Haaaaaaaaa-lle-lu-iah!

The kitchen, my dear friends, is finally d-o-n-e! It's over. Rob has officially left the building. Alright, that's not completely accurate -- he still has to replace one cracked cabinet door, but other than that, we've seen the tail end of the construction crew.

We are beyond thrilled. I love my new kitchen and plan to create a bunch of new recipes in it over the years. For now, we'll start with this one. A wonderful, hearty Autumn comfort meal.

Ham & Baked Beans with Cornbread
Ideally, this meal is best made with the day-after remnants of a fine, spiral-cut Honeybaked Ham. Barring the existence of one of those in your kitchen, you can use a small fresh ham. Just please, whatever you do, don't use a canned ham! Sacre Bleu.

2-3 cups cubed ham
1 bag dried white navy beans (seems oxymoronic, doesn't it?)
1 1/2 c ketchup
1 1/2 c water
1/4 c molasses
1/4 c honey
1 large onion chopped
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon salt
6 slices of uncooked salt pork or bacon, diced
1 c brown sugar

Soak the beans overnight in 8 cups of water. Drain and rinse. Combine all ingredients except for the ham in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on med/med-high for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Add the ham and continue to cook for another 3-4 hours until the beans are tender and delicious and the ham is fall-apart-on-your-fork goodness.

In the mean time, prepare the cornbread. This may possibly be the finest side dish to ever cross your lips.

Prepare 2 boxes Jiffy Cornbread mix according to the package directions (1 egg, 1/3 c milk for each package). Let it sit for about 5 minutes until it begins to get a little "fluffy." You can tell this is happening by running a fork through it -- it will be slightly foamy.

Add:
1 can sweet yellow corn, drained.
1 can creamed corn
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
(hey, I never said this was a Weight Watchers recipe)
1-5 chopped jalapenos, according to taste and your tolerance for heat (optional)

Pour into a greased 9 x 13" pan and bake at 400F for 50-60 minutes or until golden on top and the center is just solid. You want this to be moist, so don't overbake.

Cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes before cutting.

Serve perched on the edge of a bowl of steaming ham & beans and enjoy!

Now... some photos:

I took some of the photos at night to avoid the sun glare from the windows as well as show the lighting. This picture is also a good one "angle-wise" compared to one of the before pictures to show the actual before/after.


This is the best "before" picture I have as compared to the above after. Which only means that I stunk at taking the before pictures. We eliminated the "art niche" wall and one wall cabinet on the kitchen side. This completely opened up the entire first floor. Other than that, the balance of the footprint is basically the same with the exception of an island that's a foot longer.


I love my island. This was a work in progress and a labor of love. We changed the design a good 5 times after construction began. The left side houses a pull-out spice rack and the right side is a baking pan cabinet. The drawers are home to my new Calphalon Contemporary stainless pots & pans.




One angle of the kitchen during the day. This is a better representation of color.