I think my slow cooker is magic. I just chuck anything in there, frozen or thawed - I never bother browning the meat. I make soups, stews, casseroles - basically anything. We don't bother following recipes at our house - LOL. This week we did turkey shanks with onion and potato in the slow cooker and DH just chucked a few tsp of curry paste in there with water and hey presto - delicious dinner with rice added. Then the following night, I just shredding and remaining turkey and mashed the potatoes and made a turkey cottage pie. Yumbo!