Beans coming out of my EARS!!!!!

Yesterday, I wanted to make White Chicken Chili, but a portrait session bumped all of my time back, and it didn't happen. That was OK, though, because when I went to the store to get the beans, I realized I could get the dry variety and soak them over night (cheaper thataway).


Well, I soaked the amount the recipe said .... and you more seasoned cooks can just guess what happened. The recipe called for 3 cans of 15 oz beans. Well, they're already bigger and expanded. The 35 oz of beans I soaked became ENORMOUS. So much, in fact, that I couldn't put all of the beans into the crock pot to cook them.


Rats.

So, I figured what the heck. Might as well make some Ham and Bean Soup, too. Right? So I've got that going on the stove with the chili in the crock pot. Sheesh! We're going to be freezing A LOT of soup in the next day or so.


SPEAKING of freezing soup .... a month or so ago, I read an awesome way to do it in Better Homes & Gardens Magazine. Let it cool off some. Then pour it into those BIG freezer bags. Close the bag, get rid of the extra air. Then, put it into the freezer ON A COOKIE SHEET. That way it will freeze flat. The cool benefit to this is it freezes flat, taking up less freezer space. Cool, eh?

And for those of you who want links to the recipes: Ham and Bean Soup and White Chicken Chili.

Oh, on the Ham and Bean soup, I steam a head of cauliflower, then puree it and add it to the soup to make it nice and THICK! :)