I just put two bags of Great Northern Beans in a big pot of water to soak overnight

[NNN0LHI]

That was after my wife Sue and I spent ten minutes going through every one of them by hand to remove the few bad ones. Then we washed them and put them in the pot. I will turn the burner on low tomorrow morning around 7:00 and drop a ham hock into it for flavor. They will be done perfect around noon. And by then Sue will have whipped up a batch of her super duper cornbread(no one makes it better and I am not joking), and we will sit down for a lunch that I consider a true delicacy. Seriously. I eat mine with a handful of chopped up sweet onions and a couple of spoons full of juice from a container of banana peppers, mild or hot, on top of my beans. Then put some butter on my still warm cornbread and I am in true hog heaven.

Funny thing is under normal conditions I never in my life would have ever tried beans and cornbread. My wife and I rolled into an little sleepy town she was born in on a Sunday once called Steele, Missouri about 30 years ago. Were no McDonalds or anything like that and the only little diner was closed. So the only thing available to eat was what her relatives were having that day. Beans and cornbread. I hated the looks of it and didn't much care for the smell either, but I was starving and ate it. I have loved it ever since.

Don

[SwampG8r]

1. yum cornbread

i am considered gross when beans and cornbread are involved
i will take a small piece of cornbread
crumple it in a bowl
cover with beans and pot liquor
garnish with onions
bon appetit!!

and cold cornbread in a bowl with milk for breakfast
yummmmmmmm

i am so envious of you
forgive me lord i covet his beans and cornbread

[Retrograde]

2. Cooking up a pot of black beans right now

God's gift to those who like vegetables - and I'm looking forward to a number of bean dishes in the next few days.

I'm not a vegetarian, but there's nothing wrong with bean tacos, or refried beans, or bean and rice salad.

[Warpy]

3. Even after years of being able to afford nothing else,

I still love the humble bean. I don't know of much else that's as satisfying as a pot of perfectly seasoned beans plus cornbread or rice or whatever.

My own favorite for great northerns is a pasta e fagioli from "The Vegetarian Epicure," one of my favorite winter pots of loveliness that I'll eat for days at a time and never get tired of. Another is a very beany minestrone using several varieties but featuring great northerns. I also do a spread of mashed cooked beans, sauteed onion and garlic, and spices, good on celery or as a sandwich.

In fact, this is the time of year I really start to look forward to winter bean cuisine, when I'm burned out on salads, yogurt and grilled fish, my summer standards.

[DrDan]

4. my Father came from the coal mining hills of West Virginia and

grew up on beans and cornbread. Hence we had it regularly while growing up as well.

I like it pretty much the same way - except with a dash or two of hot sauce instead of the vinegar . . . and with a small layer of sugar on the buttered cornbread.

I can't wait until fall sets in for a similar meal . . . the hot Florida days right now preclude such a treat.

[Monique1]

5. Beans

I have been living on pinto beans all week, I can't get enough of them. Beans, any type with onions, cilantro, seasonings, tomatoes and hot peppers is a meal for me - don't forget the hot sauce. I'm in Az with the monsoon and the heat but beans can beat anything else.

[DrDan]

6. yep - pintos were the beans of choice for my Father as well

literally ate a ton of them growing up.

Still love pintos - but will certainly add some variety with black beans, great northerns, etc.

[kestrel91316]

7. My mom would fix pinto beans and cornbread, or lima beans and cornbread

along toward the end of the month when I was a kid, and I always loved them. As an adult I realize that was when money was getting a little tight, but I don't consider them poverty food. They are GREAT nutrition and great tasting!

[htuttle]

8. I know that can be good, but...Oh God, No. Please, None Of That For Me.

Funny you should relate your history with beans in Steele, MT. Back in the day, which is the 1980's to me, and I was going back to college in Missoula, I had to rely on the local food pantry for most of my diet, as there were few jobs available.

The food pantry was having a tough time that year, too, and all I got every week for most of a year was a bag of great northern beans, a chunk of salt pork, some cornmeal, a few eggs, some butter and powdered milk and a little bag of baking powder. Guess what I ate all year long?

