Kathy's Kitchen, Nutty Shakes and Two Slow Cooker Chili

It’s no April fool—you get two recipes this time.

 

From Mary:

 

Two slow cooker Chili

 

Ingredients:

4 pounds lean hamburger meat

1 pound breakfast pork sausage

1 large onion

2 packages (1 ounce each) Williams Chili Mix

4 bottles (12 ounces each) Heinz Chili sauce

1 cup Pace Picante Medium Chunky Salsa

2 cans chili beans (My daughter Christie substituted the equivalent of one can of beans with leftover bean soup.)

 

Chop the onion. Cook the onion with the meat in a large skillet. With a slotted spoon, dip the meat and onion from the skillet and add the other ingredients to a large bowl. Stir. Cook in two medium slow cookers for four hours.

 

 

NUTTY SHAKE 

 

I found this shake recipe in some of my old files when I was searching through for memoir-worthy stuff. I have no idea where I got the recipe from, or when, because there was no date, but I was tickled that it says to pour over the sink. That does sound like a suggestion I would be liable to give in Kathy’s Kitchen, or even in a lesson as a rehab teacher.

 

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

2 cups milk

2 cups chocolate ice cream, softened

 

In a big bowl, place the peanut butter; pour in the milk and mix with a fork. Add ice cream; mix with an egg beater until    everything is foamy. Pour the milk shake into four glasses.  Pour over the     sink in case you spill. 

Helpful Hints From Kathy's Kitchen

The first time I cooked was when I moved into a houseful of girls in college. After much help, a lot of frustration, and a few tears, I learned to love cooking.

It wasn’t long before I was able to laugh with my friends over some of the mishaps I had. From time to time you could hear any of the girls in the house call out: “Helpful hint from Kathy’s kitchen.” Examples:  “For best results, remove fork from plate before closing microwave door … To save time when serving brownies, leave utensil in pan while brownies are baking … For cleaner kitchen, turn off mixer before lifting it from cake batter … When baking hamburgers, use deeper pan than cookie sheet, unless, of course, you prefer to have grease running out of oven onto kitchen floor …” And so on.

Thirty-five years later, after many hours and experiences with cooking, I decided to start up Kathy’s Kitchen again. This time, I’ll share some of my favorite recipes, as well as some others have shared with me.

And you never know when a new helpful hint might also appear.

Please send me any recipe, or special hint, you’d like to be distributed by Kathy’s Kitchen.

This first recipe is from the kitchen of my mother, Lila Mae Brinkmann. One of my favorites when I was growing up.

BOSTON BROWN BREAD

Boil two cups water; Add two cups raisins, two heaping teaspoons baking soda and two heaping tablespoons margarine.  Let this mixture soak for four or five hours.  Then add two teaspoons cinnamon, three cups flour, two cups sugar, and two eggs.  Mix and pour into two greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes.

Variation: My mom always made several round loaves out of these, pouring the batter into 16-ounce vegetable cans. They were such cute little loaves.

This method never worked well for me. Helpful hint: “To save time cutting bread, after baking, simply dump loaf out of can onto serving plate. It will fall into several edible pieces.”