Slow Cooker Favorites - Help me avoid fast food please

[dream_of_giusti]

What are your crockpot favorites? I've read tons of cookbooks, websites, etc. and I've only found a few recipes that my family will eat on a regular basis. Italian sausage simmered in tomato sauce and pot roast are the two winners so far. I feel like I missing the mark and not getting the most use out of my slow cooker.

Starting in the fall we have a lot of activities and late nights, I would love to come home to some really good meals. I have a great butcher so I'm sure he can provide me with any cuts you suggest.

I love Jamaican oxtails and would like to make them at home but all the recipes I've found call for a pressure cooker. Any tried and true recipes are appreciated.

[whitneybee]

Growing up, my mother's slow cooker staples were pot roast, brisket, meatballs, and some kind of vegetable soup with short ribs in it. I'll try to get the exact recipe for the latter from her.

[vafarmwife]

Since I work, most of meals in the winter are cooked in the crock pot. I do chuck roast, chili, beef stew, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, country style steak, pork chops, ribs, and a variety of soups in the crock pot.

[Val]

Dream, here's a link to a somewhat recent post also on the subject of slow cookers...the Thai-flavored thighs by janniecooks is a particularly good recipe...and there are many other great suggestions in this thread:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/539033

[baseballfan]

I make a type of tex mex chicken that is great in enchiladas, tacos, main meal chicken salads etc. It is very easy and versatile. Put 6-8 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1 large onion diced, 2 small cans chopped green chilies, 1 envelope taco mix and 1 bottle beer ( I usually use dos equis or similar). Cover and cook 6 hours on low. When chicken is done, take out and shred and it is ready for lots of different meals.

[weezycom]

BBQ pork.

Brown pork butt, picnic or shoulder (about a 3-4 lb roast) on all sides and put in crockpot with 1 small can chipotles in adobo whizzed together with 1/2 cup balsamic and 1/2 cup white or cider vinegar. Add an onion about the size of your fist, thinly sliced. Set on low and cook until tender enough to shred with a fork (about 6-8 hours). Remove & shred, add in a couple of ladle-fuls of cooking juices to keep moist. Serve on rolls with cole slaw.

[mariacarmen]

or do the same but no bbq sauce, just make a paste of garlic/olive oil/oregano/salt/white vinegar, makes holes all over pork, stuff paste in, rub the rest all over, and cook as above. use for tacos with the usual fixings - there's your slow fast food! corn