Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Friday, February 9, 2018

The Best Soup Beans Ever ~ Holy Basil Question

I'm not from the south, and my husband has family that is from (and still lives) in the south.  I have been under pressure to get some real soup beans made, and I did. 

I'm back to share how I made mine.

They are what I call a "Home Grown Recipe" as it can be completely homegrown, other than the tiny bit of brown sugar I used.  Although I may attempt this with sorghum molasses in place of brown sugar, but Hubby may say "don't mess with this recipe!"  We have been growing pinto beans for a few years now, but we don't grow enough I think.  Anyway, here is how I made them, and Hubby absolutely raved over them.  I am pretty sure I got the "southern" part of it down right.



Home Grown Soup Beans
1 lb. pinto beans, organic, 
ham bone (I keep ham bones in the freezer after baking a ham)
water

Later you'll need
home canned herbed tomato sauce ( I can the Ball recipe)
brown sugar
salt

Rinse and soak pinto beans over night.  In the morning, drain, and rinse beans.  Now, at this point, you can cut any small bits of ham off the bone and place back in the refrigerator until soup is done.  My bone had about zero meat on it, however the soup still tasted wonderful.  

Wrap the bone in cheesecloth and tie with food grade string.  Place bone in center of crock pot.  Pour in pinto beans, add enough water to cover beans about 1 inch.  

Cook on high all day.  About 7 hours later remove bone.  Add in any ham bits, about 1/3 of a pint of home canned (herbed) tomato sauce, and 1 Tbsp. brown sugar. and 1 tsp. salt.  Cook 1 more hour.  Serve with corn bread.  I love buttermilk corn bread.

I am down to my last two ham bones now.  I've lucky to get them from family members too.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It's a bitter 12°F this morning, and it'll be a warm high of 42°F, which I hope will melt some snow.  Snow.  It's a word I'm beginning to dislike this winter.  We got dumped on last night.  So much, that school is closed.  I had a long shopping list, and errands to run, but it'll wait until Saturday or even next Monday now.  Hmpf.  Snow.  Sigh.....

Well, snowed in has its rewards too.  I'll get something deep cleaned, and I'll have a lot of time to work on that afghan. Not to mention more time to write.

Question for those who use Holy basil.  Has anyone taken it in capsule form on a regular basis?  And experienced any side effects?  I drink it in a tea for stress once in a while, but wondered about the capsule form, as spring planting approaches.  

I didn't have enough on the plant to dry any last summer.  It makes me wonder if having it on hand for highly stressful situations, if the capsules would be more efficient.

8 comments:

Rain said...

I'm getting tired of snow too, though I still find it lovely when it snows, and it's always so nice and quiet around here. There's more coming this weekend! Hibernation time! :)

Susan said...

Those soup beans sound so delicious! You have gotten more than your fair share of snow this winter - I usually last until March before I am so done with it, but not this year. Spring can come tomorrow!

mamasmercantile said...

My goodness more snow, does it ever end?

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Rain, it's usually quiet around here too, but we do get the occasional snow mobile whizzing around (driving the dogs nuts too).

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Susan, yes, I am so ready for spring. Even if it means a few weeks of sloshy muddy mess too.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

mamasmercantile, it was snowing again this morning too.

Henny Penny said...

Those beans sound wonderful, and I'm from the south...North Carolina. Mama cooked pinto beans at least once a week. She (and me too) cook the beans with a piece of fat back, and never add anything else, except salt. I really want to try your recipe, and I have a ham bone in the freezer. We always had cornbread too. Glad you shared your recipe. Thank you.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

You are welcome Henny Penny, and thanks for sharing your soup story with me too.