Tag Archives: beans
Travels in the South
Hello sweet friends to the first Travels in the South for 2017! Today I want to show you something that comes from the kitchen of the Hotel Thompson. You are going to love this!
When my pet rock was visiting Miss Harper Lee and Tallulah Bee in New Orleans, Louisiana, Bashful got hooked on a specialty there named Red Beans and Rice. If you look here, you will find the recipe and pictures from that trip.
Well when Bashful came home, there were some of those amazing Camellia beans in his package. So you know mom had to try them. So this past Monday, mom put on a huge pot just like Miss Harper Lee’s mom does on Mondays.
When it was ready to serve, mom whipped up some rice and of course her homemade cornbread to go with dinner. And let me tell you, it is an awesome recipe. Dad had two bowls! Does that tell you anything?
So friends – there you go. A dish from mom’s kitchen! Thanks Miss Harper for the recipe and wonderful beans. This just might be our weekly dinner on Monday’s now. ❤
Travels in the South
Today, we are going to step back and reminisce over a great meal with some great friends, Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats. If you remember, they visited us here at the Hotel Thompson earlier this year in February. Well I came across some pictures that were taken that mom/dad forgot to share. After you see this pictures, you will understand why mom/dad didn’t share them with me. In fact, I’m going to let mom take it from here so I don’t have to discuss this. I’m sure you will understand. Take it away mommy!
“Thanks Bacon. For obvious reasons friends, you will understand why Bacon didn’t want to be any part of today’s Travels in the South. I do have to say that owning a shall we call P.I.G. it does make it difficult to partake in some foods here at the Hotel Thompson. For those obvious reasons, when the need kicks in to eat pork we go out. And yes, we have had conversations with Bacon that he is definitely not that kind of pig – thank goodness.
When Bill an
d Jean visited, there is a really good barbeque restaurant near us that the hub unit likes to visit from time to time. I mean come on, you know sometimes you get the *need* for delicious food. We took Jean and Bill to this restaurant.
The first course was an appetizer of “Redneck Egg Rolls”. Okay we are in the south and it was appropriate, right? They take egg roll sheets, fill them with smoked pulled pork, homemade cole slaw and jack cheese. Then they deep fry them until they are golden brown. They serve them with a smokey ranch dipping sauce. Can you say yum? These are good, crispy and really you will want more. The hub unit just can’t get enough.
Then no one could really decide what to get so we ordered the feast for four. It came with the works – slice pork, ribs, chicken and brisket. Then don’t forget all of the sides – french fries, cole slaw, baked beans and garlic toast. No way was the plate emptied by the time everything was done. But I will tell you this – we walked away with full bellies and not just from the food.
We laughed. We talked. We spoke of the past. We spoke of the future. Sometimes there was even silence. Not bad silence. The kind of silence you get with great friends when everyone is happy and feeling so loved.
Just because you are out of sight from the ones you love, it doesn’t mean you are out of our thoughts. We look forward to the next time sweet friends ❤ “
Blogger Action Day – Year of the Bean
Today my friends at WhattheDucks is celebrating Blogger Action Day in Celebration of Year of the Bean! This is what their blog said on 1/27/2016:
“To join in, all you have to do is post something about beans, legumes or pulses on your own blog that day . Share a recipe, upload a photo, write an ode to a chickpea! Beans are good & blogging is good fun. Hope to hear from as many bloggers as possible. Even if some folks don’t know beans about beans, maybe you do! Happy Year of the Bean, peeps!”
With that being said and being from the South – you just know that my mom is going to celebrate The Black-Eyed Pea. Black-eyed peas are a staple here in the south. On the first day of the new year, you have to serve them and collard greens for dinner. It’s a tradition. It’s thought by doing so, it brings prosperity to the new year. And between you and me, mom makes sure they are on the table… you know just in case.
Now dad is not a huge fan of the black-eyed pea. Therefore mom has to ‘doctor’ them up and give them such a flavor that dad eats an entire dish and then says that was wonderful without knowing what he ate… snorts – sounds like my mom huh? Well, I’m going to head out because mom says that I don’t need to know how these are cooked. She has a glint in her eye and I’m thinking it involves pig. So here you go my friends – mom’s recipe.
