Ham dinner like last month but with navy beans instead of pinto.

NAVY BEANS

Wash and sort Navy beans, put in a pot big enough to cover with 3 times as much water, bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, cover; remove from heat and let sit for an hour.  Drain add one small onion chopped, 1/2 Cup brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste a couple pinches cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon dried or 3 Tbs. fresh parsley and 5 or 6 meaty ham shanks. cover with water and simmer about 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender.

HAM

Ham was a small butt end city ham with a glaze of raspberry jam, tamari, lime juice, brown sugar, dijon mustard, honey, maple syrup and a dash of balsamic vinegar.  Collard greens were stripped of the large center stems, rinsed thouroughly, chopped, boiled with water and a ham shank bone, sugar, salt and red pepper flakes.  We ate them with some vinegar and hot sauce.

COLLARD GREENS

5 bundles collard greens

4 cups salted water

3 large smoked ham hocks

1 cup sugar

Salt

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Thoroughly wash collard greens. Be sure to pull leaves apart and remove any sand. Chop collard greens.

In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups of salted water to a simmer. Place smoked ham hocks in salted water and cover for about 90 minutes. Cook ham hocks until slightly tender. In the same saucepan, add remaining ingredients and collard greens.

Cover and cook greens for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

*Cook's Note: Make sure at least half of ham hocks are covered with water. If not, add additional water.