Navy Bean Soup ala Leah – Learn to Make Authentic Navy Bean Soup like Grandma Used to do

Now who doesn’t recall growing up with bean soup?!? It was a favorite of mine of those people who put soup in those red and white cans. This is my mom’s version that I have tweaked making it affordable and yet another reason not to throw out that ham bone just yet. For extra fun add sliced hot dogs for those kids in your family – you can easily substitute lentils, dried back or pea beans for this amazing hearty meal.

And yes, yet another recipe to make with a left over ham bone.

Ingredients:

Prep Time does not include soaking dried beans overnight. Please note.
This may be a big list of ingredients, but it really adds to the overall complexity of savory taste of real authentic bean soup.
I also show how to avoid soaking beans overnight in the directions if you are in a hurry….
1 bag of dried navy beans
2-1/2 quarts of water
1/3 cup diced salt pork or bacon (I prefer bacon – use 5 or so slices)
3/4 cup finely diced carrots – 2 carrots
1 large onion diced finely
3/4 cup celery diced finely – 2 stalks
1/2 can of tomato paste (the small can)
1 cup potato – diced finely, 1 large potato
2 garlic cloves minced finely
2 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
1 -1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 leftover ham bone or shank
4 hot dogs sliced (optional – but oh so good and homey)
stock pot with lid

Directions:

Prep:15m Cook:120m Servings:6

I will try and keep the how to short, but it is worth every step. This recipe will do great on a Saturday or Sunday and when you need to feed dinner with only a few funds…its super delicious, and as mentioned in the description, you may substitute the navy beans for black bean, lentils or even pea beans.
Take large soup pot and put water in half way.
Rinse beans, looking for any pebbles or icky things that shouldn’t be there.
Add rinsed beans to pot and let sit on counter over night or at least 10 hours. Change water at least once.
In A HURRY? After soaking for 30 minutes, drain water, and add enough water to cover beans plus 2 added cups water and let simmer for 3 hours.
Proceed as directed without adding additional water.
***Back to normal directions***
In morning, or after 10 hours, rinse beans completely and set aside for the moment.
To stock pot, add a little drizzle of olive oil, add salt pork or bacon and cook for at least 5 minutes.
Add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to pot and sweat till soft NOT brown for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add navy beans to pot, all remaining ingredients (except for hot dogs) including 2-1/2 quarts water and let come to a boil.
Turn down and let simmer for 2 hours.
Remove ham bone and bay leaves.
Add sliced hot dogs to pot and simmer for additional 10 minutes and serve it up in large soup bowls.
Add freshly minced chives or parsley for added garnish.
Photo I grabbed from tasteofhome.com

Ham Leftovers and Fresh Corn Chowder Recipe with Ham, Bacon and Pimentos

I have been writing a variety of recipes as of late, in how to reuse leftover chicken and/or ham to happily and enjoyably create a new meal that has no link to its precooked past. And since with my previous posts, I thought to add more delicious recipes and how to ideas on what to do with a ham.

Now one thing I have learned from my mother and was a famous quote by Dorothy Parker is that: “Eternity is two people and a ham”. Now I couldn’t agree more with Dorothy Parker or my mother. In fact this quote has been repeated by many other people, but I do believe that good ‘ol Dorothy said it first – it sounds like her anyway if you are familiar with her work.

So you have a left over ham, now what!? Ham has become a wonderful way to affordably serve many people, and recently I noticed rather good prices in the stores for Ham and will probably pick one up next week. But as with all hams, I know I will have leftovers once I glaze that baby in the oven.

So as I mentioned the other day, I can easily make, egg omlettes with ham, quick quiche Leah, Split Pea Soup – which I made at the end of the ‘ham’s life’, and spaghetti carbonara and chowder of some sort.

So today, I will share my Fresh Corn Chowder recipe:

Easy quick chowder idea for using up leftover ham and doing something with the corn you bought the other day since it was in season. Affordable meal goes a long way to feeding everyone nicely, served up with nice hearty garlic bread and a salad, and you have made yourself a meal to be remembered!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup or more diced cooked ham
1 can of cream style corn (no. 2 can)
2-4 ears of fresh corn on the cob, with corn removed and ‘milk’ reserved
4 slices bacon
1 large onion diced
2 garlic cloves finely minced
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1-2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 quart milk
2 tablespoons flour (optional thickener)
4 cups potatoes, skins removed and diced – keep in large bowl of water to prevent browning until ready to throw in soup pot
1/2 cup minced and drained of their juices pimento
3 tablespoons fresh parlsey chopped for garnish
2 tablespoons green onions/scallions for garnish and extra zing
salt and pepper
soup pot/stock pot
could be done in slow cooker while first browning bacon, ham, onions and fresh corn.
tablespoon or two of olive oil

Directions:

Either in stock pot, add olive oil to cool pot.
Add bacon and onions and let saute and brown slightly and add garlic, diced ham and cook for two more minutes to heat through.

