By "Popular" Request

Because so many people have left comments requesting recipes -ok, maybe two did that -I decided to go on a search and destroy mission here and find the recipe I wrote down a few years back for the Ham and Bean Potpie mentioned in my last post. I may have mentioned this recipe a time or two before because it is a favorite with my kids and it's the one I generally make to take to church pot luck dinners too. (Mostly because I rarely come home with more than maybe two-three tablespoons of the stuff left over and I really hate dealing with certain types of leftovers that somehow manage to get lost in the fridge until they have begun to grow a really think coating of green-gray fur, if you know what I mean.)

This particular dish is one that was served every Thursday as the dinner special at the truckstop where I worked from 1989 to 1991. I don't know what the origins are for this recipe but I'm guessing it is probably a Pennsylvania Dutch type dish. If you notice I didn't give amounts of the onions, celery, carrots to cook with the ham, as this varies for me depending on the size of the ham I ham using. It can also vary with individual tastes too as some people don't like a heavy onion flavor, others may not want or only use a smattering of the carrots and celery. It is pretty much an individual thing there. The same can be applied to the "dumplings" or noodles -whether you want to use more or less, it's up to you to determine how you like that.

It really isn't a difficult dish to prepare -a little time consuming here and there -but the flavor is well worth the effort. This recipe will make enough to fill a five quart (not 5 gallon as I had originally stated in my earlier post) casserole dish. I use the large oval shaped visions casserole dish -with a nice big lid to it too that makes transporting it a whole lot easier too.

If you want to make a smaller batch to try it out, you'll have to adjust your portions of ingredients as you see fit -again, it's a very individualistic dish and can be adjusted for a smaller portion or easily increased for a very large, large pan full too if you wish!

Try it. If you like bean soup, I'll bet you - and your family - will love it!

Cousin Jen’s Favorites

Ham and Bean Pot pie

2 large cans Northern white beans

piece of smoked boned ham –usually about 2-3 pounds, give or take.

Chopped celery

Chopped onion

Chopped carrots

Parsley

Dash of celery seed

Salt and pepper

Place ham in large soup pot and cover with water.

Add celery, onion and carrots, seasonings.

Bring to boil and let slow cook then for 1-2 hours.

Pour Northern white beans in 4-5 quart casserole dish.

Remove ham and cut into small pieces or shred. Mix ham into beans.

Dip carrots, onion and celery from broth and add to beans and ham.

For Noodles:

Mix 2 ¾ cups flour, ¾ cup milk, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 2 eggs together. Let mixture set for about 5-8 minutes.

Section dough into 2 or 3 piece and roll each out.

Slice rolled dough lengthwise, then cut slices into small squares or triangles.

Drop these pieces of dough into broth brought to a boil and cook until dough pieces rise to top of broth.

Remove dough from broth and add to bean mixture.

Spoon broth then over beans and dough until dough pieces are pretty well covered.

Bake at 350 for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until mixture is somewhat thickened but not hard.

Stir mixture from time to time to keep noodles from getting hard as they bake.