To make this meal I canned my own ham. It left me with a very rich stock which I used for this soup. I will include partial instructions for canning your own ham at the bottom of this page. I recommend that you get the Ball Canning Book. It is packed with good information and complete instructions.
To make this meal 12 times for your family you will need:
12-1 lb Bag of Beans -OR- 24 Cups of Beans
12 Pints or Quarts Canned Ham (I use Quarts, my kids are semi-carnivorous)
12 Large Onions -OR- 48 Tbsp Dehydrated Onion
12 Large Green Peppers -OR- 24 Tbsp Dehydrated Green Peppers
24 Cloves of Garlic –OR- 6 tsp Garlic Powder
12 tsp Chili Powder
3 tsp Ground Cumin
24 Tbsp Black Strap Molasses
24Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
12-4oz cans mild green chiles (If spicey beans are desired)
Liquid smoke (Optional)
Cowboy Bean soup Recipe
*These beans are not spicey. If you would like a little more kick add a 4 oz can of chiles to the mix. That'll do it!
2 Cups Light Red Kidney Beans
2 Quarts Stock or Water with Bouillon * If your stock is salty use half stock and half water.
1 Large Sweet Onion, Chopped -OR- 4 Tbsp Dehydrated Onion
1 Large Green Pepper, Chopped -OR- 2 Tbsp Dehydrated Green Pepper
2 Cloves Garlic or ½ tsp Garlic Powder (Not garlic salt)
¼ tsp Ground Cumin
¼ tsp Black Pepper
2 Tbsp Black Strap Molasses
2 Tbsp Firmly Packed Dark Brown Sugar
1Quart Shredded Ham 2 lbs Shredded Ham w/Broth * You may choose to use a pint of meat instead.
1 40z Can Green Chiles (Optional)
A few dashes liquid smoke (Optional)
2 tsp Oil
*If using dehydrated vegetables, rehydrate them, drain, and saute as usual. You can easily rehydrate your veggies while the beans are soaking.
Clean 2 cups dried beans of any debris and rinse.
In a large stock pot, cover the beans with lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Turn off the burner and allow the beans to sit for an hour or two. You can do this first thing in the morning, or the evening before. Drain the beans.
In a seperate pan, saute your onions, green peppers and garlic if using cloves. Sauteed vegetables are sweeter and richer in flavor.
To the pot of beans add two quarts of rich stock or 2 quarts water and bouillon, sautéed onions, green peppers, and garlic, chili powder, cumin, pepper, molasses, brown sugar, ham with broth, and a little love.
Allow the beans to simmer on low until soft and yummy.
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To make Chile-Cheddar Corn Muffins 12 times you will need:
12 Cups of flour; If you are ginding your own flour from wheat you will need 8 Cups wheat berries
12 Cups Corn meal; If you are grinding your own corn meal, which I recommend, you will need 8 Cups of Popping Corn or approximately 4 lbs. of popping corn.
3 Cups Sugar or Brown sugar or Honey
24 tsp Baking Powder
3 tsp Baking Soda
6 tsp Salt
36 Whole Eggs, or 36Tbsp (2 1/4 Cups) Dried Whole Egg Powder
18 Cups Buttermilk, or Equivalent Buttermilk Powder
3 1/4 Cups Butter or Cooking Oil, or 3 1/4 Cups Butter powder 12-4oz Cans Mild Green Chiles
12-8oz Blocks Cheddar Cheese
*If you are waxing your own cheese for your family store start with mild cheddar. It will continue to age on the shelf and be sharp when you use it. Sharp cheddar is great in this recipe.
Chile-Cheddar Corn Muffins
Bake at 400 degrees
I decided to make my muffins in mini-muffin pans for bite sized morsels.
Pssst. Grind your popping corn into fresh meal. . .
1 Cups All purpose flour, Wheat flour, or half and half
1 Cups Corn Meal (I grind my meal a little finer than what is standard. It makes a better textured bread.)
1/4 Cup Sugar, Brown Sugar, or Honey * If you use honey decrease the buttermilk by 2 Tablespoons.
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
3 Beaten Eggs (If you want a more crumbly bread, decrease the eggs to 2)
Scant 1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk
1/4 Cup Cooking Oil or Melted Butter
1 40z Can Green Chiles
80z Grated Cheddar Cheese ( Wax and keep in your family store)
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees now.
Gather all of your ingredients and tools so that you are not running back and forth to the pantry and the fridge.
Oil your muffin tins and sprinkle them with corn meal. This will help your corn muffins release more easily from the pan.
Mix the flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl leaving a well in the center. Set aside. In a seperate bowl combine 3 beaten eggs, scant 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, melted butter or oil and drained green chiles. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry all at once and fold in until thoroughly combined. Fold in grated cheese. If you find that you have to overmix the batter to combine the cheese then just add the cheese to the dry ingredients and then combine wet to dry.
Hint: Beating the batter will make the bread tough. Corn Bread is a quick bread and wants to be handled gently, so be nice!
Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes (mini muffins 7 - 10 minutes).
*For Dumplings reduce the milk to 1 1/4 cup. Drop batter by rounded spoonfuls into HOT (low boil) bean soup. Cover the pot with a lid. Do not stir the dumplings or they will break apart. Allow them to cook until done in the center, about fifteen minutes. Yum!
Hint: Use an ice cream scoop to get rounded spoonfuls of dough without getting your fingers doughy.
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Canning Ham!
If you haven't canned meat yet I highly recommend learning. Canned meats will give you flavor, texture, variety, and security in your family food store. You will need the proper equipment: a pressure canner, jars, lids and a few small tools. If you can't bear the expense of the equipment yourself then get proactive and start a food storage club in your area. Get multiple friends to pitch in on the price of the equipment and then take turns using it.
There are several books on canning, my favorite is the Ball Blue Book which can be purchased at Wal-Mart in the canning isle for around 5.00. Follow the directions to exactness. Meats are low acid and as such need to be treated with caution. That doesn't mean don't do it, that just means do it right! Canned meats are super convenient and really yummy. You will be thrilled when you have them on your shelf.
For canned ham I purchased two large uncooked bone in hams. I put them in a stock pot and covered them with water to which I added four large onions quartered, six stalks of celery, six carrots and two bay leaves. I allowed them to cook on very low heat until the meat was very tender. I removed the meat from the bone in bite sized pieces and packed the meat loosely into clean quart jars and filled the jars with broth leaving one inch head space.
*Extra veggies in your stock will not only add flavor, they will soak up excess salt which is important when cooking ham. Near the end of your cook time drop in a few whole peeled potatoes to soak up additional salt. Don't cook the potatoes so long that they mush out. You want to be able to pull them out of the broth completely whole.
Quarts were processed at 10 lbs pressure for 90 minutes. If your altitude is higher than 1000ft above sea level you must increase the pressure according to the directions for canning pork.