Last week, pretty much every teacher I talked to said the same thing: The kids are CRAZY! It was seriously like there was a full moon. All. Week. Long. I see every class at my school except PreK and I can tell you in all honestly that every kid in every class was nuts. Even kids who never misbehave were crazy. On Facebook, even my teacher friends in other parts of the country – and the world – were talking about their crazy kids.
My own children were no exception. Nuts. I just wanted to slink home every day, slither into my bedroom, lock the door, and go to bed.
Alas, the mom can’t do that. Everybody keeps whining about their dirty clothes and empty stomachs. So I have to be the mom – even when I want to go hide under a rock until the insanity has passed.
I prayed all weekend that this week would be different. I knew that I had a faculty meeting after school, so I loaded up the crock pot this morning. So glad I did.
I’ve made red beans and sausage for years, but I only recently started making a “paler” version with white beans and ham. It’s really yummy. Michael and the kids love it. It also smelled incredible when we walked into the house this evening!
Slow Cooker White Beans and Ham
- 2 pounds of dry white beans (Great Northern Beans)
- 3-4 cups of cubed, cooked ham
- 2 teaspoons of onion powder
- 2 teaspoons of garlic salt
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 2 palms full of dehydrated mined onion
- Water – enough to cover the beans by 3-4 inches
Throw everything into the crock pot. Cook on low all day (for me, it was 8-9 hours). Serve warm over rice.
Well Duh #1: You can use brown or white rice. Doesn’t matter.
Well Duh #2: I have made the recipe with smoked turkey necks – as crazy as that sounds. I saw a Facebook post from my friend Amy about making white beans with turkey necks and couldn’t stop thinking about it. The next time I was at the grocery store, there they were! So I had to try it. At about the 8-hour mark, fish out all the turkey necks, shred the meat from the bones, and add the meat back into the beans. It tastes delicious! And turkey necks are CHEAP! They’re ugly and scary-looking, but they are cheap and they give this dish a great smoky flavor.
Well Duh #3: This is my double-batch. If you’ve hung around this blog for any amount of time, you know of my fondness of cooking a double-batch and freezing half. If you don’t want to do that, just cut everything in the recipe in half. Easy!
Well Duh #4: When I say 2 “palms full” of dehydrated minced onion, that’s really what I mean. I just cup my hand and pour it full twice.
This is a great dish for cooler weather, but, in true Louisiana fashion, our weather has decided to be bipolar again and we had unseasonably warm temperatures today. My family didn’t care. If yours does, just turn down the thermostat and enjoy!
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