Mix up a batch of Mom’s Cornbread if you aren’t using the Lima Beans in another recipe.  A bowl of beans and a hunk of warm, fresh cornbread is just about as comforting a meal as you can make for yourself.

• 1 pound dried lima beans (thumb-nail sized flat light gray-green beans, shaped a little like fat, flattened kidneys)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Best method: pour dried beans out of package and into a colander/strainer.  Filter through the dried beans with your fingers, looking for bits of mud or rock.  Discard this kind of trash if you find it.  Rinse the beans under running tap water.  Pour wet beans into 3 quart pot and cover with water until water is about 2 inches above the top of the beans.

HINT: 1 inch = 1 finger joint (tip of finger to first joint) so 2 inches is tip of finger to second joint)

Soak beans overnight.  They will absorb most of the water.  Pour off the water the next morning and re-rinse beans.

Pour wet beans into crockpot and cover with water, plus 1-2 inches above the top of the beans.

Add salt and pepper, cover and cook in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.  CARNIVORES! add 1 pound of sliced and sauteed kielbasa or leftover smoked or grilled meat to your beans for a hearty meal at the end of the day.

In a rush?  You can skip the soaking stage, just make sure your water is about 4 inches above the tops of the dried beans.