More from The Healthy Slow Cooker

Time for an update on The Healthy Slow Cooker. We've tried two more recipes and they both turned out really well. Though, as usual, I took some liberties with the recipes.

The first was Turkey and Black Bean Soup, which I adored. We actually used chicken instead of turkey because we very rarely see fresh boneless, skinless turkey breast in the stores here and I figured chicken would work. The recipe called for chicken broth and tomato paste; I reduced the amount of broth and added a can of diced tomatoes because I love tomatoes! And of course I added some red pepper flakes because it's what I do. I made a batch of cornmeal muffins to go along with the soup and it made for a very satisfying meal.

Yesterday we made the Sweet Potato Coconut Curry with Shrimp. I figured this would be a winner because we enjoy curries, and Thai green curry is one of my favorites. I added more curry paste than the recipe called for (we make curry fairly often, so I know how much we like) and I also added some sliced bell peppers and bean sprouts at the end. The sweet potatoes pretty much cooked down to nothing, so it was good to have the veggies in there for texture. It tasted good though, served over Jasmine rice. We had bagged coleslaw mix with Asian Sesame dressing as a salad along with it (this is my lazy salad, fast way to get in some extra veggies). I will say that I prefer our usual way of making Thai Curry, but this was definitely tasty and it was an easy meal.

So the first recipe we tried from this book may have been a little disappointing, but the next two were really good. No doubt we'll find some other good ones too.

Weather-wise, it's been freezing rain all day. Quite a mess out there. And it's still coming down. March is coming in like a lion...