Ham Beans

I rarely use my Crockpot...so it's sort of ironic that my first blog post is a Crockpot recipe.  I know the Crockpot has been around since the 70s, but I've been seeing tons of Crockpot recipes on Facebook and Pinterest lately...which makes me think it's a new trend...or maybe it's new to me because I'm a new mom...maybe it's always been a trend for busy moms everywhere...

I also LOVE a good bowl of beans and cornbread when the weather gets cold.  And so does my husband.  Winter has finally arrived in Oklahoma after an exceptionally brutal summer and a relatively warm fall.  So Monday night we had wonderful, steamy, comforting bowls of ham beans and cornbread.

Ingredients:  dry assorted beans, ham hock, onion, canned diced tomatoes, chili powder, lemon juice, garlic, salt (I always use Kosher salt) and pepper.

Dump the beans into your Crockpot.

Cover them with water.  Let the beans soak overnight.

The next morning, drain the beans in your favorite vintage blue Martha Stewart colander (or any old colander you have lying around).

Put the beans back in the pot and cover with water.

Add a ham hock.

Chop up the onion.  Try not to cry.

And add it to the pot.

Add the can of tomatoes.

And some chili powder.

Juice a lemon right into the pot.

Mince some garlic and add it to the pot as well.

Then give it all a good stir.

Cover, set the Crockpot to low and go about your day.

IMPORTANT:  REMEMBER TO PLUG IN THE CROCKPOT! 

True story:  as I was making this I was so caught up in taking the pictures for my first ever blog post that I forgot to plug in the damn Crockpot.  GAH!  Lucky for me, I work from home and noticed when I went into the kitchen an hour or so later that the pot was still cold. Imagine coming home from work - expecting dinner to be ready - to find that it hasn't cooked at all!  I'm sure it has happened to someone...if it were me I'd be drinking wine for dinner...paired cleverly with a Chelada from Taco Casa.

If you remember to plug in your Crockpot, in about 8 hours dinner will be waiting for you to eat it!

Remove the ham hock.

Add salt and pepper to taste.  There is an old wives tale that says if you salt beans while they are cooking they won't soften.  I don't know if it's true, but I'm not willing to risk it.  Add the salt AFTER they are cooked.

Pour yourself a few heaping ladles of this wonderful stuff into a bowl.

Ta Da!  You can add Tobasco, hot pepper juice, chow chow, scallions, more lemon juice...anything you think will make your own personal bowl of beans extra yummy!

Next, cut yourself a large piece of cornbread and slather it with butter.  Then tear it into chunky pieces and plop it right into your bowl.  Or you can start with cornbread in the bowl and ladle the beans over it.  There is no wrong way to eat beans and cornbread...at least not in Oklahoma.
Copy and paste this recipe into Word for a printable version:

1 20 oz. pkg. dry assorted beans
1 ham hock
1 onion, chopped,
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 tsp. chili powder
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste (I always use Kosher salt)

Dump the beans into your Crockpot.  Cover with 2 qts. of water.  Let the beans soak overnight.  The next morning, drain the beans.  Put the beans back in the pot and cover with water.  Add the ham hock, chopped onion, canned tomatoes, chili powder, lemon juice and garlic.  Give it a good stir.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until beans are tender.  Once they are done, add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with cornbread and garnish with items like Tobasco, hot pepper juice, chow chow, scallions, more lemon juice, etc.

Source: Hurst's HamBeens