The Crock Pot: Friend or Foe?

A couple of years back, my husband and I worked with two other couples to plan a church dinner.  We were serving barbequed beef sandwiches, I believe, and each couple brought their crock pots to keep the meat warm.  We had a big laugh that night when we observed our crock pots, all wedding gifts.  Mike and Patrice had a harvest gold crock pot, as they were the longest married couple by far.  We dated that crock pot to the early 80’s.  Guy and Sandra brought their late 80’s country blue crock pot.  And we, being married in the late 90’s, had the lovely forest green deal accented with purple.  (Now, they make crock pots in stainless steel and sleek black, for your information.)

While many friends rave about cooking in the crock pot, I remain lukewarm (pun intended.)  I am not opposed to the ease and time saving at all.  I love the fact that it helps avoid heating up the oven, also.  But I am not convinced that dishes taste as good when slow cooked in a crock pot.  I’ve had personal exceptions, of course.  I’ve left beef brisket and barbeque sauce in one for a day and loved the sandwiches with the beef!  I’ve misplaced a wonderful recipe for Philly cheese steak beef cooked with onions and peppers.  Hopefully, I’ll unearth that someday soon.  But stews and soups don’t seem to taste as good to me without my constant meddling.  It could be that I am a control freak in the kitchen.  Maybe I just haven’t tried the right recipes.  Or maybe I’m just crock pot impaired.

In the past I attended a lecture from one of the authors of this cookbook and with starry eyes bought it in hopes of great, easy Sunday dinners.  I’ve had mixed success.  This past weekend, I tried a new recipe from the cookbook and was pretty pleased.  I made creamy chicken soft tacos and thought they were very tasty.  But the soft tacos needed to be grilled once they were filled to give an extra crunch to the shell.  Jack liked them and even ate them again as leftovers, which is a solid endorsement.  Curt was turned off by the sour cream creaminess.  Oh well, two out of three thumbs up aren't bad!
I’d be interested in the readers’ thoughts and successes with the crock pot.  Maybe I can figure out what my problem is.  If it simply means I should go out and buy the new, prettier stainless steel version, I’m game!
Creamy Chicken Soft Tacos   from 101 Things To Do With A Slow Cooker by Stephanie Ashcraft and Janet Eyring
4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 jar (16 ounces) salsa
1 cup sour cream
6-8 flour tortillas
Spray slow cooker with Pam.  Place chicken on bottom.  Pour salsa on top.  Cover and cook on high 6-8 hours or low 10-12 hours.  An hour before they’re done, break chicken apart with fork and mix in sour cream.  Makes 6-8 servings. 
Fold chicken mix inside warm tortillas with lettuce and grated cheddar cheese, if desired.