Pinto Beans and Cornbread
Beans: (feeds 8-10)
8 cups water
1 lb dry beans
1/2 Tbs. Salt
1/2 Tbs. chili powder
1/2 Tbs. garlic (paste or minced)
1 Tbs. olive, canola or vegetable oil (bacon grease if you have it)
Optional: 1/2 onion or 1 jalapeno, slit
Directions:
Look through beans and cull out any small rocks or bad-looking beans
Put into stock pot with 8 cups water (enough to cover with about 2” above top of beans)
Bring to boil on medium heat.
Remove from heat and rinse.
Refill pot with another 8 cups water and place on low-medium heat.
Add seasoning and oil.
Simmer 1-1 1/2 hours.
Check to see if more water needed so no scorching occurs or if more seasoning is needed.
Turn heat lower and simmer another hour or two.

Buttermilk Cornbread: (feeds 10-12, 9×13 pan)
1/4 cup oil
2 cups cornmeal
2 cup AP flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 cups buttermilk (3 Tbs. lemon juice and add milk to 3 cup mark)
2 eggs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Pour oil on 9×13 pan to coat and heat in oven.
Combine dry ingredients and mix well.
Add eggs and buttermilk.
Mix well.
Pour into hot pan, spreading evenly.
Bake 20-30 min., until golden brown.

Story behind this dish

Our first day of official work (but the day before our official opening) began at 6:30 a.m. with a quick trip to the grocery store to purchase forgotten items needed for the catering gig we’d landed. Yes, I’d gone the night before (after I’d left “work” at 6:30), purchased a shopping cart full of stuff, and brought it back for the next morning. But, of course, I’d forgotten one or two things.
Anywho, JoAnne was already hard at work on the carrot cake. She routinely got up at 5 a.m. to run 5 miles and would then go on into work. She really was a godsend.
Rebecca arrived as I did and we both rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
Now, I’ll tell ya, making anything at home doesn’t seem to take all that long. But when cooking for a crowd of 45, it seemed to take forever. And we weren’t dilly-dallying. All 3 of us were hurrying.
We had beans simmering, salad and dressings made, cornbread cut and packaged, paper goods boxed and ready, and the cake iced, cut and packaged.
Rebecca was making 4 gallons of tea and JoAnne was finishing the chicken n dumplins as our state health department inspector waltzed in. She was supposed to come in the afternoon. But here she was, catching us cooking for a luncheon in our uninspected kitchen.
I recognized her. She’d taken the ServSafe course with me. (A course that certifies you know kitchen requirements). This could go either way. Either she’d know I knew what I was doing and go easy or she’d know I was supposed to know better and write us up.
She asked when we were opening and I answered honestly. Rebecca and JoAnne were both friendly but kept their heads in their jobs and let me do the answering. She then asked if we were just doing prep work for it, although she could see we were full-blown cooking. Again, honesty:  I smiled, “Well, we had a pharmaceutical rep call and request a lunch for today. So we went ahead and did it. I hope that’s okay.”
She was checking our temperatures in cold storage. She just smiled. I followed her around our small kitchen checking our oven and stove temperatures, since we had them going. She observed our washing and sanitizing stations and checked our grease trap (glad we’d cleaned that out!).
“You are cleared to cook,” she said as she handed me a copy of the report she’d turn in. She smiled and wished us luck.
“Thank you,” I said as she left.
I turned to Rebecca and JoAnne.
“Glad that’s over. I was afraid she’d shut us down just for getting our cart before our horse,” I said.
Rebecca looked up from packaging the tea in our carrier, “Me too. I was nervous about that….”
As we launched into a conversation about that big stress being past us, JoAnne reminded us, “Yes, but right now we need to get this meal to 45 people on the other side of town and we are 10 minutes late.”
JoAnne would prove to be our much-needed time keeper and “reminderer”.
Cooking on a schedule was proving harder than it looked.

For a crowd: (feeds 32-40 as main dish)
Beans
1.5-2 gallons water
4 lb dry beans
2 Tbs. Salt
2 Tbs. chili powder
2 Tbs. garlic (paste or minced)
4 Tbs. olive, canola or vegetable oil (bacon grease if you have it)
Optional: 2 onions or 3 jalapenos, slit
Directions:
Look through beans and cull out any small rocks or bad-looking beans
Put into large stock pot with water (enough to cover with about 2” above top of beans)
Bring to boil on medium heat.
Remove from heat and rinse.
Refill pot with more water and place on low-medium heat.
Add seasoning and oil.
Simmer 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
Check to see if more water needed so no scorching occurs or if more seasoning is needed.
Turn heat lower and simmer another hour or two.

Buttermilk Cornbread: (feeds 40-48, 2 large steam trays)
1 cup oil
8 cups cornmeal
8 cup AP flour
1 cup sugar
8 Tbs. baking powder
8 tsp. salt
6 tsp. baking soda
12 cups buttermilk (3 Tbs. lemon juice and add milk to 3 cup mark)
8 eggs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Pour 1/2 cup oil into each 9×13 pan to coat and heat in oven.
Combine dry ingredients and mix well.
Add eggs and buttermilk.
Mix well.
Pour into hot pans, spreading evenly.
Bake 30-45 min., until golden brown.