I over-slept this morning. I kind of did it on purpose. True, I was up late last night and that does not usually stop me from waking up at my normal time, jumping...well at 76 nobody literally jumps...out of bed and starting my routine. This morning however, I deliberately stayed in bed. I got up around five and made a quick run to the bathroom, Zorro thought it was time to get up and followed me, to his dismay I headed back to bed. He joined me with a disgruntled sigh, it didn't take long for both of us to be back to sleep.
Next time I opened my eyes it was 8:30, Zorro, dear little guy, who has a constant rattle in his throat, is still sound asleep beside me. As soon as I stir, he does, and so our day began.
I'm not one to sleep in, never have been, even when I was young. On weekends mom might have had something for us to do, or if we wanted breakfast we had to be there during a specific time frame, or we had to do without. Can you imagine me, doing without breakfast...food...at any time............seriously.
So, this morning, when I finally did put my feet on the floor, my tummy was rumbling pretty much how I suspect Poo Bear's does...I wanted food. Well, first coffee, then food.
When I arrived in the kitchen, there sat the frame of my slow cooker and I remembered I had taken the pot part to the garage for storage over night. Here's the thing.
Some time ago I bought a package of dried beans, the label indicating they would make up into a lovely, hearty soup. 15 Beans, mind you, 15 beans...I didn't know there could be 15 beans, so as you can imagine I was quite intrigued. Yesterday was the day I was going to fix myself that wonderful, delicious, hearty soup.
Well sir, those beans cooked, and cooked, and cooked. A little after eight last evening I ladled some of that soup into a mug ready to enjoy. Crap...some of those beans were still hard as bullets. How can that be, this brew had been steeping since mid morning. I was so hungry, I downed the substance anyway, chewy beans and all. I even went back for seconds...can you believe that? Believe it!
Eventually I turned off the cooker and allowed it to cool for a while so I could handle the crock part. I took it to the garage refrigerator for storage over night, then let the cooker part sit on the counter to remind me to finish softening the beans today.
Truly, I don't expect those dang beans to get any softer than they already are, but I have to give it a shot. The broth, potatoes, tomatoes and most of the beans were quite tasty and I hate giving up on the soup all together. I guess I can always set aside the hard as bullet ones, or at least kind of eat around them while enjoying the good and tasty parts. Word to the wise, don't buy a package of the 15 bean variety, one or two of them will surely be crunchy to eat no matter how long you cook them.
I'm hopeful by dinnertime today, the beans will have softened, and the soup will be even heartier as a result of having been 'steeped' over night. I'll try to remember to post tomorrow how my 15 bean soup turns out, usually my mug is 'half full' with optimism...although, at the moment I'm not 'feeling it'...sigh.
P.S. Generally speaking I always have packets of Manischewitz dried bean, kosher, soups in my pantry. I thought I has some yesterday. Sadly, I did not. However, if you want to make up a good slow cooker soup allow me to suggest their Hearty Bean, Split Pea, Split Pea and Barley, Four Bean, Lentil or Vegetable varieties. Each comes with a packet of seasonings and you can add other vegetables if you wish, I like adding potatoes to the Split Pea and Split Pea/Barley varieties.
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