Reading a Recipe

Besides reading literary works, I also enjoy a good cookbook.  I especially enjoy cookbooks with recipes to prepare in my slow cooker.  Tonight I'm trying something new and roasting a chicken in my crockpot. Has anyone ever done that?  I found a few different recipes online, as my cookbooks didn't have a recipe for this.
When you find a new recipe do you follow it directly?  Mostly I follow a recipe to the letter the first time I am preparing it.  I want to make sure whatever it is, it's going to taste as good as it looks in pictures.  Some things, like the chicken I'm roasting, I use my own spices that I enjoy on that type of food.  I'm trying to live a salt free life, which is not as difficult as a wheat free life, so I rarely use salt unless a new recipe calls for it.  A lot of items that you have to bake call for salt.  I wonder why that is?

Here is a picture of my collection of cookbooks.  Until I've had them out like this, I didn't realize that I had such an affinity to Southern Living.

What is your favorite recipe?  Share it with me in the comments, if it's not a family secret!!

My Cookbooks