Chase away chills with a thick, filling stew

Slow cookers can be unsung kitchen heroes any time of the year, but particularly during the colder seasons. That’s because slow cookers take on one-pot meals with ease. A person simply places all the ingredients inside the crock, then returns in 8 hours or so to a completely cooked meal.

Certain recipes, including stews, lend themselves well to the slow-cooking method. While beef is often associated with stew, plenty of proteins can take the place of beef, including pork. This recipe for “Golden Harvest Pork Stew” from “Crock•Pot® 365 Year-Round Recipes” (Publications International, Ltd.) by the Crock•Pot Kitchens utilizes pork and combines it with potatoes, carrots and corn for a stew that some may even mistake for a chowder.