Journal of Healthier Living – Week 6

Welcome my friends.  I’m tweaking my weekly journey with my healthier living.  It’s a step in the right direction for sure.  I hope you come along for the ride.  Instead of day-to-day comments, I’m going to post something from my personal journal to share.  Hope you enjoy.  Remember all of us go down this path and we are all in it together ❤

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Week of 02/11-02/17/2018 – Week 6

“Dear Journal – Sometimes I think we beat ourselves up too much.  There is a line between challenging yourself to do better and pushing yourself over the edge.  If I push myself too much, it becomes something I *have* to do, a chore if you will, and my OCD gets tested.  If I leave it at the pace I’m going, I can fit it into my life where it becomes a habit in the end and not so much as a chore.  Shaking my head.  Life is full of complications – LOL.  But so far, I think I have this right now.  I do want to pick up the pace a bit more.  Now I’m trying to turn a 24 hour day into 36 hours.  Do I really need sleep?  Just joking – I love my sleep.  It’s hard to believe how things these days in the form of moving around is so much easier.  I’m so grateful that I had breast surgery.  I think I need to send the doctor a thank you note.”

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This week walked: 9.12

TOTAL 2018 Miles:  53.30

TOTAL 2017 Miles:  541.06

 ❤ small goals turn into big accomplishments ❤

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Okay my friends – another week with using the air fryer at the Hotel Thompson.  One of my biggest weaknesses foodwise is fried chicken.  It might be a southern thing.  It’s a huge comfort food here in the south.  And it’s something I was never able to work around with trying to lose weight but yet keeping my favorite food in the mix.  Who needs all of that grease that it’s deep fried in, right?

Well, I think I found my heaven.  Let me present to you Exhibit A – fried chicken (skinless and boneless) that was prepared in air fryer.  I put it on on the white napkins straight from the air fryer so that you could see – absolutely NO GREASE.  Look at the crispy outside and the inside was so juicy.  Better yet, I’ve found with the air fryer that you actually taste your food and not the grease that it is cooked in.  I seasoned my chicken before hand with salt/pepper and some pepper flakes.  I then dipped it in a seasoned egg mixture and then dipped it in a seasoned flour mix.  I then put the chicken in my air fryer.  The basket held five chicken thighs at one time.  I set the timer for 20 minutes on chicken at 380 degrees.  At 10 minutes, I stopped the timer and turned the chicken.  It came out this beautiful.  It was a HUGE hit here at the Hotel Thompson.

 

Carolina Reaper Chip

 

Spotlight Thursday – Meet Leia, Raven, Pepper, Michael and Precious

Spotlight Thursday

Welcome my friends to SPOTLIGHT THURSDAY.  This is the time that I will introduce you to one of my fellow anipals so you can get to know them better.  Some of them, you may already know.  We hope that you enjoy this series!

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Name:  

Leia: Well, there’s a lot of us, so who goes-

Raven: FIRST!

Pepper: Very mature, kid.

Michael: Have ya’ll ever noticed that your heads can fit in my mouth? How weird is that?

Precious: Will this take long? I haven’t seen the inside of my eyelids in a very long time.

Age:  

Pepper: Um, let’s see. Oldest to youngest? In that case Precious is –

Precious: Still young enough to kick your multi-colored tail if you finish that sentence.

Raven: I find it very odd that we all can tell time yet none of us can even read.

Michael: I’m sixteen months old. Not sure what a month is, but I am sixteen of them.

Leia: Oh for crying out loud. Precious is 12, Pepper is 6, I’m 5, and Raven is 8 months.

Location:  

Leia: I believe we’re in Houston.

Raven: Not exactly Houston. Well, it’s close enough.

Precious: Humble, we’re in Humble.

Pepper: Like, being humble, meek, lowly and that stuff?

Michael: Weird name for a place. I think it’s pronounced “umble” though.

Raven: That’s not how you say “humble”.

Michael: Dude, I know. 

Web/Blog Page:  http://Walkingthroughpain.com

Leia: You should check it out. Or else!

Pepper: Did you just threaten the audience?

Michael: What’s an audience?

Precious: It’s the people who will be reading this later.

Raven: So why not just call them people?

ALL: Ohhhh……

What were your first thoughts when you met your new parents?  

Michael: I was tearing it up with some of my bros, when all of a sudden…

Raven: These enormous hands came in and grabbed me...

