Soup Beans

A thought came to mind when a friend told me I needed more beans in my bean soup. I didn't agree with her and then wondered why she liked lots of beans and I preferred more soup than beans.

I grew up on a farm where we had very few luxuries, and food was at times rather hard to come by. There were six of us that had to be fed three meals a day. Our main foods were home made biscuits and gravy for breakfast, brown soup beans, fried potatoes and cornbread for dinner and then for a switch we had cornbread, fried potatoes and soup beans for supper. (a little humor there). Today soup beans are something I eat because of the memories. It is a comfort food for me.

With little money mother had to 'make do' with what she had to feed everyone. To make a pot of beans go further she added more water to the beans. Jowl bacon was used as flavoring and only salt and pepper were added. A large pone of hot cornbread accompanied the beans and fried potatoes at each meal. Each person would break off a piece of the bread. It was not cut in squares as one sees most of the time these days. We actually broke bread together. Everyone wanted the corner edges as they were crispy. The bread was crumbled up and put in my bowl of beans. This made the soup more filling as well as making sure everyone had a larger portion to eat.

Today I don't bother peeling the potatoes as there are nutrients in the skin of the potato that should not go to waste. It is not often I fry potatoes to go with the beans now as they go to the waist! On the farm we didn't have such problems as there was enough activity in the day to use up the stored energy of such foods. Back to the potatoes. Mother use a peeler to remove the skins. I remember the knife mother used to slice the potatoes. It was well worn. The blade was very thin from being sharpened after it was nicked with something. Mother had a big iron skillet in which she fried the potatoes to a golden brown. My favorite part of the fried potatoes was the crunch brown parts. I still have the big iron skillet for making the potatoes. I think that iron must have gained weight over the years as it is very hard for me to pick it up now.

Ah, memories. I am tempted to fry potatoes to go with that pot of beans I cooked yesterday. I have plenty of soup and a portion of cornbread left.