^ on the oval shape. I cooked a swiss steak meal for 4 for Sunday lunch and my 5 Qt is oval - handles a long cut with ease. Good shape for a whole chicken too.

I love my oval ones, although I'm intrigued by the casserole version that's shallow, and rectangular.

At our annual Labor Day Party this crock pot dish is served, always a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients:
5lbs of beef preferably bottom round but top round will do.
1 16oz bottle of any brand Zesty Italian dressing
� bottle of diced pepperoncini peppers (not the liquid, only the peppers)
2 1oz packets of brown gravy
slices of sharp provolone or pepperjack
hot giardiniera

Prep:
Mix dressing & gravy packets together, add diced pepperoncini, stir, then add beef. No need to brown meat prior to placing in crock pot.

Slow cook for 6-8 hours until meat is fork tender & can be shred.

Serve on buns and if desired add cheese &/or hot giardiniera

I have the Crock-Pot 8 quart. The low heat is perfect to leave a meal in all day long.

I didn't use that exact recipe, but found another and modified a little. Last night was the experiemntal first time and it was delicious this morning. There were major warnings about coating the crockpot and not cooking too long. I used my 4 Qt on low heat for 8 hours (the recipe called for 7 hours). It could have gone another hour or I could have reduced the liquid (1.5 cups water, 1.5 cups milk) and still been fine. The consistency of the apples and oatmeal were perfect and the brown sugar got a little crusty around the edges. A lot like eating dessert for breakfast. It was a big hit with this weeks family of 4, from me all the way down to my almost 2 year old grandson. This will be repeated throughout the winter. ^^^

You can refrigerate any leftover Overnight Oatmeal and reheat in the microwave the next day or two. It's just my husband and me so we always have leftovers. I put it in single serving glass bowls with covers and it's ready to go after reheating the next day.

I do something similar, without the brown gravy.

I also throw in a thickly sliced onion or two and mini sweet peppers

I also have/had the new shallow rectangular one that just came out. I really like it as a chaffing dish. However, cooking in it is a bit complicated as large hunks of meat did not come up to temperature quick enough because it was so shallow. For actual cooking, dishes that have lots of small even bits such as macaroni, gumbo etc are better. If you entertain a lot or have a very large family, I would recommend this as an excellent 9 x 13 chaffing dish without the open flame issue. It even has latches on the side if you need to bring it to potlucks. It has been making the rounds on my street as of July. I have a feeling that I may have trouble getting it back in time for Turkey day.

That's good to know! Thanks! I was pondering it for things like crock pot lasagna and such, but I'm guessing it probably wouldn't work quite as well with chicken strips as it would with pre-cooked ground meat?

The large surface area of the rectangular slow cooker allows quite a bit of heat to escape when you open it and do the requisite stir every so often. Depending on how large the chicken strips are, most should be OK. For larger bits, definitely searing first and then adding the other ingredients. Lasagna should be OK but you may not get as many noodle layers in as you would like without it bubbling over a bit.

Doing lamb tagine for tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a good result!

I love my Cuisinart cock pot. I have used it for years for soups and chilis.

I'm looking for a good jambalaya recipe. Can anyone help? Somewhat healthier version too perhaps using cooked turkey sausage instead of regular.

crossed, & if good, please share

This popped up in my FB feed this evening and reminded me of this thread. Many of the recipes sound rather good. I am not a crock pot guy but I might have to rethink that. I'm more the cast-iron pan/dutch oven cooker. Low and slow.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/1...ushpmg00000063

Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but I love these Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners (http://www.amazon.com/Reynolds-Slow-.../dp/B002U0KKK8)

They sure make the clean-up a lot easier! I use my slow cooker about once a week, from roasts to soups.