In a nutshell.....brown your meat-(not a necessity-but looks better,and can add to flavour),put into slow cooker with seasonings, add a very small amount of liquid,turn on to high for one hour,then continue cooking on medium. I did 4 chicken thighs in mine last night-put them in at 3-3.30-ate at 8pm.
I had a 3.5ltr cooker...when I broke the crock-I fell back on a tiny one that I had....I find the smaller one does a better and much quicker job....maybe because the heat is concentrated more.