Author autographed bookplates available! While supplies last.

Make It Fast, Cook It Slow offers up the irresistible success stories (i.e. recipes) from rising mom blogger star Stephanie O'Dea's 2008 daily blogs about cooking crockpot meals for her family of four--a spouse and two young daughters, one of them with a wheat allergy.

Each "day" in the book provides a recipe that anyone can make, plus beguiling commentary about how that recipe went over with Stephanie O'Dea's own family. Seasons, vacations, school schedules, picky-child eaters--all of these challenges come into play, yet O'Dea manages to use her crockpot to feed her family economically and healthfully.

O'Dea's assessments of each recipe are fresh, quick and funny. The dishes include a staggering range of easy culinary possibilities, from classics (Beef Stew, Minestrone Soup) and kid-friendly dinners (Philly Cheesesteaks, Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings) to gourmet fare (Tomatoes and Goat Cheese with Balsamic Cranberry Syrup, Blue Cheese Potato Soup with Olive Tapenade) and more than a few logistically improbable creations (Fruit Leather and a crockpot Cheesecake, which O'Dea declares "a complete success").

This book will be the best of the year's recipes, plus enough new recipes to fill out 365 days of crockpotting (in place of recipes she tried in 2008 that didn't work as well or needed to be tweaked). While many of the year's recipes will remain online for a time, the book will give buyers an opportunity to have all of the best recipes in one place and forever.