in the intro, but most of the recipes need stove top operations. That doesn't work for those going out to work, or else require foresight and preparation the night before. But some of the recipes I think I can work out for me in my lifestyle.

But I will probably have to get another cooker, as my little baby one has only one temperature level (no controls, you plug it in, period), and doesn't have a removable liner, so all my cooking so far (mostly potatoes) has been in foil. The best thing about slow cooker cooking is that if you're absent minded (or ignore timers when they go off when you're engrossed in something), an extra hour or two doesn't result in a ruined meal; maybe not optimal, but still edible, and usually even still fine and tasty.

Ok, I LOVE this book!

* Almost all of the recipes that use dairy products or cheese give alternate suggestions for a more vegan diet.

* The recipes are soooo easy to make. Most prep is no more than 20 minutes.

* The recipes actually taste awesome (I add more salt - shame on me) and I've never really been so healthy of an eater and am making changes in my diet.

* Not all the recipes are soups or stews. Some really neat recipes are included like stuffed acorn squash, appetizers, and even breads - all made in a crock pot. Crazy... I never knew you could do all that.

* There is even a small section on deserts that you can make in the crock pot and they are really good, too. I made the blue-berry cobbler and really liked it (blue berries are good for your brain and eyes)- the crust was more like cake though.

* There is some really cool basics for beginners like me. Like how to soak/cook fresh beans, 101 advice on crock pot cooking, or hints and tips for better flavors.

* New research (EAT TO LIVE, Dr. Mercola's Total Health, etc.) shows that a diet where you get most of your calories from fruits, vegatables, and beans is, by far, the most healthy. Ok, maybe this is common sense and doesn't take a book to figure out. lol At least this cook book makes that goal so much easier.

I only wish I bought the hard cover edition because the soft cover is starting to warp and stay open because I use it so darn much. lol

-- For those who get this book... I especially love the Sloppy Lentils except I added 2 garlic cloves. Even non-vegitarian friends ask me to make this. It is SO GOOD!

I've made about a half a dozen of the recipes from this book now and I have to say they are quite yummy. I'm very fond of her other book "The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook", so was happy to see a new book out. I've also been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years and it's about time someone came out with a good veg slow cooker book! It's seems like (until now) all I ever made with my slow cooker was nothing but beans. It's nice to finally use it for other things.

My only real complaint with the recipes so far is that I keep finding that they are done sooner than anticipated even when left on the low setting. I'm starting to suspect that there must be some variation among heat settings with crock pots though. I noticed another reviewer mentioned that their slow cooker took longer (for lentils, which cook quite fast in my experience.) I've also noticed I usually have to stir things a few times, even though the author says it's not a good idea. I made the french onion soup recently and if I hadn't of stirred it would have burned. So maybe my cooker's low setting runs kind of hot or something. I just mark in my book that I need to stir, so I know in the future not to make that recipe when I'm gone all day, but at home puttering about. Other than that, I've been quite pleased with the ease and tastiness of the recipes. It's true some of the recipes ask that you sauté onions, etc., but I don't find that's a big deal. It doesn't take very long and it dramatically improves the flavor of a dish. Also I like that she uses normal ingrediants that are easy to find. Some of the recipes call for different size slow cookers, which could be fun if I ever decide to invest in a larger or smaller one. I think it would be usefull around the holidays, since it opens up oven space. Overall, I'm happy with this book.

I've made three of the chili recipes from this book and, while all were tasty, two had too large a measure of hot pepper ingedients and the third came out too "raw" without much longer cooking. A four-ounce canned of diced hot chiles tastes mild out of the can, but turns combustible after 8 hours in a slow cooker ("Spicy Black Bean Chili"). In the "Chipotle-Kissed Red Bean and Sweet Potato Chili," the canned chipotles in adobo sauce were way too intense unless you used a fraction of what the reciped called for. I'm not talking just chili-lovin' hot here, I'm talking noxiously hot.

The "Sweet and Spicy Lentil Chili" recipe specified unsoaked lentils, but the lentils wouldn't soften adequately until the dish was cooked 16 hours or more (the recipe called for eight hours). Also, the Vegetarian Society not only recommends that dried beans and lentils be soaked, but that they be pre-boiled for 10 minutes before adding to the slow cooker, which was not mentioned in the recipes I used.

Based on my experience with this book, I wonder if the recipes, many of them close variations of each other, were all adequately tested. I still liked the dishes, however, after adjusting for the problems I mentioned.

Keep in mind that taste is subjective and what I think is too hot or too hard may not agree with your assessment. But I've never had this happen three out of three times with any other cookbook that I can remember.

Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes For Healthy And Hearty One-pot Meals That Are Ready When You Are by cookbook author and vegetarian menu expert is a 275-page compendium of some of the best and most versatile eating to every simmer on a kitchen stove. Slow cooking is not just for meat eaters wanting to soften up a tougher cut of inexpensive meat! Slow cooking is also a perfect approach to making dishes featuring beans, grains, vegetables, and so much more. From Curried Cauliflower Soup with Chutney and Cashews; White Beans and Spelt with Escarole; and Winter Squash Stuffed with Couscous, Apricots, and Pistachios; to Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Dried Cranberries; Tiramisu-Inspired Tofu Cheesecake; and Slow Cooker Swedish Glogg, Fresh From He Vegetarian Slow Cooker will quickly prove to be a prized and appreciated addition to any dedicated vegetarian cookbook collection!

I have been searching for months for a decent slow cooker cookbook....I'm not even a vegetarian (though at least 80% of my diet is vegetarian) and this book beats out ALL other slow cooker cookbooks, both veg and non-veg alike. The best part is the lack of bland recipes - Robin uses interesting herb and seasoning combinations in all the recipes that make for almost gourmet fare with, as others have stated, mostly common ingredients. I found that I already had most everything called for in her recipes sitting in my pantry - this is completely untrue of other slow-cooker cookbooks. Some of my favorites so far are the Black Bean and Two Mushroom Barley soups, Mac and Cheese Florentine, Cranberry-Walnut Stuffing, Layered Pesto Potatoes with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, the Brown Rice Pudding and the Pumpkin Butter recipes. There's a pleasant surprise at every turn of the page! Thank you Robin Robertson!

Vegan Planet and The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook are two of my all time favorite cookbooks. I can always count on their easy to follow recipes to produce delicious results. Now, Robin Robertson does it again! I am enjoying my Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker cookbook very much. I just got it a week ago and I have already made Seitan Cacciatore, Spicy Black Bean Chili and Old Fashioned Vegetable Soup.
I went out and bought a lovely Rival Oval Programmable Stainless Steel 5.5 Quart Crock Pot. You can exactly set the cook time in half hour intervals up to 20 hours and you can set the temperature to high, low or warm. The crock-pot automatically switches to warm mode after cooking is complete so you don't have to worry about burning. The digital countdown shows you how much time is left. The lid fits perfectly on the crock-pot and doesn't let air seep out like some cheaper models. I highly recommend this sturdy and easy to use crock-pot.
Now back to the wonderful recipes! The Seitan Cacciatore was a very easy to make a hearty stew. We loved the subtle blend of flavors and the seitan was perfectly moist. I made the Spicy Black Bean Chili in less than ten minutes. The results were fabulous, dark rich spicy black bean chili with red peppers, sweet onion and diced green jalapenos, amazing for such a mind numbingly simple recipe. I am eating the Old Fashioned Vegetable Soup as I type. This soup is so wholesome and tender it simply melts in your mouth.
I am a busy vegan who absolutely loves to cook and this cookbook is a lifesaver. No longer will I have to rush home to cook, stopping at a busy grocery store on the way. Instead, I figure out what I want to make in the evening, go to the grocery store after dinner when it is not crowded at all and assemble the ingredients at my leisure. I pop the crock in the fridge until bedtime. I don't want to leave the cooker on when I am not at home, so I just turn it on before bed and when I wake up transfer the wonderful results to the fridge. They have all day to sit and get delicious (most stews are better if given time to rest) and then I reheat when I get home in the evening. It has worked out very easily and the recipes are mouthwatering. Now I can relax while cooking on busy weeknights and I look forward to going to the store rather then rushing. I think crock-pot cooking is miraculous.
This cookbook is a huge bargain with 200 recipes for everything from appetizers to desserts, soups, stews, vegetables and everything in between. All of the recipes have vegan alternatives for dairy products and most are naturally dairy free. You cannot get better results both in the minimal effort, easy ingredients and outstanding results then this. Every vegan and vegetarian should give Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson a try!

Robin Robertson's new cookbook is a godsend. I have been stumbling through old-fashioned Crock-Pot cookbooks, trying to convert the recipes that are saturated with animal products into vegetarian meals. Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker is filled with fabulous recipes that anyone can enjoy, and that are very easy to put together, most taking about 20 minutes. And it is great for entertaining. You can whip up the White Bean Cassoulet in the morning and when your guests arrive you can enjoy a glass of wine with everyone and simply serve up the meal in minutes. I love this cookbook!! Another great one from my favorite cookbook author!