Reddit reviews Art of the Slow Cooker: 80 Exciting New Recipes

For your first use, set it on a weekend or any day where you can stick around - you want to be able to check in on your food often and really see how it heats up and starts to cook.

Don't be afraid to combine ALL sorts of crap inside, and make every recipe your own.

Search for a crockpot lasagna or enchilada recipe, those are my favorites.

Sometimes a "crockpot" recipe will actually require some stove/searing time before or oven time after, so be sure to thoroughly read any recipes you find.

A book that I love for both recipes and general crockpot knowledge is this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0811859126

And, last but not least, join us over at r/slowcooking!

Good luck!

I haven't actually used it all that much, as I bought it as a gift, but I think Art of the Slow Cooker might be the sort of thing you're looking for.

Specifically, I think this book really treats the slow cooker as a tool, rather than as a one-stop, dump-and-forget meal solution. You'll find a lot more prep here than in other slow cooker recipes. You'll find discussions about what (real, whole) ingredients work in a slow cooker and which do not. You'll even find recipes where the slow cooker is not the final step in the recipe, simply a stage.

I think this subreddit tends towards thinking of slow cookers as "something that will do the cooking for me while I'm at work." And that's fine. But I think that a slow cooker can also be used in different ways.

EDIT: Since I could get a kindle version for $3, I went ahead and bought it. I think I might get a physical copy now that I've been reminded of it (and since I don't care for e-cookbooks). Check out the introduction, posted as a reply to this comment.