What’s Cookin’? Holiday Ham & Beans!

Whenever there is a holiday that involves a bone-in ham ---Holiday Ham & Beans are sure to follow!

I love my crockpot.  I’ve had a long standing love affair with slow cookery since I received my first crockpot as a wedding gift in 1981.

Nothing frees up a quilter’s mind and time more than throwing together a meal early in the day to have it simmer for hours-- making the house smell wonderful – resulting in a yummy meal ready to serve without stress come dinner time.

This is one of my favorites ---and I had to write things down as I was cooking because I usually cook by pinches and bits off of the top of my head ---not by measuring.

Ingredients:
3 cups (or 1 lb) dried beans.  I use a 16 bean mix.
Wash and soak beans overnight as directed.

OR:

Rinse beans in cold water. Put them in a large pot and cover with about 3 inches of cold water. Bring almost to a boil (small bubbles appear around the edges of the pot), cover, and remove from heat. Let sit for 1 hour. Drain. The beans will be "soaked" and ready to cook.

Alternately you can soak beans on low in the crockpot over night.  Drain and rinse before continuing.

In the morning:

Place soaked beans and ham bone and any other meat you wish to use in the crock pot and cover with 6 cups of water.  Cook 4 to 6 hours on high. 

Yummy shredded ham off the bone!

You can tell by the sides of my crockpot that this has been simmering for hours!

When meat falls off bones, strain bones and meat from the crock pot and allow to cool until you can pick through it, removing any fatty bits, cartilage, and bones. Pull apart big pieces of meat into shreds or cut into small chunks.  Add meat back to crock pot with beans. Continue to cook until beans are tender, stirring occasionally.

When beans have reached soft stage and are almost ready to eat add the following:

1 medium onion, chopped.
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tsp dry yellow mustard
salt and pepper to taste.

Cook until flavors have blended and onion is soft.

Serve with a salad and  cornbread hot from the oven --- YUMMY!

*NOTE*  I tend to add more water  because I like mine to be more like a soup vs a thicker side dish as in Boston baked beans.  I also don't salt until the end because the ham has a lot of salt already.

We will be enjoying this until we leave for Dallas on Saturday.  Any leftovers freeze wonderfully!