Who doesn't love baked beans? I always have a couple of cans in my cupboard, ready to mix with weiners for a retro protein-packed snack. When I planned for slow cooking day, baked beans was my first thought. Nothing is more quintessentially American or (let's be honest here) easier.

I've tried to make baked beans before, and gotten frustrated with the long cooking time. Not this weekend. I started composing my soul of slow cooking post and got into a zen cooking space. I looked up at least five recipes, and they were all almost exactly the same - all started with two cups of navy beans (or, variously, "Great Northern" or "Michigan Navy" beans, which are almost the same thing), 5-6 cups of water, onion, bacon or salt pork, molasses, ginger, mustard and salt.

There were variations, of course; a little Worchestershire Sauce here, a little ketchup there. I ended up using the recipe for Boston Baked Beans from The Gourmet Slow Cooker, by Lynn Alley. It turned out fabulously, and I have only one piece of advice: cook it for a really, really long time! I cooked mine in an oven, for at least eight hours. It was delicious and so flavorful.

You leave the house in the dark. You come home in the dark. It's winter, and you yearn for a lovingly-cooked meal. Why not have it ready when you get home? Why not fill your house with the rustic aromas of slow cookery?

But I have a job, or, at least a life, I can hear you murmuring to yourself, shaking your head. I don't have a personal chef. I'll just throw a Lean Cuisine in the oven.

No! Stop! Put away that freezer meal. Freezers are for summer, when you eat ice cream and whir up smoothies with fresh fruit and yogurt. Winter is for slow cookers, for Crock-Pots and baking at low, low heat and, oh, the bountiful braise. Monday, January 23, we'll be celebrating all that is slow - all our recipes will cook at low heats for several hours. Nearly all of them can be mixed early in your day and set cooking, and the flavors will combine throughout the afternoon as the dish gets more, and more, and more tender, until it is meltingly delectable, until it sings on your tongue.

Classic slow-cooked meals were invented long before the Crock-Pot trademark was ever registered. Dishes like cassoulet and baked beans and Beef Bourguignonne hearken from centuries ago. Once, everything was cooked slow. We honor our culinary heritage. We long for food that has nothing "fast" about it.