It’s basically winter now, so not only are you laying on the subcutaneous fat to get you through those long cold nights, you close your windows and turn your apartment into a little submarine of warmth. And what’s the best way to gild that cozy lily? Why, by filling your house with the delicious, drool-inducing smell of slow cooked food. It’s like a Glade plugin of meat and spices (or veggies and spices, whatever, who gives a shit.)
I’ve been blessed with not one but TWO slow cookers (shout out to my roomie!) and I can say, without a doubt, that these suckers are the deus ex machina for the lazy but still ambitious chef. Think of it like this: do you like to cook? Great. Do you hate prep work and standing over a stove and having to use multiple pieces of cookware? Of course you do, you’re busy living your life, writing the great American novel, finding the cheapest beer/shot combo, trying to mine meaning from your unsatisfying job, learning what HPV is. You’re a goddamn young American with not a single moment to waste!
The crockpot is where it’s fucking AT. Just toss a bunch of things in, turn a knob, and then just…leave. And after eight or so hours, which you’ve already occupied with sleep or work or exploratory surgery, you end up with a ceramic bucket of tender, hearty, delicious, and most importantly low-impact cooked food.
Dude Food Tip: This may seem obvious, but try your goddamndest to cook it on the Low setting (8 or 9 hrs for most recipes) vs. the High setting (3 or 4 hrs). It’ll mean a little more scheduling legwork, but it tastes better, and until there’s an affordable sous-vide machine at Williams-Sonoma, this is the closest we’ll get to perfection.
The issue that I have with my crockpot is always one of laziness, i.e. I decide it’ll be quicker and simpler just to cook the food now and Tupperware up the leftovers. WRONG. The crockpot is not just the access point to falling-off-the-bone meats and skull-poppingly-good stews, it is a barometer of your laziness, which in turn is an indicator of your destiny. That’s right. If you can’t be fucked to chop a bunch of shit up, throw it in a pot, and then live your life, you need to seriously look inward, because you are probably in a rut. It is literally that easy to use, and if you find yourself resisting it, that’s the canary in your depressive and lethargic coal mine. This tends to happen a lot this winter, so you should start using the crockpot AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE if you have one, and BUY ONE COME CHRISTMAS if not. 
(2nd sentence is unrelated but also applicable here)
So here’s something to get you started.
SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA, EVERYBODY
1 15-oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. garam masala (note; if you don’t have this at your local grocery, just make a bunch of your own and keep it in an airtight container for when you inevitable make this dish again. See below)
Garam masala:
2 Tbsp. coriander
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dry ginger
1/2 tsp. cardamom (expensive as fuck but worth buying. You can sprinkle some on your coffee grounds before brewing and it’ll kick ass.)
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Back to the recipe!
Salt and pepper
Four or five boneless/skinless chicken breastses
1/2 cup heavy cream
Cut the chicken into chunks the size of your thumb and set aside.
Mix the tomatoes, onion, garlic, tomato paste, garam masala, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in the pot.
Place the chicken on top of the tomato mixture in the Crock Pot, cover and simmer for seven to eight hours — because it’ll taste better — on low.
When time is up, 10 mins or so before serving, stir the heavy cream into the mixture. Dump on basmati rice and gorge, or make some naan. No, i won’t tell you how, there’s an entire rest of the internet for that.
And remember: it’s really unlikely that your slow cooker will catch fire and burn down your apartment while you’re out. If you’re worried, do it anyway. Cooking should be a little dangerous since that we don’t have to chase down and murder the food ourselves anymore.