Now, I wasn’t able to make these before today – I know – I know. There’s been so much going on here at the Hotel Thompson that it’s been unreal. But I wanted to share with you my recipe for these wonderful understated beans. Now this picture to the right is off of the internet under a google search of images. Doesn’t it look amazing?! They really are – if you’ve never tried them, you *must* at least once. Now, I’ve asked Bacon to leave the blog because it does involve P.O.R.K. products which we don’t use here unless Bacon is out for the day. Here’s the recipe to my Spicy Black-Eyed Peas:
UPDATE: Lori brought it to my attention a very important step that my fast fingers left out – LOL. The day before you make this recipe, you want to soak your package of black-eyed peas. Shaking my head – how could I leave this step out? What I do is the night before, before I go to bed I take a pot and fill it with water and add some salt. I pour the package of black-eyed beans in the water – enough to cover – and then put the lid on the pan. I leave this pan on the counter over night while we sleep. The next day, I will drain them dry for cooking them at brunch/lunch. The beans absorb the water softening them for cooking this recipe.t
Take 4 slices of any type of bacon that you like. We prefer the thick cut or pancetta – which ever you have on hand. I find it easier to go ahead and cut the bacon into small pieces and fry up in your iron skillet – we all have one here in the south 🙂 Once the bacon is done, scoop it out of your skillet and put on a napkin to drain the excess fat. Put this aside for later.
Take one 16 ounce package of dried black-eyed peas that you have washed and add them to iron skillet that still has your bacon drippings. Add fresh or a 12 ounce can of diced chilies and stir the two together. Add fresh or a 12 ounce can of diced tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add 3 cups of water and combine everything together. Cover the skillet and cook for approximately 1 hour. Now some people also add a diced onion to the party – we don’t here because Jim doesn’t care for them. It’s a personal preference what you put in your beans. While they are cooking, I will usually make some cracklin’ cornbread.
When the beans are done, scoop them out into a bowl and top them with some of your crumbled bacon. Enjoy.
Shopping Around the World
Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month. It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures from around the world!
Items to price this month:
FIVE items of your CHOICE – Something that you go to when making the family dinner. Perhaps this is one of your family’s favorite? A quick meal? A snack? List your FIVE items and discuss what the meal is. Having pictures will also be fantastic to share.
Having this in mind and that it has been raining and yucky a lot this week, mom went for something that was warm and soul comforting. First up, get out that crockpot that has been sitting in your cabinet not earning its keep. Wash it out and put it on the counter. Then grab a box of slow cooker liners. (You will thank me for this later.) Put one of the liners in the crock pot – they are awesome. Easy cleaning which is right up my mom’s ally. This is what the box looks like. You can usually buy a box in the grocery store for around $2.00 – don’t worry, they won’t melt in the crock pot. Now h
ere is what else you will need:
Now let’s break it down. One box of Zatarain’s New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice ($2.49); one package of Smoked Sausage ($2.00) and one bottle of Francis Coppola Pinot Noir ($20.00). Open the bottle of Pinot Noir and pour yourself a glass to enjoy. Open the box of Zatarain’s and pour contents into crock pop with the directions on the box in adding water. Then with a sharp knife, slice the entire package of sausage into tiny mouth sized bites. Now here’s the important part to remember.
1) Make sure your glass of Pinot Noir never gets empty. Repeat often and necessary while cooking in the kitchen. 2) While putting the ingredients together, chopping and drinking, make repeated groans to show how much you are working in preparing dinner. This goes well when the spouse and children are in the next room. Let them think that you are really overdoing in your cooking capabilities.
Now, throw that cut up sausage in the crock pot, put on the lid and place the dial on high for a couple of hours.
Now remember that glass – don’t let it be empty. When the Red Beans and Rice is almost done – trust me you will smell the fabulous aroma throughout your crib, turn on your oven. Mom uses these Dinner Yeast Rolls. She bought the entire pack at Sam’s for around $10. She pulls out for, sticks them in a pan and sprays them with butter and then pops them in the oven to warm up.
In the meantime, she sets the table and tells everyone to clean up and get ready for dinner. Now, remember the crockpot? Open up and serve. Afterwards if you have any leftover, remove them and then pull the bag out of the crockpot and toss it in the garbage – the crockpot is now clean 🙂
.And here is the final product. Look at all of those spices and yum-yum!
