I made 3 fall recipes in a Crock-Pot and they were the most delicious slow-cooker meals I've ever made

I know firsthand that on a chilly work night, there's nothing better than prepping ahead of time and waltzing into the kitchen at dinner time to find your meal is ready to eat.

Not only do slow cookers make cooking at home easy, but you can also make delicious, comforting meals that you'll want to make time and time again. For this week, I decided to try my hand at making three warming, satisfying recipes that seemed perfect for fall: beef stew, chicken and potato corn chowder, and creamy garlic pork chops.

To make Martha Stewart's hearty beef stew, which can be made either on the stove or in a slow cooker, you'll only need a few basic ingredients.

The recipe calls for beef chuck cut into 1-inch pieces, all-purpose flour to toss the beef in, baby potatoes, two cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles, frozen peas and carrots, and seasonings.

For added convenience, many grocery stores sell beef chuck already trimmed and cut into cubes for stews. This was what I went with, and it turned out great.

Give the pot a stir to evenly distribute the tomato sauce and vegetables with the meat.

Except for halving the potatoes and thawing the frozen peas and carrots, all you really have to do is add everything to the slow cooker and leave it alone.

You definitely don't want to overcook the stew, or it could dry the meat out. However, you also want to allow plenty of time for the meat to get nice and tender.

Not only was this dish relatively inexpensive to make — I only spent about $20 on all of the ingredients I didn't already have in my pantry — but it was the perfect fall meal.

I also enjoyed the slight kick and taste of the tomatoes and green chili. The stewing liquid itself had a ton of meaty, savory flavor, and it was a perfect consistency.

Not only was this dish easy and inexpensive to make, but it's also something I could replicate without even looking at the recipe for more than a couple of seconds. All in all, I would definitely make this easy stew again.

You can find the recipe in "Martha Stewart's Slow Cooker" and online here.

I love warming up with a warm bowl of soup, stew, or chowder in the fall and winter.

My potatoes were on the larger side, so I washed and quartered them and placed them in the slow cooker. The best part about using baby or red potatoes is that no peeling is required, making for even less prep work.

The flour helps to make the chowder slightly thicker in consistency.

I then seasoned the pot with salt and pepper.

I found that my chowder was done after three hours.

I poached two large chicken breasts in a pot of water on the stove. This only took about ten minutes to do. Afterward, I shredded the chicken breasts using two forks and placed my shredded chicken in a plastic container in the fridge.

After about 10 minutes, the cheddar should be completely melted and the chicken should be warm.

I chose Applegate uncured Sunday bacon, but you can use any higher-quality bacon.

After a few minutes, I cut up the bacon and arranged it on a paper towel for my roommates and me to serve ourselves.

The corn and potatoes reminded me of an autumn harvest, while the broth was just creamy enough without being super heavy. This was one of the lightest chowders I've ever eaten, which meant I didn't feel guilty in the slightest about going back for seconds ... and thirds.

You can find the recipe by Delish here.

To make Eatwell101's recipe for creamy garlic pork chops and potatoes, you'll start by chopping baby yellow potatoes or peeling and chopping large yellow potatoes.

I always opt for baby potatoes when I can because I like the texture of the potato skin. Plus, it saves me time when I don't need to peel them.

At this point, I also like to start preheating the slow cooker to save a little on time. To do this, I usually turn it on high before I've added all my other ingredients.

I started by sautéing six cloves of minced garlic until it became fragrant, but not browned. One tip to avoid burning your garlic is to add a tablespoon of water along with the oil into the pot with your garlic.

The first ingredients added to the sauce are the heavy cream, cream cheese, and chicken broth. After about 10 minutes, the sauce should thicken, after which it's time to add the Parmesan cheese.

Then, I set the stove to simmer and allowed the sauce to stay warm while I finished prepping the rest of the meal.

To do this, I lightly dried them with a paper towel to ensure a good sear and seasoned them with kosher salt.

After the edges of the pork chops were browned, I flipped them over and repeated on the other side for just a few minutes.

Pork can be a difficult meat to cook without drying it out, so I was excited to see how this method would turn out.

I sautéed the onion and mushrooms in the same pan as the pork chops, being sure to scrape up the bits of pork fat and combining it with the vegetables.

After about half an hour of cooking, I still wasn't ready to walk away from my slow cooker.

When the onions and mushrooms were soft and slightly browned, I added them to the slow cooker on top of the pork chops and potatoes.

The sauce should be thick enough to stick to a spoon while still being easy to pour across the entire slow cooker.

The recipe recommends getting as much sauce on top of the pork chops, mushrooms, and onions and less on the bottom of the slow cooker. Finally, I was ready to put the lid on the slow cooker and allow it to finish cooking.

The entire dish smelled heavenly — I couldn't wait to fill a bowl with the pork chops, potatoes, and delicious creamy sauce.

I also really enjoyed the addition of the mushrooms and onions — both vegetables added a ton of flavor to the dish. However, the standout element of the dish was by far the creamy garlic sauce.

Though I didn't like to think about how much cream cheese was in it, it truly made the dish what it was. The sauce added much-needed moisture to both the potatoes and the pork chops, while adding a ton of flavor from the garlic and Parmesan cheese.

You can find the recipe by Eatwell101 here.

I would definitely make this recipe — and all the other fall slow cooker recipes I tried — over and over again.