You may want to check out Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday. Several of his dishes have been created for the slow-cooker. Tons of lovely braises. Also: healthy, tasty, economical.

I love the slow cooker for large cuts of meat and whole chickens. Our favorite is to slow cook a whole chicken and throw together a large dinner salad with whatever greens we have plus fresh grated parm for good measure. At $1/lb for the chicken, it's really a cheap and filling meal AND if you throw some water in with the bones and other leftovers, you can make a good stock for other meals. We usually end up having chicken & noodles with homemade noodles the next day or later that week.

I think the best thing Tux can do is get away from the idea that the whole meal has to be cooked in the crock pot and start to think about pieces and parts. Cooking down a piece of meat with basic spices gives you tons of possibilities for the whole week.

I love the crockpot recipes on skinnytaste.com. There are great recipes for making chicken or pork that ends up being very versitle (burritos, sandwiches, bowls) and beyond maybe a can or beans or tomatoes (which are easy enough to substitute) there is nary a can for condensed soup in sight.

We love to smother chicken breasts in the crock pot with salsa. When you come home the meat falls apart and you can use it to make any number of Mexican meals.

I just got a slowcooker and I'm OBSESSED! I literally went 2 weeks where everything was cooked in it. The best was slow cooked chicken breasts. I know you aren't supposed to cook chicken breast in it, but I was lazy and it was what I had on hand. I put them in, added a chopped onion, carrot and garlic, then dumped in 2 cans of chopped tomatoes. Some herbs and worcester sauce. Boom. 12 hours on low. Heck yes. I served it over noodles and there was enough for lunch the next day! Amazing!

I'm very fond of "Slow Cooker Revolution" by America's Test Kitchen. Most of the recpies are from wholesome ingredients and when they do choose a highly processed ingredient it is explained that the testers found that it was essential to the cooking method.

The pictured recipe (Coconut and Green Curry Pork) is AMAZING. It's my favorite slow cooker recipe, so far.

We like Cooking Light's Char Siu Pork, http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-char-siu-pork-roast-10000001160642/. I serve it with brown rice and a stirfry veggie blend.

I love this recipe from Betty Crocker... I substituted BBQ sauce for the ketchup, and the leftovers were great in quesadillas.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-big-and-spicy-chicken-hoagies/29b30d8f-fd97-46c4-b37c-352041dea22a

These enchiladas are always a hit and take almost no time to assemble: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/main-dish/easy-dinner-recipe-slowcooker-black-bean-enchiladas-127016

i rarely use my slow cooker to make stews, mostly use it to cook larger meats and chicken. I actually made a pot roast with veggies in it yesterday while I ran a 5K race with friends.

I usually use chicken thighs because they just come out juicier and I like to use various sauces, sesame ginger for an asian twist, bbq sauces, lemon caper sauce, whatever .... serve with rice and a salad or slaw...

same goes for large piece of pork or beef.

Love it!

I take a bone-in pork shoulder, remove the skin & most fat, rub down with kosher salt & pepper, and put on low early in the morning. Flip it mid-afternoon or whenever you get home. No liquid needed; it makes its own. It'll be falling apart and amazing by dinner time.

Take some of the meat and mix it with a North Carolina style vinegar bbq sauce -- cider vinegar + a little salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, & sugar -- and serve on buns with cole slaw (this one is perfect.)

You can take some more of the meat and use it in a great pot of tomato sauce, or as a fajita filling, etc. It's real flavorful from the long braise and melds well with everything.

Basically any braising recipe will adapt well to the slow cooker, and many roasting recipes as well.

One of my faves:

Cut a spaghetti squash in half. Drizzle w/ olive oil, salt & pepper.

Cook on low alllllll day.

In the evening, saute red pepper flakes & garlic in a little more olive oil. You could also brown some Italian sausage at this point.

Scoop out your spaghetti squash & toss in the pan with the oil (and sausage). Serve with nice Parmesan.

Agree with the slow cooker enhiladas from the kitchen: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/main-dish/easy-dinner-recipe-slowcooker-black-bean-enchiladas-127016

They were great.

I also do chili a lot. Dump a bunch of ingredients (cooking the onions and other vegis you choose on the stove first) into the crockpot with kidney and black beans, add cumin, salt, and vegi bouillon (with other flavors). Then, when you get home, pop some corn bread in the oven and top the chili with sharp cheddar!

