Each year, around the time that I start wearing my sweaters and flannel PJs, I also dig through the dusty recesses of my kitchen cabinets for my Crock Pot®.

I pull it out, dust it off, give it a prominent place on my countertop and start leafing my cookbooks to find recipes for mushroom barley soup and green chile stew. And then, because it's so easy to whip up a cheap, impressive meal, I usually invite lots of people over, most of whom walk away thinking that I have very advanced kitchen skills.

Anything you can make in a slow cooker is, almost by definition, comfort food. With very little effort, even a lazy cook like me can create steaming pots of the kind of stuff you want on cold days: Soups, stews, chili, chowders, oatmeal and much more. (There are thousands of recipes online.)

I'm not much of a carnivore, but I hear it works magic with inexpensive, tough cuts of meat. A friend of mine uses his to make cheese fondue. But crock pots usually lend themselves to low-fat, low-carb, low-sodium and/or low-cost dishes.

Most recipes are super-simple (my main criteria for a recipe). Generally, all it takes is tossing in some ingredients into the bowl, adding a little broth, and then — after six or so hours — savoring a hearty bowl of soup or stew. It's a serious timesaver.

But considering that it stays on for as many as ten hours at a time, I wondered about its energy efficiency. A little investigating quickly put my fears to rest: A slow cooker is one of the most energy efficient appliances out there. At about $30, it's also affordable.

The only downside, as far as I can tell, is that most vegetables don't fare too well in a slow cooker. While it's great for potatoes and other root vegetables, many veggies can get mushy and lose some nutritional value. But if you add them in during the last hour of cooking, it might work out fine.

Best of all, I hear it's possible to make risotto in a slow cooker. And if it's any good, I know what I'm serving at my next dinner party.