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I'm a huge fan of slow cookers. I love the results they produce, the time I save and the fact that I can keep on cooking even during a heat wave without heating up the whole kitchen or standing over a hot stove. The amount of slow cooker recipes available on the Internet is near mind-boggling, too--I could use my slow cooker every night for several years and never have the same dish twice.

It's not difficult to translate your own recipes into a slow cooker version, and once you do, you'll be thrilled with the ability to start dinner early and walk away from it for several hours (no babysitting!) until it's done. I've come up with a few of my own recipes for the slow cooker, and adapted some that I already had, but before they were perfected, I needed to learn a few rules of use. Crockpot.com and About.com are both excellent resources for all you need to know about cooking with a slow cooker, including recipes.

My family likes these two recipes enough for seconds (and thirds for the boys):

Oriental Shredded Pork (Moo Shu)

2 lbs lean pork roast
3/4 c soy sauce
2 T sugar
1 T sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

Place all into a slow cooker and cook on low until pork shreds easily (about 4 hours). Shred completely and serve on warmed flour tortillas with Hoisin sauce and undressed bagged coleslaw mix. My younger kids like them with meat only, which is fine since it's already very well seasoned as-is.

Easiest Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches Ever

6 chicken breast halves-skinless and boneless
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce (whatever your favorite is)

Place chicken breasts into the bottom of a slow cooker and pour barbecue sauce over them. Lid and cook for 3 to 4 hours on high until cooked through and nearly falling apart. Shred the chicken well-two forks does the job quickly-and serve on burger buns. Top with coleslaw and shoestring fries for a different, and delicious, version.