"You

 

aint never had my cornbread

A little bit of heaven, and a little bit of aw yeah"

Cornbread 

:-).

This is more about Beans (In particular pintos) and Cornbread and my affinity for the aforementioned lol.

Anyway...where to even start?

Okay so I like beans and cornbread. 

I like pintos probably the most butt: butter beans, navy beans, northern beans and even kidney beans will work. I like them how I like them and if I have the opportunity to? Thats how I shall have them, (same with bourbon BTW) if not? Then I make do with what we have. All that being said, I soak my beans overnight after dumping them out and removing any hulls, small pebbles, or any beans that are discolored or cracked. The next day I bring them to a boil in a pot of water with some salt (dont ask, I could show you how much but there's no way I could tell you) a healthy dose of chopped onion I mean 1/2, 2/3 a lbs of finely chopped onion and preferably some ham hock but any kinda cut of pork will do. (I even used spam one time, you would have been surprised, I'll just put it that away.) Ham bone, spam, country ham, whatever ya got if ya dont have a ham hock, and if you dont have a cut of pork? Well then just go with the salt and onion. No onion? Just salt. No salt? Thats a whole nuther story lol. Not our purpose here:-).

Anyway, so? I bring the beans to a rapid boil for a good hour, always watching the pot and adding more water when needed. Then? I turn the heat down to a slow roiling boil and let cook a hour or two...Yup, just like that. I just love em I think they taste great. While the beans are simmering I make my cornbread. Now days given certain constraints I wont go into,  I use a griddle and make cornbread cakes. If I could? I would liberally season a cast iron muffin pan with bacon grease and heat it up in the oven and then put the cornbread batter in it and place back in the oven for the proper amount of time and when they were done, upon removal from the oven? immediately dislodge the muffin from the pan (separate it basically) and let the muffins "breathe" (it wont stick to the muffin pan this way.) And I do this as I start the assembly process of my meal. I dont have a cast iron muffin pan so I use my griddle and make cornbread cakes, like I say, adjust, adapt, overcome, etc...

Here's the whole key:

I take my hot off the griddle cornbread and I ladle my slow cooked and seasoned beans over it right then. Not 5 minutes later, not a minute later, hot cornbread right off the griddle smothered in beans, salt, ham, onion right that instant...

Oh my goodness so good...

For well over 6? 7? years I hadn't had beans and cornbread that away. My mom used bacon grease and salt to season hers but rarely if ever a big chunk of pig. I like mine slow cooked with and with a big chuck of pig and some salt and a ton of finely chopped onion.

Point is?

I went years and never had as much.

I went years and never had everything I liked all at the same time.

:-).

I had beans but no ham, ham but no onion, beans with onion salt and pig, but no cornbread, cornbread but no eggs, had cornbread and eggs, but no milk etc. In the course of the last few years, 6, 7 who knows how long at this point, but I had had every possible combination of everything you could ever have it, but I never had it all all at once like I prefer :-). Needless to say a lil while back that all came to fruition. 

So?

The greater point is:

How happy are you going to be to have a simple meal of beans and cornbread (or anything else for that matter) when the time comes? Will you be grateful for what you do have? Or will you be bitter about what you don't?

I love you baby.

Philippians 4:12

I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. I am accustomed to any and every situation— to being filled and being hungry, to having plenty and having need.

Yup...resonates...lil bit.

:-)

Like I said:

"You aint never had my Cornbread

A little bit of heaven, and a little bit of aw yeah"

1:17 -1;22 mark :-).

"I like my cornbread while its still piping hot"

:-).

:38 - :42 mark

I Couldn't agree anymore JJ, nice meeting you that day in Nashville :-).