One of my recent domestic chores of late has been trying to get myself set up for slower cooker food preparation. I’ve got plenty of good stovetop recipes that could probably be converted into slow cooker recipes, but I’m also trying to expand my game a bit, mix some variety in, by finding some new recipes I can set up in my crock-pot before work so they’re ready by the time I get home. I want to try my hand at different stuff rather than cycling through the same dozen recipes all the time, but I often don’t have the energy to cook every night or to prepare some kind of big, week-of-leftovers type meal on the weekends, so I’m hoping the convenience of a slow cooker will let me do that without delaying my dinner later than it usually is these days. The problem is, I didn’t grow up in a household that used a slow cooker, so I have zero experience cooking with one other than the pot roast I made for my birthday back in 2024, right before the crock of my crock-pot fell off my kitchen counter and shattered on the floor. I get the basics of course, it’s all there in the generic name (slow cooker), but I also know enough to know that very little water is lost during cooking and that the length of cooking means that various seasonings tend to be extra effective. Since my usual method for seasoning things is by smell, I can’t rely on that for any slow cooker meals since you’re not supposed to uncover it while it’s cooking, it’ll ideally be cooking while I’m at work, and the thin scent of food in a slow cooker doesn’t compare to getting a face full of steam from whatever you’re preparing on the stovetop or in the oven.