Fill with cheese. Melt cheese. Eat cheese. Mmmmmm. CHEESE!!!!

I used to use old thrift-store ones for candle-making, and my pal R used 'em to make soap.

Empty freezer. Fill crock pot with contents. Simmer for 48 to 72 hours until contents become unrecognizable. Invite friends (but not your BEST friends) over to play Guess the Ingredients.

I use it for mostly meals made with beef. I could expand my horizons more, but mostly I use it for Beef Stroganoff and roast beef. I always sprinkle a little salt and pepper and seer and brown the beef before I add it to the crockpot. I don't use cream cheese in the first recipe; I use a couple of tablespoons of sour cream. Browning is an extra step, but it adds to the flavor. There's something a little grody about putting raw beef in the crockpot. At least it is for me anyway.

At work I came across some excellent sounding crockpot recipes in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. They were more sophisticated than the sodium filled canned soup recipes that I use.

Crockpots are also great for Mexican style beef and pork. Put a roast covered in green chilis, spices, hot sauce, etc. Shred with fork. It's a great filling for tortillas. Crockpots are great for spaghetti sauce and chili too.

I really should use the crockpot more. It does save a lot of time and you know that dinner is going to be on the table.

Do you like turkey? Place a whole turkey breast in your crock pot (those new crock pot liner bags are great!). Pour two cans of whole berry cranberry sauce, one can of orange juice, and a packet of dried onion soup mix over it. Cook on low 8 hours (or high for six). Delicious!!!

I love my crock pot. I have several cook books, and I use my crock pot a lot. I can fill it before work, or have one of the kids turn it on when they get home, and dinner's ready when I get home.

The pot roast that my mom made when I was growing up was made in the Crock Pot with apricot baby food, a package of Lipton onion soup mix, and water. Sounds disgusting, but the gravy was really good.

I don't have one, but if I did, I'd cook beans! All kinds of beans!

Also check out these Chowhound posts: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Do you like ribs? Get some baby back ribs, cut the slab into pieces so it fits in the pot. Cover with BBQ sauce, some water and a bottle of hard apple cider (I think the drier the better). Simmer on low until the meat falls off the bones.

I also use mine to cook beef brisket. I just buy the biggest one that will fit in the pot, cover it with water and the little packet of seasonings it comes with. Toward the end of the cooking time, you can add some potatoes and cabbage to the mix.

I think I leave each of these in the pot for 5-7 hours. Maybe longer if I start it before I leave for work in the morning. There's nothing like having dinner already finished when you get home from work. Tip: Don't take the lid off unless you HAVE HAVE HAVE to (like to add more ingredients, etc.). Doing so lets out precious flavored steam vapors. Good luck! :)

Yay! Thanks guys!!! Mudpup, I hadn't even thought about chowhound, awesome. One of their threads reminded me I can use it to make stock - chicken stock, veggie stock, mushroom stock. Awesome! I'm sooo excited.

For my first attempt, I am going to make a pretty basic bean and veggie soup. Mostly because I have an assload of beans and veggies in the house, and no meat that isn't buried deep in the freezer (and at that I think it's like maybe one lonely pork chop, heh...not a big carnivore I guess). I'm going to wing it a little bit because I have problems with authority and can never follow recipes without straying too far off course. So intuitive souping I will make. I've read up on the dos and don'ts, I will hopefully report my success tomorrow night! Wish me luck! and if you have any more ideas, keep em coming.

I love my crockpot! Dinnertime is the worst time to actually have to cook dinner when you have small kids. But through the magic of crockpottery, I can make dinner at my convenience. Thanks, crockpot!

And my unhealthy and odd, yet yummy, pot roast recipe is a can of cream of mushroom soup, a packet of onion soup mix and a can of coke. Cook 10-12 hours on low. (Sounds gross, but it's delish. I swear it.)

Caramelized Onions.

Swedish Meatballs. Once a year on Dec 24. (Optional: side dish of Lutefisk)

I'm so jealous! We haven't been able to find crockpots here, and we used to use our old one in the states a lot.

This google group has a lot of recipes that look interesting, including a Ham and Tater Crockpot Breakfast. Throw it in the pot after going out Saturday night and wake up to Sunday brunch. Awesome!

Cube up some meat, like a top round or sirloin or brisket - something good for slow and low cooking. Add equal sized pieces of onion, potato, carrot and celery, some salt and pepper, and turn that baby on for however many hours seems right.

It's nice because it can impart a really good flavor to meat that is not horrifically expensive.

Alton Brown's overnight steel cut oats.

I like the idea of those caramelized onions. Now I want a slow cooker.

If you happen to have access to lots of home-grown tomatoes in the summer, make up batches of sauce.

I'd put the 'maters in whole, cause I'm lazy, but you can take the skins off in boiling water if preferred. Throw in spices, chopped onions, garlic, whatever seasonings you like.
The trick I learned was to put a wire mesh splatter screen on top before placing lid on - this made an opening for moisture to vent - turn it on low and cook till reduced. Turn off and use one of the immersion blenders to mush it up - voila!

I'm eating a crockpot meal as we speak. An easy-peasy cheaty one.

One can of this.

1 pound of diced lamb (buy it from a halal butcher, it'll be cheaper and leaner than lamb from the supermarket)

1 can of this.

Brown the lamb. Throw the ingredients in the slow cooker. Turn it on low. Go to work. Return 11 hours later. Cook some rice in the microwave. Eat. Enjoy.

This thread inspired me to make beans or chili, but now it has turned into a "danger food" experiment, because i question the freshness of those eurocartons. Will expired tomatoes kill me? Will the adding of cocoa and danger raspberry vinagrette deal the death blow? Will i be brought low by fresh corny beany badness? Do i have the spices to counteract digestive evils?
One never knows.

A very easy party snack food - bags of frozen precooked meatballs (Trader Joes has excellent turkey and beef) a large jar of the grape jelly of your choice, and Heinz chili sauce. Put everything in the crock-pot in the am, and by party time, it will be SO GOOD.