If I never, ever, ever eat another white bean in my life, it will be too soon.

Enjoy it, please! But none for me. Ever again (with any luck).

[sandnsea]

11. I moved to Missoula in '88

I can't recall the food pantry in the 80s, but I remember eating at Poverello with a friend one day. I hesitate to even call it bean soup because it was 5 beans floating in a bowl of liquid so everybody must have been surviving on beans at the time. The food bank must have gotten better over the years because I went after a house fire and got a bit more than a bag of beans. I went to college there from 1989 - 1991. Wish I could have finished. Live there and the Bitterroot until 1996. Great place to live, I miss it a bunch.

[htuttle]

14. OMG! Eating at 'the Pov'...oh yes, been there

In fact, I was there on and off from around 1988 to 1991 -- pretty much the same years as you. One week the Poverello served the same hamburger macaroni hotdish every night until it was gone (and pretty ripe by the last of it).

Wow, I remember drinking at Connie's, free coffee at Flippers, and keeping track of when they had free trays of chicken wings at the Mine Shaft (? IIRC, I think that's what it was called).

I also wish I could have stayed and finished, but there was no work (and I had no money). Still have friends there, and often plan to go back.

[Retrograde]

19. There are always black beans

For when you get tired of white :) I know the feeling - my mother refuses to eat sardines since they were the staple protein in her youth.

[hippywife]

9. OMG!

That's a whole lotta beans! I hope you got some room in the freezer. LOL

I never liked them either but my husband loves them. For many years I didn't cook them. Now I do a pot of pintos occasionally and season them so they taste good to me, too. I like to make a sweet corn bread with corn niblets in it, spread a piece with butter and spoon the beans over them with some nice thick slices of fresh garden tomatoes. :9

Enjoy! :D

[The empressof all]

15. I put cut corn and jalapeno in my cornbread

Sometimes....I put in a little green onion and do a light drizzle of maple syrup on top.

It's Yummers.....

[Lifelong Protester]

10. I decided to re-discover the joys of cooking your own

so I went out and bought a small (1 1/2 qt) crock pot for this winter. I intend to soak them over night, then let them slow cook all day while I am at work. Then I will finish them off when I get home.
I love all kinds of beans!
And the cornbread idea sounds great ( I like cornbread, but never have made it for dinner with beans...don't know why). And I like a little corn niblets, and some cheese even, in mine.

[sandnsea]

12. Great Northerns are the absolute best

I think people use the wrong kind of beans and so they don't know that they haven't really had the delicacy yet. I Love Them. Although I put onion in mine while they cook too. And then add a dash of milk and butter towards the end. And cornbread, yum, although they're good with big hunks of fresh baked bread too.

[NNN0LHI]

13. We have goofed up a few times and bought the wrong beans ourselves over the years

Yes it does make a big difference. Like night and day difference.

Sue puts about a half a carrot and a stalk of celery chopped up real fine into her soup as its cooking.

Don

[KC]

17. I've never

cooked beans myself, but I love them with cornbread. Do you mind sharing a recipe for the beans...what type of seasoning do you use?

[EFerrari]

16. That's a bean I've never tried.

We always have pintos or little red beans or black beans or lentils in a pot on the back burner here. Maybe I'll try those next week. No tomato at all?

[yellerpup]

18. Beans are under rated.

They are nutritional wonders full of high quality no-fat protein, fiber, and antioxidants. You just described my mom's favorite meal. :hi:

[KC]

20. What

seasoning do y'all put in the beans?

[Arkansas Granny]

21. My oldest son was in town for a visit over the weekend. Guess what

he requested for supper one night. Yep! Beans, cornbread and fried potatoes. We fixed pinto beans with ham hock. It sure was good.

[madmax]

22. Damn, I'm sooo hungry for those beans

and corn bread, sounds so good.

[tigereye]

23. mm, now I want to make my fave white chicken chili - I love Northern beans