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.