In an effort to be more domestic for 2012, I added a mini-crockpot to my Amazon wishlist for Christmas. Since I left my parent’s home, I realized hadn’t used a slow cooker and that needed to change! What’s not to love about something that will prepare your dinner for you while you’re running errands, in class or at work? Plus your kitchen is filled with fantastic aromas all day.

Mom and Dad were kind enough to oblige, and ordered me this cute and affordable orange number. To break it in, I whipped out The SparkPeople Cookbook to try a recipe that I’d been saving until I had all of the necessary equipment. It’s actually the most popular dish on their whole SparkRecipes site: Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken.

I organized my mise en place (thanks, Top Chef!), or ingredients and tools needed to complete the dish (see above left) and got to work on this very simple recipe.

Begin by topping the chicken with taco seasoning.

Add your veggies. I also finally got real cutting boards! Is it weird that I was just using plates before? Probably not the best for my knives, but it got the job done. :)

Invite the tomatoes to the party, crank up the heat and go about your day! Fun fact: Peeking under the crockpot topper releases so much heat that you’ll add about 15 to 20 minutes to your cooking time. Flip the meat halfway through if you’re nearby, but otherwise keep a lid on it!

Come dinnertime, the chicken will be tender, moist and flavorful.

South-of-the-Border Crockpot Chicken (adapted from The SparkPeople Cookbook)

Serves 4, about one cup each

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/2 cup petite diced fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup shredded or diced carrots

1. Place chicken in your crockpot dish and top with taco seasoning.
2. Pour on onion, carrots, salsa and tomatoes. Add 1/4 cup water.
3. Turn crockpot on low and cook for about six hours, or crank it up to high for about four hours. (Until chicken is cooked through and 165 degrees.)
4. Use two forks to “shred” the chicken. Stir to cover chicken with sauce mixture.

Nutrition information per serving: About 150 calories, 3 g fat and more than 20 g protein (To put this into context, adult women need about 46 grams and adult men require about 56 grams per day, according to WebMD.)

I think I’ll be using my crockpot a lot more and experimenting with more of these tasty recipes I’ve recently pinned!

What is your must-have piece of kitchen equipment or what tool is on your wishlist?