Known for his accessible approach to cooking, Eric Akis returns to the Everyone Can Cook series with recipes for your slow cooker, which is quickly becoming the must-have appliance for every home cook.

It was only five years ago that Eric became a “slow cooker convert” - slow cookers were something that at first didn’t interest him at all. For the professionally trained chef and accomplished food writer, the idea of throwing everything in a pot and leaving it for eight hours seemed a little bit like a cop-out. All it took, however, was one recipe (a beef chili), and Eric was hooked.

The slow cooker is actually incredibly versatile, great not just for stews, but for seafood soups (the seafood added at the last minute), baby back ribs, cabbage rolls, and duck confit!

Everyone Can Cook Slow Cooker Meals is filled with delicious dishes and perfect sides, whether you’re cooking for a workday or a special occasion.

Fire up your slow cooker and make:

• Split Pea Soup with Smoked Ham and Herbs
• Barley Risotto with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and
• Grilled Asparagus
• Poached Fish in a Saffron, Orange and
• Fennel Broth
• Durban-Style Chicken Curry
• Sake Soy Short Ribs
• Beans with Canadian Bacon and
• Blackstrap Molasses

Eric Akis has been a food writer for the Times Colonist newspaper, in Victoria, since 1997. His popular bi-weekly food column also appears in newspapers across Canada, including the Calgary Herald, the Vancouver Sun, The Province, the Hamilton Spectator, the Ottawa Citizen and the Edmonton Journal. Before becoming a journalist, Eric trained to become a professional chef and a pastry chef. He worked for 15 years in a variety of operations in Ontario and British Columbia, from fine hotels to restaurants to catering companies. In 2003, his experiences as a chef and food writer inspired him to create the bestselling Everyone Can Cook series of cookbooks, which includes Everyone Can Cook, Everyone Can Cook Seafood, Everyone Can Cook Appetizers, Everyone Can Cook Midweek Meals, Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations, Everyone Can Cook Slow Cooker Meals and the collected edition: Everyone Can Cook Everything. Eric Akis was born into a military family in Chicoutimi, Quebec, and has lived in six provinces. In 1992, he moved to Victoria, BC, and now makes the city his home, living there with his wife, Cheryl Warwick, also a chef, and his son, Tyler.

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