Pepper: Next thing I knew, these faces were looking down on me…

Leia: And they hugged me and gave me food and let me chase the cats…

Precious: I infiltrated the male human’s domicile nigh on a decade ago, feigning an injured paw and utilizing my notable skills of stealth and deception in order to set myself up as the veritable queen of this domicile.

Michael: Pepper told me you got beat up and sounded like a tiny little kitten and daddy fed you scraps of –

Precious: Silence demon fluff dog!

What was the defining moment when you knew you were in your forever home?   

Leia: I’ve got an anxiety problem. I literally ate holes in the walls. And, well, mom and dad still kept me around.  That was unexpected.

Raven: I had a pretty bad rash on my side that really messed up the daily schedule for not only my parents, but for my brother and sisters. Sorry, guys.

Pepper: I think I’ve always known that mom and dad were going to be there for me. Then again, I was the cat equivalent of a toddler when they brought me home.

Precious: As my younger canine companion so eloquently stated earlier, I was in all senses of the word, a rescue. Dad found me one night with an injured paw, took me in, and the rest is history.

Michael: The first night I was brought home. They wouldn’t stop recording me. They had these big, goofy grins on their faces.

Leia: Your head fit in my mouth back then.

What has been your biggest “Oh no, now I’ve done it” moment so far in your home?   

Raven: I really haven’t been here long enough to cause much destruction. I did knock over the lamp a few days ago.

Michael: Did you break it?

Raven: No

Pepper: Doesn’t count.

Leia: I followed mom  and dad into the garage one time and hopped into the car. I thought we were going for a ride! Turns out, we weren’t. I freaked when they tried to get me out, and well, I peed in the car.

Everyone else: Hee, hee, hee.

Leia: Grrrrrrr!

Michael: Now, see, I peed literally every single night when I first came home. I had an excuse: I was a puppy.

Leia: Shut. Up.

Pepper: So when we moved to the house from the apartment a few years ago, we suddenly got these long, soft sheets hanging from the top of the windows –

Leia: Curtains. And you obliterated them.

Pepper: Yeah….those were a lot of fun.

Precious: Years ago, and I don’t remember much for the night was so traumatic, I supposedly walked up and down the hall, howling, and eventually, relieved myself on the floor. Obviously these accusations are baseless.

Who do you have wrapped around your paws more – mom or dad – and why?  

Leia: Mom. I just wriggled my way into her heart.

Michael: I was a white ball of fluff, of course mom loves me the most.

Pepper: I am an egalitarian paw wrapper.

Raven: You’re an eagle?

Pepper: Yes Raven, I am an eagle.

Raven: So cool. I’m an eagle, too.

Precious: You’ve got both mom and dad around your paws?

Raven: That, too.

Precious: The human male’s soul is mine and mine alone. Touch him not!

What’s the biggest misconception that humans think about you?  

Leia: The biggest misconception is that as a French bulldog, I should be more fancy. Well, I live in the US, sorry to disappoint.

Pepper: Oui.

Michael: The greatest misconception about me is that I will eat anything and everything in my path, leaving a wake of destruction so wide and vast it could only be called apocalyptic. All I want is some good play time and some snoozing.

Raven: The whole black cat stigma.

Precious: You’re not bad luck.

Raven: Exactly.

 

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❤ Hope you enjoyed meeting my friend – check back next week for another Spotlight edition! ❤

 

Shopping Around the World

Shopping Around the World this month is being hosted by our great friends Shoko and Kali with Canadian Cats – thanks ya’ll! ❤

  This month we are highlighting seafood recipes.  Now mom/dad usually go out to eat seafood but there is the rare occasion when mom uses the big box in the kitchen for something more than a paper weight and actually cooks dinner.  Now having this assignment of seafood, mom thought she would fix one of dad’s all time favorite meals in the world.  She fixed it and then dad sat and wondered did he miss an important date?  Was he in trouble for something?  Did mom overspend on a credit card?  What was the special occasion.  That’s when mom told dad that she loved him ❤  So, here it is my friends – mom’s seafood special.

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 Are you hungry yet looking at that picture?  I had to fix the hub unit’s favorite meal – ribeye steaks, french fries and fried shrimp.  Of course you don’t see the salad on the side.  I have to get the hub’s veggies in somewhere with this meal.  I’ll tell you the prices for everything and break down the shrimp for you.