One of my favorites is this "healthy" (read: no cans of processed food) mac and cheese:
http://www.twobedroomsandababy.com/2011/08/crockpot-macaroni-and-cheese-with.html

You can convert just about any oven recipe you find to be suitable for a slow cooker.

Here's a good guide to adjusting cooking times and liquids.

One warning about beans - apparently there are some types of dried beans that SHOULDN'T be cooked in a slow-cooker without special handling. Kidney beans and some times of beans apparently have a mild non-fatal toxin that can build up if you cook them for a long time on "low" -- you wouldn't die, but you'd get something akin to food poisoning.

The way to combat this, I've read, is to sort of "pre-cook" the beans before putting them in the cooker -- soak them the way you would ordinarily, then rinse, add to a pot on the stove with fresh water, bring to a boil and boil them good for about ten minutes. THEN put them in the slow cooker and proceed with the recipe.

I like to do variations of vegetable curry in my Crock-Pot. It's usually a can of coconut milk + same amount of water with peeled and chopped sweet potato or winter squash, onions, bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, maybe some lentils. Stir in a bunch of curry powder in the beginning, cook it on low all day, and then stir in some crunchy peanut butter and a little soy sauce towards the end. It's a little soupy, but if you serve it over rice it gets soaked up.
(I also tend to make large batches of rice that I keep in the fridge to eat all week, so I don't have to wait for that to cook when the curry's done.)

This is my favorite place for slow cooker inspiration.

http://punchfork.com/search/slow-cooker

I do a whole turkey breast in my oval slow cooker, bone-in. It always comes out moist and tender! Usually I do a dry spice rub and add a little broth or water to the bottom. Sometimes I'll put a few veggies on the bottom too, carrots/celery/onions. Right before serving the breast goes under the broiler quickly for that nice crispy skin action if I feel like it.
Makes a great dinner plus lots of leftovers for sandwiches and salads for the week, the bones go in my freezer for stock day.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ . Even in the rare recipe that calls for a "Cream of whatever" she usually uses one she made ahead, and she includes the recipes for those.

Thanks for all the tips everyone! These all sound great- I actually made some insanely good pulled pork last night before the post went up- and just got back from the store with the ingredients for the coconut and green curry pork- it looks amazing!

I would second the book ceblanier pointed out - "Slow Cooker Revolution" by America's Test Kitchen. Hit it up on Amazon and check out the reviews. I would also check it out of the library if you like the look of it. I had the same problem you were having, where everything seemed so unhealthy and no matter what the recipe was, it tasted the same.

Also, a tip, use one of those plug-in timers (such as this one http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002N5FO) to start your pot after you leave for the day. I was having a problem over-cooking even the longer recipes, as my work day might be 8 hours, but with my commute I was always getting home 1.5 hours AFTER the recommended 7-8 hour cook time. This simple technique changed my crock-pot cooking for the better. Now I can throw stuff together in the morning, even if it's a 4 hour recipe, and know that I set it to start later in the day so it's still cooked well.

My aunt makes a great chicken dish that is just cut-up chicken breasts, salsa, frozen corn, and a can or so of black beans. It all cooks together for a few hours on high until the chicken is tender and she serves it with chips as a dip or on tortillas as tacos. It would also make a fantastic topping for a salad.

I know it's sort of a stew, but the meal I use my slow cooker for most it Feijoada...

I threw away the crockpot I recevied as a wedding present. It wasn't on purpose... but after some years of having it literally new on a shelf i figured slow cooking is not for me.

Surprised that no one has mentioned crockpot365.blogspot.com ! Most of the recipes use fresh ingredients and they've all been tested by the woman who writes the blog and her many readers.

Mary Wynn I think I love you. I did not know you could cook a spaghetti squash in the slow cooker, I am so doing that next week!

This asian inspired recipe is a great one, and so easy:
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chicken-adobo-with-bok-choy-00000000050978/index.html

And this one with beef, sweet potatoes and a little spice makes a great chilly night meal:
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/spiced-braised-beef-sweet-potatoes-00000000008587/index.html

I've been following http://stephanieodea.com/, who challenged herself to use her crockpot every day for a year and blog it. I don't recall ever seeing a cream soup recipe on there, and she has two books out, too.