Review: Did the cave people long for a supersize burger?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2013
The best part of this review is the CROCK POT part!  Recipes for busy Moms and Dads that let them use the slow cooker to have interesting, healthy meals available for their families while the parents tend to other business. We are busy, don't have kids at home any more, but I use THREE crock pots as my main resource for preparing much of our food. Blend convenience and economical operation with some extremely kewl descriptions and you've got dinner table success right in front of you.Adherence to the Paleo diet isn't what held my attention on this excellent and unusual cookbook. I wasn't even sure what the Paleo eating format was, although I had seen a lot of conversation about it on the social media platforms.  A little research tells me that the Paleo idea is that we should not eat over processed foods, but seek out vegetables, grains and meats that would have been available for cave families to eat in prehistoric times.  But, I wonder if cave people would have loved a super-sized burger!  Especially the drive-up convenience of tasty low-nutrition!After asking you  "How long and/or well did they live?" -- I must, of course, take a stand against much processed and packaged food.  And get on my --soapbox about moderation in ALL things.  If I were going Paleo, can I still live in a house?Anyone who has been reading and listening in the past 20 plus years can relate to the prehistoric categories of "HUNTER" and "GATHERER".  When applied to our food resources, the practice seems rather like common sense eating and not something that is difficult to enjoy.  Perhaps difficult for some to achieve, depending upon where they live.Author Tyler Daniels credits the Paleo theory for the development of his cooking skills and he writes a fantastic book full of legitimate PALEO recipes and methods that utilize the CROCK POT which would certainly have been a boon the the Caveman.  I would suspect cooking over a cave fire would be EXTREMELY slow, making the CROCK POT a speed tool on the level with our food trashing microwaves.I saw many recommendations that resembled dishes I already cook and enjoy, but Daniels takes us to higher INTEREST levels by using hunter/gatherer terminology and names for the recipes.  These descriptions intrigued me more than any slow cooker book I've read yet.  They are colorful and offer a choice of dishes from around the world for the cooks to try. There is a wide variety of items, some I would consider exotic, but which would be common place in other locations. I found recipes I can use with what I have in the kitchen and some which are interesting enough to make shopping for the ingredients an adventure.A few of my favorite 'Cave Talk' descriptions and titles:Primordial Paprika Beef and "Chomping on a big chewy rib bone satisfied something deep in our primitive brain."Oceans of Time Luau Pork  "The origin of ham, like jerky, is lost in prehistory."  orWild Pickings Apple and Cranberry Pork "Something from the bog (cranberries) something from the trees (apples) and something from the meadows (pork) This dish falls together like a hunter-gatherer's dream"