Overcoming my fear...

...of the slow-cooker! Years ago, I had a small slow-cooker, but it cooked way too hot and charred the food in about two hours, so I could never cook anything unattended. I warded off using slow cookers for almost a decade.

Then recently a friend gave us his Crock-Pot since he never used it. I decided yesterday that it was time to try that sucker out. I went to the local grocery store where the butcher gave me advice on how to best prepare the chuck roast (pre-cut into cubes). I followed her directions and 6 hours later, a perfect dinner was created. And I even have some leftovers.

I have a feeling I'll be using this a lot this fall/winter. Yay!