3 Bean Mexican Crock Pot POLAR VORTEX SOUP heats up the home!

   

3 Bean Mexican Crock Pot
 POLAR VORTEX SOUP
heats up the home!

You can sub things in this recipe and it will still work
as long as you stick to the same measurements and ethnicity
For instance I used pork breakfast sausage  I just had to roll it into little balls and brown it first. But I could also use ham. 12 ounces  is 12 ounces  unless you want it really meaty. Go for 16 ounces then.

 The Recipe

12 ounces pork sausage

2 fourteen ounce cans reduced sodium chicken or beef broth

1 fifteen ounce can of black beans rinsed and drained

1 fifteen ounce can of garbanzo beans rinsed and drained

1 eight ounce can of lima beans

2 tablespoons of Trader Joes Chipolte Sauce

1 cup of   frozen broccoli or any frozen vegetable

1 cup of diced sweet potatoes 

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon organic oregano 

1/2  teaspoon smoked paprika

Brown spices in a fry pan with some oil / Do not let the spices smoke / put spices to the side

 Brown the sausage in the same pan after removing spices to  cool/ drain  the fat

 Put spices and browned sausage in the crock pot. If you are using ham or other meat make sure it has been partially cooked

Stir in the soup broth black beans, garbanzo beans , lima beans or any other beans you want to use Rinsed and drained .

If you use canned  pork and beans (keep the sauce for pork and beans)

Add the potatoes (you can use frozen hash browns) 

Add the frozen vegetables or you can use stewed tomatoes and one  1/2 cup of  chopped green or red bell pepper . Frozen corn is very Mexican/ whereas frozen okra would be African. In any case KEEP the oregano and if you want less smoky taste use chili powder  which is a little hot. You can sub sriracha for the chili powder still using 1/2 teaspoon.

Finally... Cover your crockpot creation and cook on low setting for 4-5 hours . This is how the flavors blend by simmering at this rate of  209 degrees  and ending around 340 degrees after  4-5 hours. It is not boiling !!!.

If you have no crockpot and are cooking on the stove top you are still following the 209 - 340 degrees. So yes you need a cooking thermometer.And yes the meat needs to  be browned/partially cooked first. 

For this soup  it will eventually bubble at this temperature. It is not a true boil at 340 degrees Farenheit/100 Celcius.  

However you will have to often stir a stove top pot at this temperature so that nothing burns at the bottom of the pan. 

There is one advantage to the stove top- the house will heat up and smell good for about 4 to 5 hours . There is no high setting for stove top cooking  it is meant to simmer -- not boil. 

In a crock pot leave the lid on and let it cool down enough so you can transfer it to a container that will withstand refrigeration . With a stove top method, you are simply putting a cooler pot into the fridge.

Ok I get it! I have been living in New England and Pumpkin Pie is favored over Sweet Potato Pie in most of the NorthEast.

the screenshot and LINK 
https://www.verybestbaking
.com/recipes/18470/
libbys-famous-pumpkin-pie/

Ok  I get it!  I have been living in New England  and Pumpkin Pie is favored over Sweet Potato Pie
in most of the North East. 
 I figured it out- one is SWEET  and the other is Not  So Sweet.
 All my friends and cousins  that can bake  prefer the Sweet Potato Pie over the Pumpkin Pie and say I am no Cook.  OK

I am not even a foodie anymore.  I promise to stop being a foodie, and become an advocate for people having food to eat instead. Margo the foodie  is   done.

So  in the spirit of having food to eat- if you only have  for a can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie mix and a couple of premixed ready- to -use pie crusts ... can we all agree that food is fuel?

A side by side comparison of the nutritional value of Pumpkin Pie vs Sweet Potato Pie
 Pumpkin Pie  from the can                                                                      
including what the FDA requires on labels   should be a good place to start except  the pumpkin pie haters tell me that they do not use sweet potatoes from a can ... They cook actual sweet potatoes and puree them  and start about 2 days ahead... Well if you go to that level of course your pie will taste amazing...                                                                

This is what the FDA requires on the label:
vitamin A
vitamin C 
calcium
 and iron.
 Once you add the butter  
and sugar   like it says on the label...

https://youtu.be/9U8ntWvYkeE

it is not diabetic friendly, but it is pie- see the video 

In both the pumpkin pie and sweet potatoe pie  
The spices are 0 calories                                                                                            
 in the red/yellow family of spices :
cinnamon
 nutmeg
  ginger
 cloves 
 allspice 
 Usually brown sugar and/or  white sugar are added
The evaporated milk should be from a BPA free can
 The crust should be relatively free of preservatives
like sodium benzoate.

But if you do not read the Labels - your quick pie
may taste like it is full of preservatives  since it is
not from scratch the way your ancestors had to do it

For the health conscious - the Doctor Approved version  of Pumpkin Pie requires you making it from scratch  to control the level of fat, sugar  and non organic preservatives and sources
https://www.doctorshealthpress.com/food-and-nutrition-articles/pumpkin-pie-benefits-is-your-favorite-thanksgiving-dessert-healthy/