Bean Heaven

I saw these fall colored butter beans at Lucy's Market last week and had to bring them back to my kitchen. They are one of nature's perfect foods that is almost too beautiful to cook. Honestly I am not sure of the correct name for these beauties but I do know they are special. These heirloom beans butter beans make a wonderfully simple side dish. Unfortunately they lose their unique color in the cooking process but their taste is on par with the physical beauty.

SPECKLED BUTTER BEANS

You will need:

butter beans- traditional, speckled or any heirloom variety

water

butter

salt

Rinse these southern beans in a colander.

Pour into a stockpot or dutch oven.

Cover with water by a couple in inches.

Plop in a 1/2 stick of butter.

Sprinkle salt.

Bring to a boil.

Simmer for about an hour.

Serve with a little broth.

Pre-Thanksgiving Thank You Bread

Thanksgiving menu planning inspired to make a few loaves of my moms pumpkin bread. Only problem was that I was lazy and didn't feel like a visit to the grocery. This turned into an opportunity to tweak my moms recipe and use the can of sweet potato I already had instead of pumpkin and brown sugar for a missing 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. The result was a loaf worth gifting!

Pumpkin or Sweet Potato Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat in an electric mixer:

4 eggs

Mix in:

1 cup oil (veggie or canola)

1 tsp vanilla

1 can pumpkin or sweet potato puree

Mix in a separate bowl:

3 cups sugar *

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

Add sugar/flour mixture to pumpkin mixture

Mix well but don't over-mix

Grease and flour two loaf pans generously

Bake for 50 minutes

Cool then.....

Package in parchment, tie with bakers twine, gift to a friend!

* I only had 2-1/2 cups of granulated sugar and substituted the last 1/2 with light brown sugar. I worked great and I may even like it better.