Remove and drain from pot and set aside but reserve fat.
Add one tablespoon of the bacon fat back into the pot and add drained fresh corn (remember to save the milk from the fresh corn – you can add it to the milk you will be adding)
Cook corn till slightly browned, then if using flower to thicken soup, add flour now stirring it until absorbed.
Add milk and stir in slowly.
Add potatoes, and all other ingredients to the pot (except for green onions and parsley).
Taste first, then add salt and pepper per your liking.
Once at a boil, turn down heat and let cook for 30 minutes.
Serve in pretty bowls and top with fresh garnishes of minced chives/green onions and parsley. Add some fresh cracked pepper to the top and serve it up.
I grabbed photo from tesco.com but looks quote close to my version indeed, except for mine has larger pieces of potatoes and its missing fresh garnishes!
Enjoy this affordable quick meal to feed your family fast and deliciously!

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich Ala Leah

Easy to do dinner/lunch idea with left over chicken or w/ one of those rotisserie chickens from the store – use your own BBQ sauce or already pre-made, add your cheese on toasted heart bread – its a quick winner with wow taste your family will love.

Ingredients

Cooking time is mentioned if using to make your own BBQ sauce.
**************
1/2 cup cooked chicken or more pulled apart with hands per person
1 ounce or more of cheese of your choosing per person (I used fresh mozzarella for its oozing melting factor)
Hearty slices of Italian Bread toasted or rolls toasted slightly. (I used my honey lavender bread I had made and froze a few weeks ago.)
1 clove garlic
*********
For a version of my Super Tangy BBQ Sauce yields 1-1/2 cup BBQ sauce:
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves minced
Juice of 2 limes
3 tablespoons lite mayonnaise
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons spicy mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 or 3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water or vinegar (try apple cider vinegar)
microwave or broiler to heat chicken through and to melt cheese

Directions

Shred chicken with fingers like you would if making pulled pork and place into bowl and set aside.
If using pre-made BBQ sauce, add 2 tablespoons per 1/2 cup cooked shredded chicken to bowl.
If making your own BBQ sauce or doing mine:
Add olive oil to pan, add onions, let saute till yellow, then add garlic and allow to cook for one minute.
Add remaining ingredients, stir till combined and let cook for 15 minutes on a low simmer or longer.
Add a little of the BBQ sauce to chicken and stir so that each piece of chicken is coated – don’t over do it, you will want to save sauce for dipping…as I did – lol
Toast rolls or bread slices, then rub garlic on insides of bread for extra flavor.
Assemble chicken onto one side of toasted roll/bread then add sliced cheese of your choice – great choices include cheddar, goat, gouda, swiss, etc.
Place on safe broiling pan or microwavable plate and heat through till cheese has melted.
If using the microwave, you will do better to heat at 50% power for a longer period, so that the cheese gets the chance to melt slowly versus just bubble down away from the chicken.
Add additional sauce on top of melted cheese, add the top of the roll or slice of bread – and serve with your fave side.
Recipe adapted from one I saw on foodnetwork last week.
I served mine up last night with NotYourMommas’ Garlic Rosemary Oven FF’s – oh yeah – and oh no, I did not tell my doctor!

Cooking Terms – What is the Difference Between Roasting and Baking?

I did my very best yesterday to keep mum at a particular time, while out with my girlfriends on our weekly get together, when during a heated conversation, the differences between baking and roasting came up.

I wondered why the big problem; but it made me realize, well you can ‘roast’ a chicken, but you can also allow a chicken casserole to ‘bake’ in the oven… I wondered were these cooking terms confusing to others as well?

I even joked to one of the GF’s not involved like me, in the said ‘cooking term’ conversation of confusion, that I must write an article on the differences, since it seemed too much of an argument between these two other women. So much so, by the way, I was intrigued as their voices rose up in volume – were we not out together only for some fresh air and nice conversation?

In particular, the argument was between ‘roasting’ and ‘baking’ terms and what did they really mean? So, what was their actual difference? Are these terms used safely interchangeably? Or are we using these terms loosely in exchange for the other? The answer is now solved – whew! I thank my lucky oven mitts!

Here is what I found out:

Roast v. To oven-cook food in an uncovered pan, a method that usually produces a well-browned exterior and ideally a moist interior. Roasting requires reasonably tender pieces of meat or poultry. Tougher pieces of meat need moist cooking methods such as braising.

Bake v.– To cook in the oven. The terms baking and roasting are often used interchangeably, but roasting usually implies cooking at a higher temperature—at least at the beginning—to get the surface of the foods to brown.

I was going to intervene the conversation between these two ladies and let them know this, but really wanted to make sure of my own assumptions. Since, I too had been using these terms interchangeably, but was I in fact correct when I did so? Well, yes, it turns out, and I am so relieved, as is my frilly apron.

I will make sure my lady friends receive this post so that the ‘argument’ is now settled and they will see both that they were correct…

Happy roasting and baking everyone!