◊ Ribeye Steak – I had some in the freezer.  I usually buy the entire loin and have the butcher cut them for me.  The last time I bought steaks, it cost me around $50 and I got 16 steaks. I then take them home and wrap everything up individually to freeze.  By buying the entire loin like this when it is on sale, the price per steak comes out around $3.15 per steak.  Two steaks $6.30

◊ Two large baking potatoes.  Buying a pack of potatoes at Sam’s Warehouse it costs $8.00 for about 20 potatoes.  That’s around $0.40 each potato.  Two potatoes $0.80

◊ One pound of fresh shrimp (or frozen but make sure they are thawed out).  I got large 31-35 count shrimp this date from the market.  They cost right $8.00 a pound.  And trust me, I fixed them all for dinner and none were left.  My hub will snarf these down like potato chips ❤

So the entire meal will cost less than $17.00 for two people.  And yes we could stretch the meal; but, this was the hubby’s special meal and he likes to pig out on it – and you will too.

How to fix the shrimp:

I like to put all of my shrimp in a colander and run them under cold water for a few minutes.  This makes sure that they are all thawed out.  Shake the colander and make sure all of the excess water is out and pour them in a bowl.  Here’s the fun part – making sure they are all clean and deveined.  Take this kitchen hint, you can buy them cleaned and already deveined.  You may have to pay a little more.  I have been cleaning shrimp all of my life.  It’s something that my dad taught me so it takes no time to fix them right up.  Once they are all cleaned, wash them again to make sure all of the ick is removed.  Once you start cleaning the shrimp, you will know exactly what that ick is that I’m talking about – LOL.  I like to take a mallet and pound my shrimp out a bit.  Don’t whack them too hard.  Just enough to smoosh them a little so they will lay flat.  (Look at mine above for size for flattening).

In a bowl mix together a cup of flour, a cup of cornmeal, salt, pepper and a little cayenne flakes.  In another bowl mix together, milk, 3 eggs, salt, pepper and cayenne.  (We like them a little spicy – you put as much or not at all according to your tastes).  Go ahead and put your grease on the stuff and let it get hot.  Here’s the secret to a really good crust on shrimp or chicken.  You want to dip your shrimp in the flour/cornmeal first, then to your wet mixture and then back to your dry.  After that, the little shrimp go for a swim in the hot oil.  When they turn a pretty brown, they are done.  If it’s like our house, most of the shrimp won’t make it to the dinner table because every one is hanging out in the kitchen eating them as they come up hot from the grease.  They are highly addictive.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you 🙂

 

Shopping Around the World

Shopping Around the World

Shopping Around the World is hosted by us and our friend Fozziemom.  This month since it is the Thanksgiving holidays here in the States, we are focusing on Thanksgiving foods.  We have elected to post a side dish that everyone loves here in the south – black-eyed peas.  Yummo!  I admit that even this little oinker loves these peas.  They are tasty… but of course I like mine without the bacon – you know for obvious reasons – snorts and rolls with piggy laughter.  I leave the recipe and other delights of this recipe to mom – take it away mom! ❤

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Black-eyed peas.  Some people hear the name and stick out their tongue making a grimace while others smile and can’t wait to jump in feet first and eat their way out of the bowl.  Which category do you fall into my friends?  You’re not sure yet?  Let me tell you my recipe and then you can make your choice.  You will need the following:

⇔ Two cans of black-eyed peas (you can use fresh peas- I take help where I can) $0.98 each = $1.96

⇔  Four slices of bacon $3.99 pack/12 slices = $1.32

⇔ Cilantro $1.49 a pack; onion $0.49; olive oil $6.99 bottle; red pepper flakes $1.49 bottle = $1.50

Total Cost per Dish $4.78

The first thing we do is get out the old southern iron skillet.  Put a tad of oil in the bottom, cut up the bacon strips and fry them in the skillet.  While the bacon is cooking, dice up your onion and chop up your cilantro.  Once the bacon has cooked, scoop out the fried bacon and put on a paper towel to drain.  Leave the bacon grease in the skillet and add your onions to give them some color.  While the onions are cooking, open your cans of black-eyed peas, drain them and wash them.  Now some people use the juice out of the can, we don’t.  If you like it, by all means use it.  Once the onions have some color, pour in your two cans of black-eyed peas.  Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to your taste.  Your black-eyed peas will have a semi fried taste – awesome.  Trust me.  Once everything is heated through, pour into a serving dish and top with cilantro and your fried bacon.  You will never want black-eyed peas the old way again 🙂

 

Dear Bacon

 Dear Bacon – You know these days there are lots of people knocking on doors, some selling things, some begging for money, etc.  Well, we like to go door to door too.  We think that three great looking dogs can sniff out where food is being cooked and perhaps someone would like to share.  I mean look at our faces, you would, right?  At this particular house we smelled bacon… sorry dude.  And yes, the owner of the home shared some with us.  So you never know who might be knocking at your door.  Signed Three Amigos

Dear Three Amigos – Well that does bring new meaning to door to door.  And that’s awesome that people want to share with you three.  But no bacon here… really.  You might find some kibbles and bits from the little guy here though so come a knocking 🙂  I’ll share.

