Who Is Coming For Dinner For a Week!

Egads! The pot o' beans I made yesterday? The really simple, thank you Cuisinart, crockpot full of yummy beans?

Yeilded 27 cups of cooked bean goodnesss. Yikes! We are a family of 4 now. Um....bean overload?

I have never made anything like this before - I have made bean soup and split pea - but never beans. I have been having a hankering for a big pot o' beans after reading several blogs where they were making them and I was intrigued. I gathered hints from each of the blogs and threw together what I thought would taste good.

And oh yeah, they are gooood. But there are a lot leftover. Especially since Pooldad is on a business trip.

I am going to freeze a lot of this in tupperware [is that possible? can you freeze cooked beans?] and I will make this again - but I am having a whole bunch of guests over the next time I do.

Recipe:

Presoak 1 bag of navy beans and 1 bag of kidney beans [it is what I had, but you can use whatever you want I am sure] Drain after soaking.
Place beans in crockpot with 1 diced onion, 4 stalks of diced celery, 2 large carrots diced, 1 can of diced tomato and a ham hock or ham bone.
**I tweaked the recipe because I thought I had too many carrots and diced tomatoes are easier in the winter - but you can dice your own [2 cups]
Cover with water to one inch over.
Place on low and cook 10 hours.
Remove cover and taste for any additional spice you might want to put in - I used chili powder and diced garlic - salt isn't necessary and my ham hock was peppered so I didn't add any of that either
Also remove the ham hock/bone and remove the meat; chop it and place back in the beans, stirring in your spices and the meat.
Cook one additional hour.
Enjoy with cornbread.
Some people even put cheese and sour cream on top - but this doesn't really taste like chili as you really only get a hint of the chili powder.

**There is no picture because Pooldad has my camera with him Atlantic City. I will try to get one tomorrow.