Thanksgiving is a time for family and good food. This year, you can have both by pulling out your crock pot, borrowing a couple spares and letting this simple appliance do the work for you.

Cook your Thanksgiving dinner in a crock pot? That's crazy talk! Isn't it? In reality, cooking Thanksgiving dinner in a crock pot not only will save time that is better spent with family than cooking, but it will also ensure a properly cooked Thanksgiving dinner and the time to cook more elaborate dishes than you might have once thought possible.

You usually make potato pearls or potato flakes for your Thanksgiving dinner, but not this year. This year, you're going to slow cook real potatoes over 5 hours to ensure they are soft and mixable. But how on Earth are you going to do that? Just hop on the internet and look for crock pot potatoes or for crock pot vegetarian recipes-especially with the latter search term, you'll find many different creative ways to cook your potatoes and serve something a little different than the normal, stale potato flakes your family is used to.

In the past you've roasted your turkey in the oven or fried it in a deep fryer. Why not try a crock pot recipe for a whole small turkey? While crock pots may not be able to accommodate a large turkey, large crock pots can handle smaller turkeys and not only ensure a thoroughly cooked turkey but also a sumptuous, juicy turkey every time. Not comfortable dropping a whole turkey into your crock pot? Go ahead and select a nice carved turkey as well a crock pot recipe for turkey that will help you make a fine turkey dinner.

Additionally, you'll be able to cook your yams, stuffing, giblets, gravy, vegetables and other family favorites in a crock pot as well. Don't have several crock pots on hand? Borrow them from everyone in your family.

Better yet, give each member of your family a crock pot recipe to follow for one of the dishes you want to serve at your Thanksgiving dinner and have your family help out as a way of showing their thankfulness that you can all be together to share the day. You can always remind them how easy crock pot cooking is and that they can literally set it and forget it.

One of the most important things to remember when you're selecting your cooking methods for Thanksgiving is that your food should always be thoroughly cooked but you also don't want to overdo it and come out with a burned turkey or burned stuffing.

One of the great things about crock pot cooking is that you can literally smell the food cooking to perfection and watch your masterpiece finish through the lid. Plus, using a crock pot for cooking your Thanksgiving dinner means you don't have to worry about being burned on the oven when you're trying to check the temperature-and don't forget, some crock pots out there today even check the temperature for you!

This Thanksgiving show your family you're thankful by cooking a wonderfully easy meal and being with them while doing it!