A cooking convenience from the 1970s is making a culinary comeback. Two-earner familes are the norm these days, so the slow cooker, or Crock-Pot has returned to the kitchen counter. In fact, the Crock-Pot is now in twice as many homes today as there were just a generation ago. According to an industry report on eating patterns, twenty percent of families plan to use a slow cooker sometime in the next two weeks. But today's Crock-Pots are more sophisticated and reliable than the one your mother might have used. New electronic controls and improved safety features have made slow-cooking even more efficient and time-saving.

Over eighty percent of American homes have some kind of slow cooker. According to an expert on food and diet trends, the popularity should not come as a surprise. Perfect for soups, stews, and tough cuts of meat, slow cookers are designed to simmer food at a low temperature, generally between 170° and 280° F, for hours. The newer models feature electronic controls that let you program cooking time, usually in 30-minute periods, and that automatically switch to warm when cooking is done.

For slow cooker recipes, check Crock-Pot's website, which sponsors a recipe contest each year in which the winner is proclaimed, wait for it, a Crock Star. You can also find free recipes on Epicurious.com and the Food Network website, among other recipe websites. And America's Test Kitchen has a new cookbook, "Slow Cooker Revolution" that features the 200 best recipes from its tests of 1,500.