How to make slow cooker cheesy unstuffed shells made with ground turkey

Slow cookers are great when you're heading out for the day and want to come home to a comforting homemade meal. Sometimes, however, they're great when you just have stuff to do around the house and don't want to be fussing over a hot stove for an hour or so. Enter the recipe that follows. It's an easy way to satisfy a pasta craving without having to worry about making additional sauces or even baking it in the oven.

This recipe does have a couple of additional steps, so why not just make it on the stovetop? Well, in addition to being able to tend to the garlic bread or salad instead, cheese does something wonderful in the slow cooker –especially the cream cheese this recipe uses. It melts slowly, which allows it to coat every single piece of pasta and really soak into the ground turkey, giving it a nutty, salty flavor that blends rather than stands out. Also, when you add the pasta and water at the end, it won't turn out rubbery like some other slow cooker pasta dishes tend to do.