Crock-Pot slow cookers may take all day, but they make quick work of meal preparation. With most recipes, all you do is assemble the ingredients, add them to the Crock-Pot, turn it on, and walk away. Using a method known as braising, slow cookers employ low, steady heat over a long period of time to work magic on food.

Baked chicken breasts with barbecue sauce are a simple main course you can cook quickly and easily, for a large gathering or a small family meal. For the healthiest preparation, use skinless chicken breasts.

Tofu commonly is baked, fried, steamed or cooked in liquid as a main course or part of another dish. Tofu also can be cooked in a skillet and used as a substitute for ground meat for vegetarians or those watching their calorie or cholesterol intake.

Steaks aren’t just for grilling. When a craving for steak strikes, you can indulge in a juicy cut of beef in the comfort of your own kitchen. A cast-iron skillet produces a brown, crusty sear on a steak and cooks the meat to perfection. Iron is dense and a good heat conductor.

As all new parents discover, babies are blissfully unaware of the developmental milestones set out in childcare manuals. They start to crawl, talk and eat solids when they are ready. However, as a rule of thumb, most babies are ready to eat solids at between 4-to-6-months old.

Grilled pineapple makes a sweet side dish for savory meats like grilled pork and beef or a pleasantly sweet-and-tart dessert served with chocolate, ice cream or mascarpone cheese. It's also a good source of vitamin C. A half-cup serving gives you 20 percent of your daily recommended vitamin C, according to MayoClinic.

Frozen chicken quarters are very economical and can suit a variety of dishes. Since this cut of chicken often is on sale in large quantities, you can make a delicious baked chicken recipe to please a big, hungry group.

Salmon most commonly is served raw in sushi restaurants, but you can lightly cook the fish before putting it in cut rolls or hand rolls with rice and seaweed to kill potentially dangerous parasites.

Cooking a chuck roast to tender perfection normally requires moist heat, low oven temperatures and lengthy cooking times.

Tri-tip steak comes from the tender, triangle roast in front of the hind quarters and is a flavorful, tender cut of meat. Because the meat tends to dry out when cooking, it's ideal for slow cookers that help preserve the meat's juices.

The broiler's something of an underused cooking method in many American kitchens, yet it offers a quick, relatively healthy way to cook meat, including chicken wings. In a broiler, the heat comes from above to cook food on a tray below. Apply the same types of rubs and marinades that you would when grilling.

When you’re pressed for time and money, marinating chicken leg quarters fits the bill. This less expensive cut of chicken has more flavor and moisture than chicken breasts. Marinating the leg quarters requires little preparation to infuse flavor, and baking lets you cook them up without the addition of any oil.