Comfort Food

Beans and Cornbread

I don't know about you, but I love beans and cornbread! Now, I wouldn't want it everyday but there is something so wonderful about beans simmering on the stove. We went to a mountain man reenactment for a homeschool field trip and a lady there was cooking beans in a cast iron pot. Over a real fire. It smelled so good so she graciously offered to show us and tell us how she did them. She had added chopped onions, bell peppers, celery and jalapenos to hers. I still have a dream of cooking beans like that in my back yard. The problem is, I don't have a cast iron pot. I have asked Hubby for one for my birthday. We'll see.....

This recipe/method of cooking beans is nowhere as rustic as that lady's. I will share the way I learned from my mom and how I still do beans now.

On this particular day, I used a 1 lb. bag of dry pinto beans. I really like to do 2 lb. so I can have plenty of leftovers to freeze for chili, taco salad, or any other foods that have pinto beans in them. I typically soak the beans overnight, but I didn't realize until Wednesday morning that I was going to make beans. I picked them over and rinsed them, then I put them in a pan to soak that morning.

After soaking for about 4 hours, it was time to start cooking them. Now, I have read that you're supposed to pour the soak water off and start with fresh water but I never do that. I'm not sure the reason for doing that.

I buy a lot of my spices in these containers at Sam's. I would typically put one whole chopped onion in the pan, but I was out of onions. I shook out maybe 3-4 tablespoons of dried minced onion into the pan instead. I also shook in some garlic powder.

I also put 2 chicken bullion cubes into the pan.

This is how the pot of beans looked after I added the seasonings. Make sure the beans always have plenty of water; they will cook down.

 

Simmer the beans for 2-3 hours. Not a boil, but definitely a good simmer. These are the finished product below.

 

 

Now for my gourmet, hard to make cornbread. Ready????????

 

 

I do have a homemade cornbread recipe I love to use, but this isn't it. Maybe I'll post about it another time. It's so inexpensive and all you do is follow the instructions.

 

Mix it all up. There's a reason why it's called Jiffy!

 

 

I don't have a picture of the finished product, but it's yummy good. By the way, I don't bake it in muffins either. I use an 8x8 cake pan. I love to put a big hunk 'o cornbread in a bowl, and then ladle the beans and plenty of juice right over the top. Mm---mmmm....

 

I did have some left so I put them in the freezer, but it's not enough for an entire meal for any reason.