Slow Cooker Chuckwagon Chili

Who says you should only use your slow cooker in the winter? I use mine year round - it is especially great to use when it's hot outside, that way you don't have to heat up the kitchen. I am STILL using the slow cooker that I got as a wedding present 19 1/2 years ago!! The past Wednesday afternoon, the hubby called and told me that his bike had a flat tire. Since he rode his bike to work, that meant I would need to go pick him up right around the time I usually start our dinner. I decided that I was going to make some "chuckwagon" chili, the "chuck" being a great looking piece of boneless chuckeye steak the hubby had picked up earlier in the week at Meijer. I had a small "window" of time between when I got back from taking Dominic to music therapy and when I needed to pick up the hubby to put it all together.  I am not a "cowgirl," but I certainly feed hungry people daily here at Cathy's Kitchen. Two little bits of chuckwagon "trivia." What do you think it means if a cowboy yelled, "man at the pot!" when they saw you pouring yourself a cup of coffee? It meant the cowboy wanted another cup of coffee. I'm going to try that tomorrow morning when the hubby is getting himself a cup :)  A second little bit of trivia-  the container for putting food scraps after a meal is called a "squirrel pan."  I wonder what my family would do if I said, "go put all your food scraps into the squirrel pan!" I'm guessing they would have NO idea what I was talking about! Around here, whenever I make chili, I also make up some elbow noodles to put underneath. Would you believe I had never done that until the first time I made chili for my hubby and he was asking, "so, where are the elbow noodles?" That was the only way he ever ate chili growing up in Cleveland!

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds boneless chuckeye steak,
  cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons white flour
3 tablespoons canola oil
15.5 ounce can red kidney beans,
  undrained
14.5 ounce can chili ready diced tomatoes,
  undrained
15.5 ounce can Great Northern beans, undrained
8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Using a zippered top gallon size plastic bag, put the flour and the chuckeye steak. Close the top and then shake until all the pieces of meat are covered. In a large frying pan, put the three tablespoons of canola oil. Cook over low to medium heat until the pieces of chuckeye steak are no longer pink in the middle. Drain off any grease and set aside.  In a 2 1/2 quart slow cooker, put the red kidney beans, diced tomatoes, Great Northern beans and the tomato sauce. Add the chili powder and cinnamon. Stir together with a large spoon and then add the meat.  Mix well and then cover and cook for 3 hours on high. Top with shredded cheese if desired. Makes four servings.

White Chocolate Saltine Cracker Toffee

White chocolate chips are one baking item I don't use too often, based on previous not so great experiences. White chocolate can be, well, "temperamental." I have made saltine cracker toffee with semi-sweet chocolate chips and it doesn't last long here. I was curious if I made the toffee with white chocolate if it would be just as popular. Well, guess what? All of my regular "customers" that are "permanent" visitors to Cathy's Kitchen couldn't shovel it down fast enough. When I took a peek into the container just now that's in the fridge to see how many toffee pieces we had left, Dominic came over and asked for a "chewy," which is his nickname for them. If you can believe it, there are only two pieces remaining. Hmm, there are four of us that live here. You know what that means, don't you? Time to make some more!!

Ingredients

37 1/2 saltine crackers
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
11.5-ounce package white chocolate chips
  (I used Kroger's Private Selection brand)
 ** (Nestle and Hershey's both make 12-ounce
        packages of white chocolate chips
       which are fine to use in this recipe)
Sprinkles, if desired

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a jelly roll pan (11 inches x 17 inches) with aluminum foil and lightly spray with non-stick spray. Line up the saltine crackers in rows, so the entire pan is filled. Set aside.  In a medium saucepan, put the two sticks of butter and the brown sugar and slowly bring to a boil. Stir constantly for three minutes. Pour the mixture over the saltine crackers and bake in the oven for five minutes. Remove pan and then immediately distribute all the white chocolate chips on top of the crackers. When the chips begin to melt, spread with a knife, so all the crackers are covered. Put sprinkles on top, if desired. Let cool completely at room temperature for three hours or until the white chocolate has hardened up. If you want it to harden up quicker, put in the fridge (that's what I did). Break off into pieces with your hands.  Store covered in the fridge for up to three days.

Lazy Lady Chocolate Cake

When I first came across this recipe in my mother-in-law's vast "collection," I have to admit I was more than a little intrigued. How could I not be, just based on the name?!?!?!?! It's definitely an "unusual" name for a chocolate cake, isn't it? As I read through this recipe to make sure I had all the ingredients, I was trying to figure out why the word "lazy" would be in the title. Well, for starters, you don't need a bowl to mix all the ingredients, you prepare it all in the pan you will be using to bake it in. Okay, well that's one thing that makes this cake easier, one less dish to wash! I was thinking there had to be something else that made this cake, well, "unique." As I read to the end of the recipe, I discovered the other reason.  After you pull the cake out of the oven, while it is still piping hot, you put three Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars right on top. No need to make frosting!  I had visions of the bars melting so much that it would end up being a big chocolate puddle on top. Well, guess what? That didn't happen! Whew. This cake is totally scrumptious and I didn't feel like a "lazy" lady at all making it :)

Ingredients

3 cups white flour
2 cups white sugar
5 tablespoons baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

Topping

Three 1.55 ounces Hershey's
   Milk Chocolate bars
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In an ungreased 9 x 13-inch baking pan, put the flour, sugar, baking cocoa, baking soda and salt. Mix well with a fork. Make three "wells" in the dry mixture - one large, one medium and one small.  In the largest "well," put the canola oil, in the medium "well," put the vinegar and in the smallest "well," put the vanilla extract. Pour cold water over entire mixture and combine well with fork. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and put pan on a wire rack. Immediately place the three milk chocolate bars right on top of the cake. In five minutes or less, the chocolate bars will begin to melt. As they do, spread the chocolate evenly across the cake with a knife. When cool enough to eat and the topping has hardened up just a bit, dig in! Store covered at room temperature. Serves 12-16.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are ALWAYS a big hit in our house.  What do you think could make sugar cookies even better? How about chocolate?!?! Who doesn't love chocolate, right? I found a recipe for "old-fashioned" sugar cookies in a 1959 edition of, The Fannie Merritt Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook."  Under the "sugar cooky variations," section, yes, cookie was spelled cooky, there was a chocolate sugar cookie variation. These cookies were so popular in Cathy's Kitchen, that we just have one left from the two dozen I made less than a week ago! I wonder which one of the four of us here will be quick enough to get the last one? I'm taking a wild guess that it will be between Lauren and Dominic!

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar,
  plus 1 tablespoon reserved
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1 1/4 cup white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside. In a large bowl, put the ingredients in the order above. With a large spoon, combine by hand until the batter begins to form and all the ingredients are well incorporated. In small bowl, put the one tablespoon of reserved white sugar. Set aside. Roll the cookie dough into 24 equal-sized balls and then with the bottom of a drinking glass, first press into the reserved white sugar and then press down onto the cookie. Add sprinkles if desired, like I did! FYI - these cookies don't spread very much at all while baking. When I pulled the first batch of cookies out of the oven, they were slightly bigger than a quarter. I pressed down slightly harder for the second dozen.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies start to get firm on the top. Remove from oven and let them sit about 3 minutes on the cookie sheet. Gently remove from cookie sheet and let them continue to cool on a wire rack.  Store in a covered container at room temperature for up to one week (if they last that long in your house)!