Fabulous Slow Cooker Meals

I have been using my slow cooker a lot lately, because it's an easy way to cook great meals while being away at work and it does not heat up the house as much as using the oven.  The library has many wonderful slow cooker recipe books, and one of the latest ones we've received is wonderful!  The Everything Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook by Rachel Rappaport contains 300 recipes fit for any cooking occasion.  I really enjoy this cookbook because it has a lot of "foundation" recipes that can be used as the basis for other recipes (such as roasted vegetable stock, poached chicken, roasted garlic and carmelized onions.)  The recipe book opens with a great chapter on how to cook healthy meals in the slow cooker, and includes a section on how to adapt your favorite meals for the challenges of the slow cooker.  The recipes in this book are diverse---from appetizers and snacks, dips, chili, meat and vegetable main dishes, to desserts and recipes for a couple or a crowd.  The book ends with two appendices discussing slow-cooking tips and how to make your favorite recipes lower in fat. This book is great for anyone who is an "old hand" at using their slow cooker or a beginner.   If you like this book, try alos Dana Carpender's 300 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes. 

Red Mist

Red Mist is the latest book by Patricia Cornwell in the series featuring Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta.  Kay Scarpetta is a tough, no-nonsense, brilliant forensic doctor who is the director of the new Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusettes.  With her connection to the Department of Defense, Scarpetta has urgent reasons to learn more about a string of grisly killings that she feels are somehow linked to her former deputy chief, Jack Fielding's, murder six months ago.  Most of the stories' action takes place in Savannah, GA, where Scarpetta visits in order to meet with a convicted sex offender at the Georgia Prison for Women.  Kay Scarpetta senses there is a connection to Fielding's death, the murder of a Savannah family years ago and several deaths at the GPFW.  The action is tense and the book is filled with cutting-edge technology.  Fans of Patricia Cornwell will especially love this book as it's an excellent installment in the Kay Scarpetta series of novels. 

St. Patrick's Day Murder

This Saturday, March 17, 2012, the United States will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day, which

began as a Catholic feast day to celebrate the life of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.  Observed by the Irish for 1000 years, it is now a holiday celebrated around the world.  If you are wondering how to celebrate your own St. Patrick's day, try reading a St. Patrick's Day mystery! Leslie Meier's St. Patrick's Day Murder takes place in the town of Tinker's Cove, Maine, when the body of barkeep Old Dan Malone is found floating in the town's icy harbor.  This forces Lucy Stone, the Pennysaver newspaper's intrepid reporter, to solve this murder before the town's St. Patrick's Day celebrations begin.  Isis Crawford's A Catered St. Patrick's Day  is centered around Bernie and Libby Simmons, the owners of "A Little Taste of Heaven."  When Mike Sweeney is found floating in a vat of green beer, and the nephew of of one of their best customers is accused of the crime, the Simmons' set out to find the real killer.  Both of these mysteries are cozies, and are centered around food.  They are both great books to curl up with and celebrate the joy of St. Patrick's Day!


    

Real-Life CSI

You might be as big a fan of the show, CSI, as I am.  If you are, I know how you feel on certain weekday evenings when you settle down in front of your television, anticipating solving the mystery along with your favorite CSI characters!  If you enjoy the show, you might also enjoy reading the biography of Anthony E. Zuiker, Mr. CSI, the mastermind behind the most popular televsion show in history, CSI:  Crime Scene Investigation and its spin-offs, CSI:  Miami and  CSI:  NY.  Zuiker was a balding, overweight guy driving a tram in Las Vegas in 1990, dreaming of fame and fortune while telling all his friends about the screenplay he was writing.  Zuiker grew up in Las Vegas, the son of parents who were actively employed in the casino life and seedy underbelly of the city.  Zuiker's rise to fame is chronicled in this book, which begins with an honest examination of his dad's suicide, which occurred in 2005 when he was writing a script for CSI:  NY.  The book is a deeply personal story which shows how Zuiker became interested in writing about crime, and shows what he gained through his experience.  This is a great book for fans of any of the CSI shows or crime fiction!