Slow cooker

Santa brought me a slow cooker for Christmas.  It's the size of a small boat and arrived dented on one side but I'm too lazy to exchange it and the functionality isn't affected so it fits in well in my kitchen.  I should mention that part of the reason I got on this whole slow cooker bandwagon was because everyone told me how EASY they are.  Dump the ingredients in, turn on low or high, and come back in 4-8 hours for a delicious meal.  What's not to love, right?

So, for my first recipe I decided to try this healthy and EASY-SOUNDING chili recipe from WebMD.  I got excited when the 3-step instructions were:

1.) Put all ingredients into slow cooker; turn on low or high and cook accordingly.
2.) Go do something creative.
3.) Before serving, taste for seasoning adjustments.

What I neglected to realize is that someone (i.e. ME) was going to have to wash, peel, and chop the 8 different vegetables, as well as saute the garlic and onion and brown the meat before simply "putting all the ingredients into the slow cooker." 

So, two hours later that prep work was done and 5 hours after that our meal was ready.  Never mind that it happened to be 8:00 p.m. by then and I had already fed Audrey instant mac 'n cheese because she couldn't wait any longer.

I'm not giving up on the slow cooker yet.  But clearly I have a lot to learn.  And for the time being I'm reverting back to my trusty Cooking Light 30-minute 5-ingredient cookbook that is more my league.  The chili was good though.  And yes, it feeds a small army.