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[quote=Anonymous]Some thoughts.  I find that taking meat and browning it first before putting into the slow cooker works better than not.  Put a dusting of flour (seasoned to taste) and then brown in a skillet (do not use a non-stick for this).  While slow and long works great over direct heat methods like a grill, I don't find it works that great in a slow cooker with indirect heating.  I find that this makes the meat come out with odd textures (usually too tough).  I know that you don't want to have to do this in the morning while getting ready for work and trying to get out of the house.  So, the way I do my all day slow cooker recipes is I make them up the night before with the browning and any other steps.  I have a big Tupperware container that holds the same amount as the crock pot and I put everything in there.  I then put the Tupperware in the fridge.  In the morning, just before we leave, I take it out, dump into the crock pot, turn on, give the bowl a quick rinse down, then leave it in the sink to clean when I get home.  It takes about 45 seconds in the morning.

Most recently, I made beef stew.  I bought the cheapest roast I could find and cut it into stew cubes, cutting off the larger pieces of fat.  I took a gallon ziploc bag and put in flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and a touch of paprika.  Threw the beef cubes in, closed and shook to get all covered.  Took a big skillet and with some olive oil over medium heat, I browned the beef cubes until there was a nice crust on the outside.  Tossed them in the Tupperware.  Adding a little more oil, I tossed in some chopped onion and garlic and sauteed lightly to help pick up the fond left from the beef.  I added a touch of store-bought beef stock to help deglaze.  Emptied the skillet into the Tupperware.  I rough chopped carrots and potatoes and dumped into the bowl.  I added a large can of stewed tomatoes and my mother's secret ingredent: soy sauce, which helps strengthen the savory flavor (umami).  In the morning, dumped the whole thing into the crock pot and put it on low for about 8-9 hours.  I also saved the leftover flour from the dusting and added it to melted butter to make a roux and added that in about 30 minutes before serving and stirred it in to thicken the gravy.  Served over wide egg noodles.  Yum.  I made a huge pot and froze two quarters of it (one container of 1/4 of the recipe feeds our family of 4 with a little leftover) and then we ate the other half off and on for the next few days.  I did this for the cold snap we had a couple of weeks ago.  Homemade beef stew, good comfort food for when the weather turns cold.  It actually sounds harder than it was; pretty easy.[/quote]

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