Great recipies! I did something quite similar to what lillyjane did. I wanted something like Beef-n-Noodles and didn't find anything I really liked on Allrecipies.com. I had some cut up cross-rib and round steak I made into stew meat size chunks. I seasoned and browned the meat then tossed into crockpot. Then I added 2 cans of cream of celery, about 1 cup water and an envelope of brown gravy mix and about 1 T worchestershire. I added a green bell pepper cut into strips and about 2 cloves of minced garlic. Cooked on low for about 5 hours. Mixed all with cooked macaroni and it was polished off quick! I would have used egg noodles, but only had regular mac. The outcome was very tender meat and all was very creamy and simply YUM! Yesterday I did a crockpot of Red Beans and Rice (rice cooked on the side) and it was good. Soak 1 c. dried beans overnight, drain and rinse beans. Add to crock. Chop up green bell pepper, celery and onion (the Holy Trinity) and toss in. Add garlic, creole seasoning and pepper. If desired also add Crushed Red Pepper or Cayenne. Toss in a ham-hock if you have one. I usually do but all I had was bacon ends. If you have access to Andouille Sausage, slice into rounds and saute just a bit and add that as well. You can also saute the "Holy Trinity" with the sausage if you want or skip it (it's gonna cook all day). I didn't have any Andouille so substituted with chopped Turkey-Ham (this also gave the smoked flavor I missed not having the Ham-hock! Plus it's healthier!). Add about 3-4 c. water...just so beans are covered. Add a bay leaf. Cook on high 5-6 hours or cook on low for 10-11. Serve over rice and garnish with green onion. Note: If it isn't thick enough for you at the end, take a spoon and mash some of the beans up on the side of the pot and let it cook on high with the lid off for about 1 more hour. If it's STILL not as think as you want then you can go ahead and do cornstarch/water and mix in.

I adapted this recipe for the slow cooker and it is just fabulous. Nothing could be eaiser to fix when you are having guests. Be sure to use chuck roast only. Russian River Pot Roast beef chuck roast around 5 pounds 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes 1/2 cup Pinot Noir 1 piece dried orange peel 3 whole cloves 1 cinnamon stick 1 clove garlic minced 1 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning 1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds salt and pepper olive oil 3 onions 6 carrots The roast is rare in the center and very flavorful. Also, vegetables in the slow cooker have to be in small pieces to cook, don't worry, they don't get overdone. Pat the roast dry with paper towels and brown thoroughly in the oil. Put the onions and carrots sliced in one inch pieces into the bottom of the slow cooker. Put the browned roast on top. Add the other ingredients except salt and pepper. You can do this the night before and leave out on your countertop. Cook for 12 hours on low. One hour before serving, drain off juice into a sauce pan. Remove orange peel and cinnamon stick. Skim off any fat, although there may not be very much. Reduce the juice on the stove to less than half. Correct seasonings and pour over roast. Continue cooking 1 more hour.

I use a really lean roast and cut off the fat before I make it. The beauty of this recipe is that you don't have to use the stove! I usually pour off a lot of the cooking liquid before I serve the beef. Rather than cook the meat before hand (which you could easily do), you could cook everything in the crockpot and refridgerate it over night and then skim off the solidified fat. Often do this just out of convenience. Good luck!

There's a reason you cannot find a comparable cooker today. Those old cookers weren't safe. The problem is, those old cookers didn't get hot enough to cook food safely--so the newer ones are hotter to prevent the growth of bacteria. I don't think you're going to be able to find a new crockpot that cooks as slowly as those old ones do. And that's a good thing--your family's health is far more important. Look, why not adapt your crockpot recipes to FAST cooking. I haven't found a crock pot recipe yet that I can't convert into a 30 minute (or less) meal. The less time you run your appliances, the more energy $$$ you save. The faster you cook your food, the more nutrients and flavor you conserve. I'd rather cook 20-30 minutes in the evening, and serve my family healthy, fresh food, than save 5 minutes of my prep time and give them something that's been heating all day. Isn't that the complaint people generally have about cafeterias and other inexpensive restaurants? That the food has been sitting around and sitting around? If it's not good enough for you when you go out to eat, WHY would anyone consider that adequate for the family they love? Sorry, I get a little over-the-top about crockpots. It's such a wasteful (in so many ways) way to cook food, and I'm such a proponent of fresh, nutrient-packed dishes for my family, that I really become passionate when this topic comes up.