Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I agree with what a lot of the other reviewers have stated in terms of disapointments in the book. I preordered it. I have bought slow cooker books in the past, and was so disapointed in their use of canned/bottled/premade "food" all thrown in a pot and heated up. I have been eating paleo for a couple years now, and felt that this would bring the two worlds together nicely. Paleo pretty much is no sugar (something we are very hardcore about in our house) and no processed foods. How could this book not rock with those as the basis? Well... I'm going to sound nit-picky, and if this review bothers you, then this is the book for you and it's where you are in your food journey. Some of you are more like me and care a little bit more. So here are the details that bothered me. 1) I'm on the GAPS diet. Not a big deal. Very compatible with paleo. Only problem is sweet potatoes aren't allowd on the GAPS diet (sad... I know!). This book uses them A LOT. I think it might possibly be her favorite veggie. It's listed in 7 recipes in the index, but I counted an aditional 5 that include sweet potatoes that aren't even listed in the index. That makes a total of 12 recipes that call for them. I can substitute I realize, but just throwing it out there if you are a low carb person, or for some reason can't handle them, they are used pretty heavily. 2) She really doesn't worry about added sugar. This bothered me a lot. On page 118 is her recipe for BBQ sauce (one of the FEW recipes for something, not just calling for a bottle!). I was excited she included a recipe for BBQ sauce until I read it. It calls for 2 cups of organic ketchup. UGH! The second ingredient on the label is sugar in that stuff, even the organic. Then it also calls for 1/2 cup honey with that. UGH! To much for our little family. Lastly, this same recipe calls for liquid smoke. Uhhh last time I checked that was full of preservatives, weird things you can't pronounce and is a carcinogen. Lame sauce! 3) Someone else touched on this, but lame recipes. Saute broccoli? Really? Moving on. 4) On page 176 it called for taco seasoning. AHhhhhh!!! Sadly, store bought taco seasoning is full of nasty stuff with an ingredients label that reads like a chemistry textbook. If you've been wondering how to replace those small packets of MSG-riddled spices with something real, make your own blend. But sadly, she doesn't list a single spice blend in her book. Instead of the 50 page useless intro (really, we know we need to own knives to make some recipes), a bunch of spice blends would have been much more useful. 5) Just hitting on a couple other fails- - El Pao sauce, and green chiles from a can both used heavily. Canned food was one of the things I was trying to get rid of when buying this book. - PG. 170 calls for bottled BBQ sauce (even though she has a lame-sauce recipes listed) -PG. 154 calls for tabasco brand hot sauce. This might not be a big deal, but the last batch I bought had food dyes as well as preservatives. Not all have this. Read labels -PG. 140 calls for worcestershire sauce. I have yet to find a brand of worcestershire sauce that DOESN'T contain sugar. If anyone knows of one, write it in the comments. Either way, I would have liked a recipe for that. 6) This one is just a personal rant maybe, but the breakfast section is pretty lame. The idea is great of having your frittata all made for you, but it lists 2 hours cook time. That is awkward for slow cookers. It's to short to set it the night before, and to long for when you get up in the morning. Especially when it takes you all of 20 minutes to just make it on the stove top. Where is the time savings? So it's transportable? Uhhh so is a 9x13 pan. The recipes aren't that creative. Use TONS of premade spice blends. Not many things I haven't just thrown together with out a recipe in my crock pot (Spicy chicken wings? Wings+hot sauce. BRILLIANT! Never would have come up with that *dripping sarcasm*). I wanted to like it, but just don't. Nothing called my name that I had to make right then. Nothing struck me as a fresh take on paleo. Just pass.