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Here is a great cooking site for crock pots

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

There's really no trick to them. Start off with some online recipes and then when you're feeling confident, try your own. I usually stow mine away during the summer but it gets used a lot during the winter for chilis, stews, pulled pork, and other big cuts of meat. I started out with a hand-me-down from my mother too (was from the 70s in avocado green), but I upgraded to a new one because I wanted one with a removable vessel.

I like making stock in the slow-cooker.

Also, Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday has TONS of slow-cooker recipes. It was, in the end, his cookbook that made me so happy to have one.

My first piece of advice for Desiree is that she should determine her slow-cooker style: are you of the type that wants to throw a bunch of ingredients in and come back 6-10 hours later to a delicious, if somewhat homogenous-looking meal, or are you willing to go "crock pot gourmet" and add things in incrementally?

There are a ton of slow cooker cookbooks on Amazon, and some of them are really, really great. When I moved out of my parents' house years ago, the crock pot was my best friend. (I think I used it 4-5 times per week.) I was a poor student, and I had two cookbooks that were my lifeline (their current editions are http://www.amazon.com/Fix-Forget-Big-Cookbook-Recipes/dp/156148640X/ and http://www.amazon.com/Crazy-About-Crockery-Inexpensive-Crockpots/dp/1891400126/) - I can still remember the beef "roast" I made with a cheap cut of beef, onions and tomato sauce... so delicious!

I'd definitely recommend scouring Amazon for a good slow cooker cookbook. Make sure to determine your style first, since most books are either throw-it-together or incremental (read the comments, you'll always find people commenting about one or the other). Important: read the introduction! A good slow cooker book will explain to how the machine works, how to layer your food in the cooker, etc. This will be invaluable info when you need to substitute recipe ingredients or are creating your own recipes.

Allrecipes has a pretty decent slow cooker section, too: http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Main-Dish/Slow-Cooker/Main.aspx . You can learn a lot by reading through the user comments and then trying anything that tempts you. Good luck, and have a great time with your crock pot! :)

The what_a_crock community on livejournal is fabulous. As is The Crockpot Lady's site. It's so easy to use a crockpot, just start trying things out!

But... if it's new to you, start on a weekend. That way you can see if your crockpot cooks at the usual pace. Some models (especially old ones) are slower or faster than the usual ones.

Desiree ~ I like my old old one (probably from the 70s, similar to the one pictured) WAY better than my newer, larger, removable-insert one! I think it keeps a much more steady heat; the newer one seems to run really hot. They're both Rivals, with just off/low/high settings, and the newer one also has a warm, nothing fancy. I made pot roast in it yesterday, and will put some stuff in for chicken stock tonight before I go to sleep. You're going to love it!

Got my first crock pot last year and have loved using it. So far some good results have come from (several) pork roasts (easy peasy, just season, set on top of some roughly chopped onions and/or carrots, pour in a little stock/water/beer and set to low 8hrs, then shred away!) and chili, which as a matter of fact is bubbling away right now! Best thing ever to come home to the smell of dinner already cooking!

Absolutely agree with making stock in the slow cooker. Incredibly easy and so good - I made a big batch last night, actually. I put small chicken carcasses in the freezer until I have 2 or 3, then they go into the pot with some veggies and spices and cook away for 10 hrs or so.

generally speaking, I'm anti-crock pot. My experiences have simply been not good. The food is slimy and just gross. HOWEVER, so far, I've found 2 great exceptions. The first is oatmeal. I don't have the recipe right now, but it's just steel cut oats, water, milk and splenda brown sugar (we're calorie conscious) and you have a fantastic breakfast ready when you wake up. All you have to do is give it a quick stir and dish it out.
Our second crock pot recipe is simple baked potatos. Wash potatos and wrap them in foil and let them cook all day. They come out perfect. Works well with sweet potatos also. They taste liked they've baked for hours.

I'm not against crock pot cookery (and I know my sister and her wife, both lawyers, count on theirs to make home-cooked, healthy stews and dishes that are ready when they come home late from work), but I don't use one much.

The one time I've loved having a family member's crockpot around is during the holidays for mulled cider or gloog (spiced wine)--awesome way to keep these drinks hot for parties, open houses, etc.

dev1ils - share the oatmeal recipe!

