How to Cook Baby Lima Beans

This video shows you how to cook dried baby lima beans. They take a couple of hours to cook, but boy are they worth it.

How to Cook Dried Beans

Good tips for cooking dried beans.

I disagree with the video about adding salt at the beginning of cooking. If you add too much salt in the beginning the beans will not soften and you will get tough beans, so I save the salt for the end.

How to Cook Collard Greens

It seems the last holdouts in my winter garden are collard greens. Believe it or not, even with the weather we have had recently, I still have collards. Well, it is time to begin getting ready for the spring garden, so I am cooking the last of the collard greens.

How to Cook Collard Greens

• 1 large or 2 small ham hocks
• A mess of collards, as many as your pot will hold.
• Water or stock
• Salt, pepper, garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Red pepper flakes, optional
• Pepper vinegar-for serving, optional

1. Put the ham hocks in a large pot and add water or stock to cover them. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and simmer for approximately 1 hour to extract the smoky goodness from the ham hocks.
2. Meanwhile, trim the collards. Remove the center rib from each leaf and cut the collards into 1 to 2 -inch squares.
3. Add the collards to the pot, along with the seasonings to your taste. (Except for pepper vinegar.)
4. Simmer the collards, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes, until the collards are tender.
5. Serve the collards sprinkled to taste with pepper vinegar.
6. Don’t discard the “pot likker”, its considered the best part by some and it is definitely full of vitamins. Drink it or use it for soup, etc.

Related Recipes:

Pork and Collard Greens

How to Cook a Corned Beef Brisket

Cooking a corned beef brisket sounds intimidating, but it really is not. The instructions below are for cooking on the stove top, but you can also cook corned beef brisket in the crock pot or roaster, or covered with water as below in the oven at 325 for approximately 1 hour per pound. When cooking in the oven, use a tight fitting lid, or seal it with aluminum foil.

My recipe starts with an already corned beef.

Stove top method:

1 corned beef brisket
water
spice packet that comes in the brisket

1. The brisket comes already brined and ready to cook. You need to rinse the brine off, then place the brisket in a large heavy pot. Add the spice packet that came with the brisket, and cover it with water.

2. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 3 – 5 hours, depending on the size of your brisket. (Refer to the package label.)

3. When done the brisket will be tender and will have shrunk a bit. Remove the brisket from the water and place on a cutting board and allow to rest a few minutes. If you are not planning to eat it until later, allow it to cool before slicing.

4. To slice the corned beef brisket correctly you need to locate the direction of the grain. Look for the long strands of meat. If you slice so that these strands stay long, your brisket will be tough to chew. Instead slice across the grain so that the strands are cut very short. This will result in a tender slice of corned beef.

When the beef is done, throw in some potatoes and carrots, or cabbage. This is a fine meal any night of the week. Don’t forget the Reuben sandwich the next day.