beans & cornbread

Beans & Cornbread

Beans & Cornbread is easy to make and easy to mess up.  It could go either way. 

If you've never made pinto beans before you must soak them before you cook them.  If you don't, its a mess.  Seriously.

So, get about 1 pound of dry pinto beans and about 2 cups of water

  

Pour the dry beans in a bowl and put the water over them, you want them to be covered.  Sort through the beans and get any weird stuff like rocks out.

After the beans soak up the first 2 cups of water [or however much it took you to cover yours] add more water until they are covered again.  Let the beans soak for several hours.  I left mine in water overnight.

After the beans have soaked properly, drain them in a colander. 

The soaked beans should be ready to go into your favorite trusty cooking pot.  This is my favorite cooking pot.  My mother had sent it to me as a gift one year and I called to thank her for it and it turns out the company she sent the pot from had actually sent the wrong item. She never ordered a cooking pot for me, but I kept it anyway. 

Put enough water to cover the beans and turn the heat up to medium..         

cover the pot with a fitted lid and wait for... 

30 minutes!  Mine actually started boiling before then so about 15-20 minutes you should check them.  If they're pretty hot and boiling good enough turn the heat on about 2-3/simmer.  

   

At this point, I add stuff.  I didn't measure any of it either.

  

I also added 3 or 4 bullion cubes.

  

I like to buy pre-cooked meat that is already chopped, it's worth it.  Seriously, who wants a big ole' ham hock in their beans?  Not me.

I took the time to cut it up even more and cook it longer in the skillet before adding it to the beans.  

                                                                      add the ham..

stir it up.

 omg, don't forget the jalepenos!

stir in some jalepenos and cover and continue to simmer the beans.. 

wait it out...               

In the meantime, make your cornbread.  I like to use Jiffy brand mix.  The recipe calls for 1/3 cup of milk and 1 egg along with the contents of the package.  I like to add a little bit of sharp cheddar shredded cheese and jalepenos to the mix.

 plain cornbread..

 add some cheese

 stirrr.

 grease a cooking dish with butter

 smooth batter out into greased dish.

 add some jalepenos ..

 push them into batter with a fork or spoon or whatever you're using.  add some more cheese to the top, bake in preheated 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes

                                                        

yumyum.

back to the beans..  

if they seem to still be too watery after all that simmering, turn the heat up to medium and take the lid off for a while.

........................

these look done. 

 ^_^