Autumn= time for comfort food!

So Autumn to me means its time to whip out my slow cooker and make some rib sticking chili, stew, and utilize those squash before winter is upon us and fruit is a thing of the past (sigh)

So I don't know about you but the idea of throwing together some things in a pot, leaving it on, and coming home to a house smelling like food is my idea of a good day.

I know a lot of people never leave their crock pots unattended, personally I just throw it on the stove and plug it into a surge protector and the house hasn't burned down yet *knock on wood*  But even so, a lot of crock pot recipes are the types that you can come home, turn on the crockpot, and then go do whatever for 4 hours and come home et voila! dinner is DONE mang.

So in celebration of the season of the crock pot I am listing a bunch of MY personal favorite recipes, in hopes that you will enjoy them.

Crock Pot Autumn Roast so easy it should be criminal.  This fills the kitchen with SUCH wonderful smells.  I have tried many roasts and darn it all those southern woman know their meat!

Chalupas Not taco bell! I omit the green chilis (personal taste) and use low carb tortillas to wrap these up.  They are excellent as a leftovers on Taco Salad.  Serve with peach salsa if you can find it.

Pumpkin Soup My Nana was southern and raised me,  Thus we ate pumpkin, A LOT.  It didn't help that at one point we had pumpkins hanging from our pine trees in the vegetable garden.  This recipe is SO GOOD, coating the pumpkin in butter (I use Brummel and Brown) and cooking for an hour is well worth it.  I also use vegetable better than bouillon to make stock, and use center cut bacon.  SO GOOD.

Crock Pot Corn Chowder     Diana Rattray KNOWS her recipes!  I have tried several of hers and found them tastier than even my beloved church recipe cookbooks that I collect!  These recipes are ones handed down from generations and hoestly you can taste the proof in the food. A fellow cookbook collector and self made culinary goddess her about.com recipes are truly unique and delicious!

Kielbasa Casserole   In Minnesota we call casserole "hot dish" everywhere else in the country they look at you as if you have lost your mind.  Never the less this hot dish is not only insanely simple, but I have use grated blanched sweet potatoes in lieu of frozen hash browns  to make this low glycemic.  Also I used cheddar soup mix halved with fat free sour cream for tasty results. Experiment!  This also tastes great with browned ground turkey or low fat ground beef.

So I hope you pull out and dust off those crock pots and let the savory smells waft through YOUR kitchen this Autumn!