What Makes Your Life Easier??

I'm wondering how many of you are like me? What's the ONE thing that you use the most that makes your life easier?? If I had to narrow it down, my one thing would be the Crock-Pot. I truly adore being able to put something in it to cook and just be able to go about my day without worrying about dinner. And its pretty hard to ruin things with a crock pot so thats another big perk for me!! The only thing that I don't like about my Crock-Pot is washing it, but that will all change when we move in September and I have a dishwasher!!

Two of my most favorite, most simple things to do in the crock pot is just a simple sauce for pasta and simple shredded chicken for Mexican food. Not only are they easy and simple and hard to ruin- they're pretty damn cheap to make too!!

Simple Meat Sauce:
To do the sauce for pasta, I just get stew beef or if I have a steak in the freezer I cut that into chunks.

1 jar of Pasta Sauce
1 lb. beef

Place both in the crock pot and let cook on low for 6-8 hours. When ready to eat, just boil up some pasta and serve it with the sauce with beef!!

Simple Shredded Mexican Chicken:

1 jar of Salsa (any type will do, choose based on your own preference!!)
1 lb. chicken breast

Place the chicken in the crock pot and pour the entire jar of salsa in on top of it. Let cook on low for 6-8 hours. At about 6 hours, you can go in with a fork, the chicken will be completely cooked through and shred on its own as you stir with the fork. This salsa chicken is great for burritos, tacos, and anything else you can think of.

For a quick dinner, make up the simple shredded Mexican chicken, warm up some refried beans, grab some shredded cheddar cheese and combine them all in a wrap. I like to crisp up the outside of my wraps on my griddle before eating, gives it a little bit of a crunch on the outside and melts the cheese all yummy!!

There's always some great prices on Crock-Pots at Amazon like these:
Rival 6-Quart Smart-Pot Programmable Slow Cooker, Stainless Steel for $44.19
Hamilton Beach Stay-or-Go 5-Quart Slow Cooker, White for $31.17
Rival 5.5-qt. Oval Smart Crock Pot - Black for $35.29
Hamilton Beach 4-Quart Oval Slow Cooker for $26.49

And don't forget the Crock-Pot cookbooks for more fabulous ideas!!
Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes for Healthy and Hearty One-Pot Meals That Are Ready When You Are for $10.17
Crock-Pot Incredibly Easy Recipes for $9.98


What makes your life easier? Or better yet... got a great crock pot recipe to share with me??