Shopping Around the World
My friend Fozzie and I have scheduled a group posting today of Shopping Around the World. We thought it would be interesting to see the differences between different countries all over.Here are our prices for the following from our area – Georgia USA.
Items to price this month:
- Milk. Mom usually buys 1/2 gallon store brand which lately has been on sale for $1.00
- Tomatoes. Mom loves Roma tomatoes. They are small but meaty. She bought some for the dinner at $1.29 a pound – that was about 4 tomatoes.
- Canned Product. Black beans. How could you possibly go wrong with black beans – especially when you can buy store brand for a $1.00 a can. Mom bought two cans for the meal.
- Homemade Dish. Jalapeno Cornbread with Black Beans 🙂 yum – see below
- Random Item of your choice. Jalapeno. Mom bought one very large one and it only cost $0.69 the day she was at the market.
Okay my friends. Mommy went easy – really easy on this month’s Shopping Around the World – go mom! She was able to combine all of her prices and items into the Homemade Dish – which is one of our favorites here at the Hotel Thompson.
Jalapeno Cornbread made with with a diced up Jalapeno (according to taste how much you throw in), cup of milk, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 cup of cornmeal and shredded cheddar cheese. We have a small iron skillet that will serve four slices of cornbread. Mix ingredients, except for shredded cheddar cheese, and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. When done turn over skillet onto a plate and top with shredded cheddar cheese.
Black Beans with tomatoes, diced Jalapeno’s and diced red onions. So easy here – snorts. Open store bought black beans and heat over the stove on medium heat. Add a little chicken broth (or whatever broth you have on hand), diced Jalapenos (to taste for heat) and diced tomatoes. When bubbles, turn down to low and stir.
When bread is ready, spoon black beans into bowl and top with more diced tomatoes. Mom even added some cilantro into the mix this date. A meal made for a king and queen. Filling and hot for a cold rainy night that we seem to be having a LOT of lately. Happy eats my friends.
Oh… and this entire meal when you break it down ends up to be around less than $6.00 for two people.
I hope you had fun my friends with this month’s edition of Shopping Around the World. Hope to see you shopping soon!
Canned Bread Anyone?
A while back Nana 
gave mommy a can of this B&M Brown Bread with raisins. It’s something that Nana’s mom used to fix when she prepared beanie weenies. Mom and dad had never had it. It sat in the pantry cabinet whispering to mom to try it every night when she prepared dinner. It was like a stalker, “Try me tonight.” “I’m good”. “Really I am”.
Finally this past weekend, mom got the nerve. She had dinner in the oven (of course beanie weenies) and it needed a bread of some sort to go with it. She opened the pantry cabinet and this can of bread literally jumped out into mom’s arms in a final fleet of escape. Mom thought what the heck.
She put her iron skillet on the stove and started melting some butter. Then she looked at the can, kind of scared at first on how to go about opening it. She opened one end of the can and knocked it several times on the cutting board hoping the bread would fall through. It didn’t. Okay. You wanna fight can? She then opened the other end of the can and pushed the bread through. Can – zero and mom – one.
The bread. Well let’s just say that it looked unappealing. With a thud it dropped out onto the counter looking miserable.
That’s when the butter that was melting came into play in the iron skillet. Mom cut the lump of bread into slices, coated them with the butter in the skillet and warmed them up. She had doubts. Trust me – we ALL had doubts about this so called bread in a can. While it was warming, mom finished up her beanie weenies. She then plated the bread and sat it on the table.
Mom and dad sat down and stared at their plates for a while. Mom was like, “You try it first.” And dad was like, “No, you try it first.” Humans – they are so weird. Then they both looked at me and said, “Let’s get Bacon to try it. He likes everything.” Why does that sound faintly familiar? Snorts
I tried it. I liked it. But was I really the one to test this out? I think not. So dad got brave. He picked up a piece and bit it. Mom waited for a few minutes to see if he got sick or repulsed. And guess what. He didn’t. He liked it. He really liked it. So mom tried some. And guess what? She liked it too. It really wasn’t bad. It’s a little dense but it went great with the beanie weenies. Would they try it again. Yep… and so would I.
Have you ever tried this kind of bread in a can? I highly recommend you at least trying it once. You know broaden your food horizons like my mom and dad. They were scared at first but welcomed the challenge. You?
Piglove 