Dig out the slow cooker. Add a second and a third if you wish. Fill one with main-dish fixins and the others with go-alongs. Do it in the morning--or between work and after-school events.

Come home to richly-flavored, ready-to-serve food.

Slow cookers are having a comeback. With good reason. They are friends on a day of running errands. They allow easy entertaining with no last-minute preparation. And vegetarians won't find a better way to work with dried beans.

Slow cookers are gentle with the food budget--less expensive ingredients flourish in their slow, moist heat.

Fix-It and Forget-It offers the range of recipes slow cookers do well: Appetizers and Snacks, Soups and Stews, Main Dishes (with and without meat), Vegetables and Go-Alongs, Desserts and Beverages.

Bring an element of simplicity--and quality--to your pressured life! Let your slow cooker work for you.