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 Dear Bacon –  Don’t let anyone fool you.  Shaking my head – I fell for it BIG time from my so called doggy friends.  They dared me to bite and chew a ghost pepper.  Why do we take these bets?  Because they make us look big with our friends.  But I’m telling you – it’s not worth it.  That pepper was so hot that all I could do was lay down on a bunch of ice – doesn’t matter that it’s getting cold here.  My entire body was on FIRE.  Shaking my head.  Don’t do it Bacon – never take a dare of this magnitude.  Signed Hot Stuff

Dear Hot Stuff – I will so take your word for it friend.  I will not even look at one of these peppers no way.  And if I even think that it’s hot, I’ll give it to daddy first.  Snorts with piggy laughter.  Yep, that’s exactly what I will do.  Thanks for the heads up – try to cool down.

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 Dear Bacon – In every family, there is that one family member that no one can stand.  Go ahead and admit it.  You know it’s true.  When Aunt Edna comes to our house, nobody wants to answer the door.  She’s such a cougar!  And with it being the holidays, you know that family member is coming.  Be prepared.  Signed Home for the Holidays

Dear Home for the Holidays – Oh snaps.  I do know exactly what you mean my friend.  There is one in every family for sure.  I think certain family members coming to stay with you during the holidays should be treated like fish.  After three days, they need to leave STAT.  Be safe and strong during this time.

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 Dear Bacon –  My human loves snapping pictures.  I don’t mind for the most part.  It’s only when those times that come on really it’s your quiet time that I complain about.

No one wants to see me drool or for my tongue to be hanging out.  That’s not for pictures.  When will these humans learn?!  Signed Private

Dear Private – I agree with you 100% my friend.  Some things cameras don’t need to catch.  Heck, my mom once took a picture of me using the bathroom.  Really?!

For goodness sake mom!  I say we need to turn the tables on them for a change.  Maybe we should start taking their pictures in these less than pretty pictures.  Come on – let’s take a stand and unite!

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Dear Bacon – Sometimes us anipals want to be other things… for instance, I’ve always wanted to be a dinosaur.  I mean think of the possibilities with that, right?  So my human, they new what I wanted and for my birthday they made me a dinosaur.  Can you hear me roaring?  Awesome for me!!  Have you ever wanted to be something else?  Signed Doggysaurus Rex

Dear Doggsaurus Rex – Dude, I say you look magnificent.  Really I do.  And your humans made you what you wanted.  I think that is so cool.  I’ve always wanted to be human.  In some ways, I think I am.  What do you think?

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❤ Remember friends – Dear Bacon can’t happen without YOU.  Please continue to email me your pictures and questions ❤

 

Shopping Around the World

Welcome my friends to Shopping Around the World.  This month we are highlighting one pot wonders.  

Mom is going to highlight her one pot wonder that she makes in the crockpot.  

I’m licking my lips now – Take it away mom!

With working and trying to rush home to fix dinner, sometimes it can be overwhelming.  So I take help where I can, just like with this one pot wonder in the crockpot.  In the morning before coming to work, I will put some baking potatoes in the crockpot.  So easy huh?  All you have to do is wash and clean a baking potato.  Take a fork and stick the potato several times.  Place it on some aluminum foil and salt/pepper to your desire.  Then wrap the baking potato up securely and place it in your crockpot just like the picture shows.  We always fix extra potatoes because they come out so good for the next night’s meal.  We bought a bag of baking potatoes at the market for $5.00 a bag.  There were 12 large potatoes in the bag making each potato $0.42 each.  After you get all of your potatoes washed, seasoned, wrapped and placed in your crockpot, turn the crockpot on low and forget it.

Now, before I leave the house, I checked the refrigerator for leftovers from the night before.  I found broccoli and cheese and beef sausage.  All I did was place these items in aluminum foil packets and put them back in the fridge.  Around 2pm, I called my hub unit and told him to also place these packets in the crockpot to heat them up.  The broccoli and cheese was a head of broccoli cut up from the  night before with some shredded cheese melted over it.  Total price was around $2.00 but this is the second meal so you can add $1.00 to tonight’s meal.  The beef sausage was $2.50 and again this is the second meal so add $1.25 to tonight’s meal.  So right now, we are looking at around $3.00 for tonight’s meal – so far.

