I use mine a lot for spaghetti sauce. I cook the sauce in the crockpot, then when its done I cook elbow macaroni or Ziti, drain and add it to the sauce and keep it on warm.
I used to make my sauce from scratch but now I start with a chunky, garden style. I brown ground chuck, onions and green peppers and add to the sauce, with just a scant drop of anise or a few anise seeds. Go easy on the anise but its sooo good in there! You should not use enough that you can tell its anise when its done, but it adds a flavor similar to adding extra bay leaves. I keep anise seeds on hand for Pizzelle cookies, so they are usually what I add. A co-worker told me of this 20 yrs. ago and my first thought was yuk! But I tried it and have used it ever since.