Thanks to the slow cooker even my DD occasionally eats beef. She's the type of child who chews her own saliva (at the age of 7 1/2 - we're not talking about a toddler here!), so the slow cooker does all the hard work for her!

A lot of the cheaper cuts respond well to slow cooking, and they're also usually far tastier than the more expensive, leaner cuts you'd buy for quick frying. Brisket is one example I played with a bit recently - very tasty!

any all-in-one dishes will work in a slow cooker... I'm just glad you had a success with the second one, because I could see that Christmas present quickly becoming a white elephant otherwise!

Kerri.