By some good twist of fate, Southern Living magazine put the Features staff on its cookbook mailing list. It means every three months or so, the organization behind the magazine sends us some thick book. The most recent distribution included one on freezing foods and reheating them later; another, “Big Book of Slow Cooking,” had my attention from the start.

There are few things I like more than opening my front door to a house that smells of a dish that’s been simmering all day. But I’m a pretty standard slow cooker user, I think, with mine primarily for chili and to keep macaroni and cheese warm for a potluck.

So I liked the idea of versatility that Southern Living pitched with the “Big Book of Slow Cooking.” There’s even a chapter titled “Yes, You Can Make That in Your Slow Cooker.”

I tried three recipes, one a little more standard (gumbo), one a little less ideal for a slow cooker (a tomato and pasta dish) and a third that I never considered for a slow cooker under any circumstance (a cake).

The three recipes, and my thoughts, appear below.

SEAFOOD GUMBO

1 /2 pound bacon, diced

2 8-ounce containers refrigerated prechopped celery, onion and green pepper mix

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 cups chicken broth

14-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

3 /4 pound peeled, large raw shrimp

1 pound fresh or frozen crabmeat

2 cups frozen cut okra

Hot cooked rice

Cook bacon in a large skillet overmedium heat until crisp.

With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon into a 5-quart slow cooker.

Discard all but a thin coating of bacon grease in skillet.

Add celery mix and garlic to skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Spoon vegetables into slow cooker; add broth, tomatoes, Worcestershire, salt and thyme.

Cover and cook on high 2 hours.

Reduce temperature to low.

Add shrimp, crabmeat and okra.

Cook on low 1 hour.

Serve over hot cooked rice.

Makes six servings.

Notes: I resisted the urge to liberally coat all of the ingredients in Creole seasoning because the cookbook promised you could “skip the tedious steps and hardto-find spices of traditional gumbos without sacrificing any of the fl avor.”

I didn’t know such seasonings were hard to find - at least not here in Arkansas - but I do know making the flour-and-oil base of roux needed for most gumbos is a fi ne art.

I couldn’t find the prepackaged celery mix, so I made my own from onions and green peppers (but no celery, at the request of my girlfriend, who isn’t a fan).

The okra thickens the mixture up plenty, and the crab dominates the flavor profile, unless you’re taking a bite of something specifi c, such as one of the shrimp or a hunk of bacon.

It’s an easy recipe, and a good substitute for a gumbo, but a good Cajun/Creole cook can do much better.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS WITH ROTINI

19.5 ounce package turkey Italian sausage links

1 cup f inely chopped sweet onion

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 medium yellow bell peppers, cut into 1 /2 inch pieces

2 medium red bell peppers, cut into 1 /2 inch pieces

26 ounce jar tomato pasta sauce

4 1 /2 cups uncooked rotini pasta

6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients except pasta and cheese in a lightly greased 3- or 4-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.

Cook and drain pasta according to package directions.

Serve sausage mixture over pasta; sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon cheese.

Makes six servings.

Notes: I went with green bell peppers.

I like the earthiness of that variety anyway.

It meant my dish is a little less pretty than Southern Living’s, but that’s OK.

I substituted penne pasta for rotini, and I think you can make a similar switch as long you don’t try spaghetti or angel hair.

The sauce is chunky; it demands a chunk of a noodle.

I made a mistake here, too.

I interpreted “turkey sausage” for a turkey smoked sausage.

Only after reading the recipe again post-cooking and photographing did I discover the recipe called for breakfast-style sausage links.

It would explain why I had such a hard time fi nding an Italian version, too.

All told, it still came together well, although I suspect the other sausage would have made it better.

The time in the slow cooker really brings out the flavor of the store-bought sauce. I might add moretomatoes next time around for an additional eff ect.

CHOCOLATEBUTTERSCOTCH LAVA CAKE

17 1 /2-ounce package dark chocolate cake mix

3 /4-ounce package chocolate instant pudding and pie fi lling mix

1 cup sour cream

1 /3 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1 /4 cups milk, divided

3 eggs

8-ounce package toffee bits, divided

3 /4-ounce package butterscotch instant pudding and pie fi lling mix

8-ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed

In a large bowl, beat cake mix, chocolate pudding mix, sour cream, butter and vanilla, 1 1 /4 cups milk and eggs with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup of the toff ee bits. Pour the batter into a lightly greased 5-quart slow cooker.

In a medium sauce pan, heat remaining two cups of milk over medium heat 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until hot and bubbling. Remove from heat.

Sprinkle butterscotchpudding mix over batter in slow cooker.

Slowly pour hot milk over pudding.

Cover and cook on low for 4 1 /2 hours or until edge of cake is set at least 2 inches from edge of slow cooker.

Let stand 15 minutes.

Top with whipped topping and remaining toffee bits.

Notes: This was clearly the surprise of the lot. The cake set up well. Those expecting a perfectly shaped, form-made lava cake with a runny center similar to those at restaurants will be disappointed, because the slow cooker is an oval and the servings hard to fish out.

However, the fl avors are all there, and the gooey texture was a hit. I’d definitely make this again.

Life, Pages 9 on 11/28/2012