Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Today I am a Domestic Goddess! Day one of the cooking marathon begins. I did my grocery shopping yesterday, I love having and Aldi close by, now I don't have to drive to Kenosha. It's 7:28 a.m. and I already have the ham cooking in the pot (for navy bean soup). I'm getting ready to get the chili started in the crock pot. I need to run to the hardware store and pick up plastic for the outside basement door, the weather stripping alone hasn't helped with the draft. Then put insulation around the water pipes in the crawl space and weather striping at the front and back doors. I think I'll bring the coffin upstairs and put it out on the front porch today along with the skeleton and a few other items I have for outside. Then back to cooking. My list for the next couple of days is to make: Navy bean soup, Chili, Stew, Meat Loaf, BBQ Meatballs, Italian sausage with peppers, Cowboy beans, Peas and Carrots in thyme sauce, Zucchini scramble, Barley Mushroom soup and Mulligatawny soup. Most of this I portion out and freeze. I have three new recipes to try out as well, Grilled Salmon, Lemon-Orange orange roughy and marinated Tuna Steak. Now, I don't normally do these marathon sessions except at certain times of the year, I blame the weather!

Ok here's the first recipe: Navy bean soup

1 ham with bone in and a thick layer of fat, 1 lb. Navy beans, 2 bay leaves and a large white onion, chopped.

Day 1 - put ham in the soup/stock pot cover with water, cook covered on medium heat until boiling the reduce heat to low and simmer about 12 hours. Turn off heat and allow to cool in the pot. Place pot into fridge and leave over night.

Day 2 - take pot out and put on stove, skim the layer of fat the has formed and repeat the cooking process of the previous day. Again refrigerate over night.

Day 3 - repeat day 2. Rinse, separate and soak navy beans over night.

Day 4 - remove any remaining fat from the pot, remove as much of the bones as possible. Cook as you did on days 1,2,&3 but drain and rinse the beans and add them, the bay leaves and the onion to the pot. Remove bay leaves prior to eating.

I know this is a long process, however, it gives the soup a great deal of flavor, and by removing the fat that forms daily and the chunks on day 4, you are making it relatively low fat.

Broomhilda worshipped the goddess at 7:26 AM

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