Cathy's Navy Bean Soup

This soup is so hearty and delicious, and it's high in protein, fiber, and all those nutritious vitamins and minerals in the beans. I'm sure it would be great without the ham, if you prefer. It freezes well too.

     2 c. (1lb.) Navy beans or small white beans

     1  ham bone, 2 lbs. ham shanks, or 2 lbs. smoked pork hocks

     12 c. water

     2  1/2c. mashed potatoes

     2 tsp. salt

     ½ tsp. pepper

     1 lg. onion chopped (1c.)

     2  stalks celery (1c.)

     1 clove garlic, finely chopped

     Optional 1-2 carrots, sliced

Crockpot directions:  Heat the water to boiling first, then add it to everything else in the crockpot together and cook all day.

Stovetop directions:  Heat beans and water to boiling. Boil uncovered 2 minutes; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour.

Add ham bone.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 2 hours or until beans are tender.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer 1 hour.

Remove ham bone; let stand until cool enough to handle. Remove ham from bone. Remove excess fat from ham; cut ham into 1/2-inch pieces. Stir ham into soup.  Sometimes,  to make it creamier,  I use a potato masher to mash some of the beans against the bottom of the pot.

Cathy's Autumn Chowder

Recipe post by my mother, Cathy.

This is not a seafood chowder. It's just vegetables: corn, potatoes, carrots and onion, with a bit of bacon for flavor, and a hint of cheddar cheese. It's been one of our favorite soups for four decades. I've made it many times on the spur of the moment, by having a pound of bacon and a pkg. of frozen corn in the freezer, and the staple veggies almost everyone has on hand. Make some homemade bread to go with it, and your family won't won't stop telling you what a great dinner it is. 

"Toasting to Mother"

Autumn Chowder

• 6 slices bacon, cut up
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp chicken base or bullion
• 2.5 cups potatoes, diced
• 1 cup carrots, sliced
•  (I double the carrots, and add some celery)  
• 3 cups milk
• 2.5 cups corn (I use frozen)
• ½ tsp pepper
• 3 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 3 Tbsp flour

Instructions

1. Fry bacon in soup pot.
2. Add onions and brown until bacon is crisp.
3. Stir in water and bouillon or broth, potatoes and carrots.
4. Simmer until potatoes are tender (about 15-20 minutes).
5. Stir in milk, corn, and pepper and heat until simmering.
6. Mix cheese and flour together.
7. Add to the soup, stirring constantly until cheese is melted.  One tip: Never let a milk based soup come to a boil, it will ruin the creamy texture.

Lots of Christmas Cookies

Well we finally got the last 6 dozen cookies made to wrap up in tins

and give away. Good help always makes a job more fun.

Good old fashion chocolate chip cookies, Ben's all time favorite.

Chocolate Crinkle cookies - one of my personal favorites :-)

First Dinner Banquet

I'm finally getting a chance to blog about our Friday evening party. A group of about 40 married friends all got together for a wonderful dinner banquet. There was incredible food, (Thanks to two good friends who are incredible chefs - lobster bisque, a light mango & pomegranite salad, butternut squash pasta, beef wellington, and flourless chocolate cake), great drinks, and wonderful fellowship. Definitely a good time. Even with all the help with food, decorating, serving, etc. I'm not sure how soon we'll be up for planning another party on that scale. It's already Tuesday and I feel like I'm finally gettting back to normal life after all the energy that went into preparation and clean-up :-)

Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity....    Psalm 133:1

Simple Pull-apart Dinner Rolls

I'm not a gourmet cook, so I picked a basic recipe for the From-The-Hearth link share. 

These are easy to make, yummy dinner rolls. My sister Jane told me how simple they were to make and gave me the recipe. Lately I've been making a batch every week and we have them with our dinner for 2 or 3 nights in a row. They go great with pot roast, soups, or chicken - really with anything.

Simple Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:
1 cup milk, warm to help activate yeast
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar                         
4 cups flour (white or wheat)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast


#1.  Put all ingredients together in a bread-maker and run the "dough" cycle, which will include about an hour of time for the dough to rise. You can also mix ingredients by hand and then knead dough for 20 minutes, then let it rise for 1 1/2 hrs.
#2.  Knead dough again, adding a little flour so it doesn't stick to the counter top or your hands.
#3.  Form little balls of dough, about 3/4" round. Then drop 3 balls together into each section of a standard size cupcake tin. Let rise for another 1 1/2 hrs.
#4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes. I usually turn the oven to broil for the last minute to give the top of the rolls that nice "browned" look, but you don't have to.

Enjoy!