Here is an oatmeal recipe: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/overnight-oatmeal-recipe-5144

there are quite a few online.

I love to make quick and easy Red Lentil Soup:
Spices:
ground cumin
ground corriander
ground tumeric
black mustard seeds

option: I like to saute these in pan first to release flavors of spices, my husband says this takes away from the ease of crock pot cooking so he skips it and dumps spices right into the crock pot.

1 cup red lentils
3 cups water
1 cup coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
braggs amino, salt or soy sauce to taste

Put everything into crock pot, cook for 4-6 hours. Voila.

Other add ins:
potatoes and carrots chopped, fresh herbs added at the end before serving.

yum.

my all-time favorite crock pot recipe is for italian beef...put a 1-2lb beef roast, a package of italian seasoning (like the kind to make dressing with), a jar of pepperocinis, and a can of beer in the crock pot and let it cook for 8 hours. the tastiest!

My best advise would be to hit up the library and take out a couple of cookbooks for crockpots. They can all be really different in style so it might be wise to try a couple of recipes before you purchase a slow cooker cookbook.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. So many of these look great! Can't wait to start crocking!

I actually use mine more in the summer, when I want to eat real food, but don't want to heat up the house with cooking. But I agree that it is an all-season wonder.

Rub 2 chicken breasts with a dry rub of seasoned salt, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, and cumin.

Drain and mix a can of corn and a can of black beans with half a jar of salsa.

Place chicken in the crockpot and pour the mixture over.

Slow cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 3. It's so easy and healthy and delicious!!

Depending on the size of your crock: Throw a whole 4-pound fryer chicken in the crock pot, toss in some water (to about 1.5-2 inches) and some veggies (carrots, onions, celery, parsnips, whatever), set it to low for about 5 hours, and let it go. When you get back to it, take the chicken out, pull off the meat (which will slide/fall right off the bone), quickly chop or shred it, toss it back in with some salt and spices and some orzo, add water, turn the crock to high, let it reheat and keep it cooking to the point where the orzo is to your desired doneness, and you have some fabulous chicken soup.

This is great for a fall or winter Saturday when you're home all day. The smells make everything so homey!

I've become a big fan of the "Not your mother's slow cooker" series by Beth Hensperger. She's got one that's for small slow cookers, "Recipes for Two," that's got great stuff!

Like Erin in CR, I also find the Allrecipes.com slow cooker collection of recipes to be a great resource. :)

Happy slow cooking!

Love mine for (a) making chicken stock with the leftover carcass after a roasted chicken dinner. I just throw it in while I'm cleaning up and it's ready in the morning, and (b) cooking dry beans. I'll cover them with water, leave them on low, and they're ready for whatever dinner I have planned when I get home.

I've never been terribly crazy about the recipes themselves. I find, even on low, they can overcook chicken if it's left all day. It'll be really tender, but also dry.

I have "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" at home and I love it. It has a ton of yum-tastic recipes on it. :)

I use mine to perfectly rehydrate BEANS. Just pour in some dried beans and water, and let it go on low for 8 hours. You'll need approximately 3 times more water than beans. NO SALT - it will prevent the beans from rehydrating.

Also, the crockpot is amazing at keeping MASHED POTATOES soft and smooth during a long day of entertaining, e.g. Thanksgiving. With the crock pot, you can do the potatoes in advance without fear of them becoming too dry or gummy. Just mix them up, put them in the crock, and move the dial to "warm."

Not salting your beans as they cook (for fear of toughening them) is a myth. Try it and see. Really.

i recommend you peruse http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/, where stephanie cooked something different in her crock every day during 2008. it inspired me to try to new things in my crock.

If this handed-down pot really IS from the '70s, the first thing to do is Google about for something on slow-cooker safety. Perhaps a decade ago, the industry changed standards for all slow-cookers, and somewhere on the Internet is a "test" for folks to determine if their pot heats up fast enough on low to kill germs which naturally occur on foods. Most newer Crock Pot cookbooks call for the first hour of nearly every recipe to be on HIGH, followed by anywhere from 4 to 10 hours on LOW. Yes, yes, before anyone sounds off, it might be nothing more than a ploy to get people to discard old cookers and buy new ones. You might use this family heirloom for quite a while and have no problem, but even ONE bout of food poisoning is something you want to avoid.