For cousin Heather 🙂

Christmas Beans:

I don’t measure anything or time it really. So trust your instinct and play knowing that you can’t get anything wrong. I mean, I’m sure that’s a possibility, like if you read “bean” as “cat”, but in general, it’ll come out tasty.

For the beans in this recipe (and the photo), we made three crock pots of beans to feed a lot of people. If you only want to make one pot, use 1/3 of everything. But I recommend making a lot of beans for one person, too, because then you can freeze it and have it ready for later. That’s how Dad taught me. These are his beans, by the way, just tweaked with whatever was in Shane’s mom’s kitchen. Which is kind of my Dad’s rule of thumb: use whatever is there or whatever you feel inspired by.

Ingredients:

A pound of black beans, a pound of lima beans, and  a pound of navy beans, pinto beans, pink beans, white beans & peas mixed)
Cumin (a lot)
Green chili powder (this was special from Shane’s sister Ellie’s trip to El Salvador)
Chili powder
Paprika
Bit of turmeric, dill, maca (maca root is nutty & yummy)
Marjoram
Tarragon
Thyme, oregano
Basil
Garlic cloves (4)
Bay leaves (6)
Little white onions (4)
Carrots (5)
Celery stalks (4)
Large cans of stewed tomato with basil (2)
Collard greens

Instructions:

Soak the beans overnight with about three inches of water above the beans
Rinse the beans and add to crock pot with about two inches of water above the beans
Add all the spices and garlic and cook on low heat

When the beans are half tender:

Add 4 little white onions
Five carrots
Four celery stalks
Two large cans of stewed tomato with basil

When the beans taste almost fully tender: add apple cider vinegar, sea salt, black pepper, grape seed oil and cook until tender
When serving, stir in freshly chopped collard greens

Sorry I didn’t time it. The crock pots were from all different decades and cooked at different speeds so we just went by when they tasted ready. You can cook them on low for about 8 hours or medium for less time or in the case of one of our ol’ crackpots, on high overnight and they still weren’t ready!

Blessings for you and your beans… I’d love to hear how they come out!