Slow Cooker

A slow cooker might be your most underutilized kitchen appliance, but it's time to bring it out! When you're short on time, just pile in the ingredients, set the heat on low, and let the cooking happen. After being at the office all day, you'll get hooked on coming back to a healthy meal. And since you don't have to plan an elaborate meal, you can still hit up the gym or run some last-minute errands before dinner starts.

Aside from saving time, you'll also be wasting less. Grab those leftover veggies that are sitting in the crisper, add in some lean meats, your favorite spices, and some broth, and you've got the makings of a homemade stew. If you have a few minutes to spare, lightly sauté the vegetables before you toss them in the slow cooker; this will help develop extra flavor in the dish. And for anyone who's always scrambling to throw together a healthy lunch, let the slow cooker do the work for you. After you enjoy dinner, most recipes will stay warm well into the next day for a brown-bag lunch. Get started with any one of these 10 healthy stew recipes.

Source: Instagram user og_reta

As we head into the cold months, nothing sounds more appealing than hot dishes and comfort food. Luckily, Crock-Pots are a great way to cook — they don't require too much effort but still leave meals full of flavor. The best part: you can prep in the morning and come home to dinner already made. Get started with these recipes and let us know if you have any of your own!

Pulled-Pork Sandwich	Beef Chili	Lamb Tagine
Braised Chicken	Short Ribs	Cuban Chicken

This month, I've shifted my focus from Summer cookout food to something a little more soothing, but amidst a San Francisco Indian Summer, I'm not quite ready to plunge into full-blown Fall fare just yet. So in addition to treasuring those timeless staples, I've also looked for recipes that fall (pardon the pun) right in between those two seasons. One such gem is this slow-cooked dish of chicken with fresh tomatoes.

It incorporates the sunny flavor of Early Girl tomatoes with the reassuring tenderness of chicken braised in its own stock. Lighten it up with skinless chicken breast, swap out the sage for tarragon or basil, or use cherry or heirloom tomatoes instead. The result is a sumptuous main meal that's fantastic over grits, polenta, or mashed potatoes. Savor the in-between moment when you keep reading.

We love repurposing leftovers, and from the looks of it, Lauren does too. Here she shares the story of pork two ways.
I had picked up pork at my local butcher, but wasn't completely sure how I wanted to prepare it. Using what I had on hand and of course, not measuring, I browned the meat, caramelized onions and garlic, and roasted/cleaned two poblano peppers. For even more flavor, I ground up cumin and crushed red pepper flakes and placed everything in the crock pot. I added just enough chicken broth to just about cover the meat and let it cook over night. The next morning, the pork was incredibly tender and perfect for tacos!

There was still a ton of pork, but I am not one for repeat dinners, so I picked up a couple cans of hominy and added it to the pork along with some more chicken broth for a makeshift pozole. The soup topped with cilantro, avocado, salsa, and lime juice was absolutely scrumptious. I love when simple dishes with no recipe turn out so well, I am sure I will be making this again! Sorry about not snapping a photo of the tacos but trust me they were tasty!

Have you turned a leftover into something different and delicious? Share it with us in the community!

Although I would love to be the proud owner of a tagine, a special cooking pot with origins in Morocco, at this point in my life, I don't have the funds or space for this utilitarian cooking vessel. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy a homemade tagine every now and then — I simply use my slow cooker to braise the meat for a long period of time. This lamb version is my current favorite tagine. It combines chunks of savory lamb shoulder with aromatic spices (like cumin, cinnamon, and saffron), sweet dates, and lots of broth. The resulting dish is an exotic blend of flavors and textures that's ideal for entertaining. Get the surprisingly simple recipe after the jump.

It's freezing in San Francisco, and I think it's high time I broke out my slow cooker. It's a wonderfully useful kitchen gadget that makes cooking a dinner for a crowd easy — while filling your house with an amazing fragrance.

I'm not the only one who is interested in slow cooker experimentation, reader dreamalittledream recently asked the YumSugar Community for crockpot help. She says, "I just got a crockpot and am itching to use it. I've found a ton of recipes online, but I trust YumSugar members more for recipes. Any crock pot recipe that I have to try!?"

Well, I highly recommend blackberry pulled pork, red wine short ribs, classic chili, and Cuban chicken. Also, don't forgot to check out our tips for cooking with a crockpot. I've revealed mine, and now it's time for you to share yours: what are your favorite slow cooker recipes?

Source: Flickr User love♡janine

This year, I haven't been able to resist making savory berry recipes: first strawberry spaghetti, then cherry-stuffed tenderloin and blueberry-glazed ribs. And, in my desire to incorporate blackberries into an entrée, I came up with this recipe for pulled pork sandwiches using a blackberry purée. Not only do the ingredients make this dish perfect for the Summer season, but it won't heat up your kitchen because it's cooked over low heat in a slow cooker. Over the course of eight hours, blackberries, hot sauce, ketchup, vinegar, and garlic meld together to become a sweet and tangy condiment that not only highlights the pork roast's natural flavor, but is less aggressively syrupy than traditional barbecue sauce. If you're interested in the recipe, read more.