When I finally get home from work, the fun begins.  You take out a baked potato and put it on a plate removing the aluminum foil. Go ahead and mash some of the potatoes out and add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper – whatever you want.  After it is fixed the way you normally eat a potato, add your leftovers. Tonight it was broccoli and cheese with beef sausage.  Now look at that potato. And remember you washed and seasoned the peel, so eat everything.

 It’s whats for dinner and a meal all in itself for around $3.00 for TWO people.  You can’t beat that and it’s great on a cold night… if we ever get cold here.

 

Shopping Around the World

 This month we are posting anything we want to share that you cook, prepare, fix or throw together at your crib.  It can be anything.  So knowing this, we want to share something that we absolutely love here at the Hotel Thompson.  You here a lot of flack about one of the ingredients but to be a true southerner, you love it.  And since some of the ingredients are shall we say  pig related – this is Bacon’s mom taking over the posting today.

For those cool mornings or nights that you don’t feel like cooking much – we fix a big pot of southern cheese and sausage grits.  Yep, you heard it – grits.  Grits are a southern love.  They are made from ground hominy.  And in this picture, we went to our local Waffle House one night for dinner.

Grits are very cheap here.  You can buy a 2 pound bag at most markets for around $3.00 – and trust me, they go a long ways (probably less than $0.50 a meal).  Now here at the Hotel Thompson, we put about three cups of water in a pot and put it on the stove medium high.  Season with salt and add one cup of grits.  You are going to let the water boil and the grits cook for about 20-30 minutes.  Make sure that you stir occasionally – grits will stick and expand.

While the grits are cooking, go ahead and fry up some sausages in a pan.  I make sausage patties and cook them on a skillet beside my grits so I’m constantly watching.  I buy a pack of 12 sausages and cook them for the entire week.  One pack is $4.00 – we use about 6 patties with the grits.

When your grits are about done, add 1/2 stick of butter (around $0.30), more salt to taste and black pepper.  Now add grated cheddar cheese (we buy blocks and rate our own (around $0.50) to your grits and stir everything together to melt the cheese.  Your sausage should just about be done.  Cut the sausage up into bite size pieces and add to your grits, stir everything together and there you go – a southern delight for sure!

And the bottom price with everything – around $3.50

 

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 around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we have a suggestion from my brother Easy.  This month we are highlighting PASTA – what is your favorite PASTA dish?  How do you make it?  What kind of noodles do you use?  What is in your PASTA?  There is no limit count on ingredients – Share your recipe and picture!

I’m going to let mom take care of this recipe this month – she mumbled something to me about not being around while she cooked it.  So we all know what that means.  It must contain P.O.R.K.  Snorts with piggy laughter – take it away mom.

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One of our favorite pasta dishes to make here at the Hotel Thompson involves Cavatappi pasta – which translated from Italian means corkscrew.  As you can see by looking at the shape of the pasta – it does have the twisted look.

So we take a box of Cavatappi and put it on to boil in a pan (a box of Cavatappi is $1.00 for the entire box and that’s a lot of food!).  In doing this so we add salt to the water and a little oil so the pasta doesn’t stick.  Now some peeps will argue about the oil and the salt – you do what you think is best.  Here I prefer to do this.  While the pasta is boiling, you are going to fix the base of the pasta.

In a skillet you are going to add some thick cut chunked pancetta – which is an Italian bacon made from the pork belly that is salt cured and seasoned.  If you don’t have pancetta, regular chopped up bacon or chunks of leftover ham will do.  Cook it until brown.  (Pancetta can be a little pricey – we always keep some in the freezer.  We usually will get two pounds at a time at $10.99 per pound.  For this recipe, we will use an entire pound – $10.99)

When finished, add some chopped tomatoes, pepper, a few pepper flakes and oregano (or any other seasonings you want) to the party.  (Seasonings are something we usually keep on hand and tomatoes run us $0.99 a pound – a pound for this recipe).  Let this all marry together and by this time, your pasta should be al dente.  Drain your pasta and add it straight to your skillet.  Mix all of these ingredients together and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  Right before serving, top with freshly grated parmasean cheese (we also keep this on hand and it ranges $4.99 for a pound – use as much as you want)

Total cost for the meal is around $14.00 and this meal will last us several nights for the two of us.  In the long run, the price far outweighs the servings.

 

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.

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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.