Have you ever had a ham hock that you saved with the good intentions of making bean and ham soup? Ok, good...glad I'm not the only one. I always have good intentions of making bean soup. Why? Well, because I just love bean and ham soup! It's just that I forget about it, or forget to soak the bean, or well, you get the idea. This time I did it!
I had a ham hock leftover from Christmas in my freezer. Yesterday I was so excited to rinse the beans and get started on making soup. My supper plans consisted of bean soup, that was it. I did the rapid soak and was getting ready to get my soup started. I was proud of myself that I was starting early enough in the day to have soup ready for supper. The beans soaked for their hour as the directions said. Then I finally read past the first line of the recipe which told me that I was going to let my soup simmer for 3 - 3 1/2 hours. Ummm...I only had an hour and a half, so there went my good mommy plan for the day. We resorted to tuna and cheese melts. Ok fine, I'll be honest...*I* resorted to a TGIFriday's frozen meal of Chicken and Pasta Carbonara. The rest of the family happily gobbled up the tuna and cheese melts.
Back to the bean soup! I let the beans soak over night and the soup simmered all day. The girls were a little weirded out by the ham hock, but it was all good in the end. Tonight we enjoyed a delicious pot of bean soup and I'm so happy that I actually used the ham hock this time.
11 comments:
O.K. I am so glad that you explained this because earlier when I was talking to you I thought you meant that you were going to have the girls bundle up and go outside in the sub zeros temps to eat their bean soup on the hammock!
Good job Laura! I do that ALL the time and I am so bummed when I do. I am getting better. We used black bean salsa with black-eyed-peas for our New Year's black-eyed-peas fix and then tossed the leftover with chicken broth, leftover chicken and a can of diced tomatoes for tortilla soup. It was wonderful!
Where does Heather come up with this stuff?? lol!!
I weirded out my husband once when I called him over to "look at these pretty beans! Aren't they just beautiful when they're washed?"
It was then that he knew, beyond any shadow of doubt, that I had indeed crossed a line over which he was not willing to go.
I was alone in my open admiration...
Your picture captures their essence wonderfully!
As I rinsed them that day, I just let them run under the water and through my fingers. I thought the colors were just amazing. And I thought to myself what a great God we serve, who even makes *beans* beautiful!
As an aside to that, I'll risk being completely irreverant and admit that as a stay-at-home mother of 7 homeschooled kids, some days it doesn't take much to impress me...
think: What do you know?! It's noon and I'm already done with my shower!!
I laughed when I saw the picture. I didn't even have to read to know what it was about, LOL!! I have good intentions ALL the time...and more times than not they fall thorugh. :( It's part of my charm......right?
--Hayl
CIM
Eat beans in the hammock! ROFL
We almost always end up having bean soup a day or two later than I had planned. :) Still haven't figured out the whole ADVANCE preparation part! Will you post the recipe for us?
Nope, not me. I always prepare things WELL in advance and every plan of mine is carried out to completion (not to mention perfection). I am also confused by the fact that you ate something other than what your children ate... that has also never happened in our house. Sorry... can't relate today... too busy being perfect!
Thanks for bringing me back to the reality of not being "Mother of the Year", Bets! I'll never win against you...sigh.
I wouldn't expect you to even try... it's really a HARD job~ and the crown I have to wear every day is so heavy~ and the evening gowns that I wear while I do things like cook and scrub floors (all while remaining flawlessly clean) really do get tiring.... Mother of the Year isn't all it's cracked up to be! :)
Just wondered if you guys needed me to pick you up some air freshener at Wal-Mart?
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