In The Kitchen

We've had our fill here of 'holiday food' and I wanted something easy, hearty, and filling yesterday. So I got out the trusty crockpot and threw this together:

1 lb dried navy/great northern beans
8 medium-sized new potatos, cubed, with skins still on
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 lb of cubed ham from Christmas hambone (still enough left on that sucker for a pot of pinto beans in the near future).
5 cups water & 2 cups chicken broth
Salt, pepper, & creole seasoning to taste (I used a good handful of Morton's coarse sea salt and abt 5 shakes from the Tony Chachere creole seasoning canister)

Combine in crockpot & set on low for 7-8 hours. I stirred it at about four hours in, then turned it off at about the 7.5 hour mark and let it sit for about 30-40 minutes before spooning it up. It had a terrific taste & the broth had some substance to it.

The great thing about doing dried beans in the crockpot like this is it eliminates the need for any kind of soaking/blanching. I've also found the beans don't cook to mush, but keep their shape* when done in the crockpot.


*I described it to the SO as the beans 'maintaining their integrity' & he replied his conscience preferred beans with integrity. Ha ha.