All righty, y’all. Here’s how I make the butterbeans.
By the way, this post is also going to serve as my welcome post for the 5 Minutes For Mom blog party.
Why? Because I’m all lazy creative like that.
So welcome, blog party people. Sit down. Stay awhile. And have some, um, butterbeans.
(Oh, it’s the South. I’ll offer you butterbeans, you’ll tell me about your crazy Aunt Gertrude, I’ll tell you about my crazy Uncle Horace, we’ll bond and quote Harper Lee and become best friends forever and celebrate with a big ole fried apple tart. It’ll be fun.)
Now your ideal butterbean scenario is if you have beans fresh from the garden. If you don’t, then the next best thing is to use frozen baby lima beans, which is what we keep on hand around here.
So here’s what you do:
Pour a cup and a half of water in a medium saucepan. Add 2 beef bouillon cubes, 2 teaspoons canola oil, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire and 1 teaspoon salt.
Bring ingredients to a boil, add a 16 oz. bag of frozen baby lima beans (or the Fordhook lima beans, or plain ole butterbeans, if you prefer – I think the baby limas are best), stir, and return to a boil.
Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 30-45 minutes.
And if you’re thinking, “My, that’s a long time to cook a green vegetable. I can’t imagine that there’s any nutritional value left after cooking the butterbeans for that long,” why yes, you’re exactly right.
Deeeee-licious.
So. One more thing.
If you’re stopping by my blog for the first time, let me just say that I’d love to tell you that the content around here is usually better than a butterbean recipe.
I’d love to, but I can’t.
Because that would be a lie.
And butterbean recipes are really just par for the proverbial BooMama blogging course.
We’re shooting for the stars here, people.
(sidenote: I really want to extend the whole “shooting for the stars” metaphor right now, but doing so seems to exceed my figurative language capabilities, thus cementing my reputation as a beacon of mediocrity in the blogosphere. And oh LORDY did I just create another metaphor? With the whole beacon thing? After the golf thing and the stars thing? Somebody stop me BEFORE MY BRAIN EXPLODES.)
Okay, internets. Get back to your party. Or your butterbean cooking. Or whathaveyou.
I’m going to stay here and mix metaphors while you’re gone.
I am hopping on over for the huge party. I have never had butterbeans so thanks for the yumminess :) !!
Your metaphors are one of the things I love most about you! :)
But I’m now all confused because I thought a butter bean and a lima bean were two totally different beans. Hey, what do I know? I’m not the lima bean eater. Amazingly enough that would be my oh-so-picky-eater husband. Yeah, go figure. ;)
Thanks for the butter beans or lima beans or whatever! :)
Oh, dear…I was traumatized by a plate of lima beans (I’ve always thought calling them “butter beans” was just a way of fooling little kids into thinking they were good. *g*) when I was a child, so I’m not sure I can part-take. But don’t feel bad — I wouldn’t even do it for my pretend Boyfriend Clay Aiken, who loves Lima Bean Pie. ;)
OHMYGOSH! I feel like if I actually take the time to make these I’ll FINALLY be an official adult. An official SOUTHERN adult! I’m excited. Thanks for the recipe. My grandmother will look down from heaven at her butterbean-makin’ granddaughter and smile, I’m certain.
Well . . . gotta go and find some lima bean juice now.
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Thank you for the butterbean recipe and the party. A very nice Southern party it was :)
Worcestershire! The missing ingredient to true Southern lima beans! Thank you, Boomama!
You are the only person in the world who can make a butterbean recipe that much fun. If you ever decide to move to SC I’ve got dibs on being your best friend!!!
Hi there and welcome to the Ultimate Blog Party. Come on by my place and enter the contest. Hurry though, it ends tomorrow at noon!
Is THAT why you like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ so much?? Because it’s set in the south?? ‘Cause I gotta tell you….I’m an English major and all, and I live to read….but….(whispers) I hate Mockingbird!!!!! Oh please, oh please don’t ban me from your blog!!! I’ve been keeping this a secret from you for quite a while now, but, well…the truth just came out. Sigh. Mind you, I have a very good friend who simply ADORES it and puts it in her top five. Me, not so much. I simply could not get past the father…my friend tells me it was ‘the times’ he was in. But I hated him. I thought he was totally unfair AND WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD LET TWO LITTLE KIDS WALK IN THE DARK TO A PLAY AND WHY DIDN’T HE *GO* TO SAID PLAY????? Inexcusable. Okay, this turned into an Atticus/Mockingbird rant. So sorry. Let’s see if we can put some butterbeans into it…I thought butter beans were YELLOW…aren’t limas totally different?
Oh BooMama! I may just copy and paste your entire post and add it to the back of the recipe for Butter-Beans. I may even title it “Butta-beans!” …..never has a recipe for BEANS been so enticing!
You continue to be the best! How do you do it!
Happy partying!
Diane
Strange thing about the South #4,382: most of us consider “butterbeans” and “lima beans” synonymous. I did a little research to make sure I wasn’t crazy, and according to the Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, the terms are almost interchangeable. There’s a little difference in the size and color of the beans, of course, but I prepare them the same way.
Now if you get into butterpeas, that’s a whole different kettle of fish in terms of texture.
And I can’t even address Kate’s dislike of Mockingbird right now. The wound is too deep and too fresh. ;-)
However, if it helps, Kate, I’ll tell you that my parents let me walk a mile to a dirt road and then play on said dirt road for hours on end in 1982, so it’s probably not beyond the realm of Southern comprehension that Atticus would have allowed his children to walk a block to their school in the 1930’s, even in the dark and with Bob Ewell on the loose.
We’re a trusting people, you know. :-)
This monkey is not a big bean eater..They do weird things to me.. If ya know what I mean. I just love your blog…thanks for sharing.
Well, I don’t know if you like Harper Lee or not (boo), but Mockingbird has always been right up there with Where the Red Fern Grows for me. I am not ashamed to admit whenever I need a flashback fix to childhood, I read one of those. They have also become my daughter’s favorites…she is 10 today. So I guess you could say I have the reading tastes of a 10 year old, thank you very much.
If *I* shared an awesome bean recipe, would it help smooth things over?? It even involves butter beans!!! (the real ones, not the lima ones….) Even if I buy the whole ‘trusting people, Atticus thought they’d be safe’ argument…why oh why wouldn’t he BE there to cheer Scout on as a ham??? Surely YOU’D be there if ever Alex was, say, a BUTTER BEAN in a school play!!!! (and you’d probably even go if he was a LIMA BEAN!!) ;o)
Nothing tastier than mixin’ metaphors…and I LOVE the way you do it, Boomama!!
Hi Boomama
I’m here from the blog party!
I have a confession to make – I don’t even know what lima beans are. Here in SA, we have butter beans in a can. And the only green beans are called….wait for this…green beans!
So I’m off to google it now!
Bye bye – I’ll be back later again.
Do you mean all this time we were supposed to eat vegetables for their NURTIONAL value? I had no idea.
Who eats food for it’s nutritional value? Taste is what counts… and I am planning on rewriting the food pyramid to reflect this. :)
What a fun post! I’ve blogmarked you and will be back. You’ve been warned. ;)
Your blogging style seems to remind me one someone, now who could that be? Oh yeah, me, or at least some of the posts I write in my head and then think, I can’t write that, it’s just too random. But you know what, you’ve encouraged me that random can be good!
Popped over for the party, and you know what? I loved the butter beans!
I have always thought eating vegetables for the nutritional value was way overrated. Thanks for the confirmation.
Butterbeans are lima beans? I’m out.
Well, Sister, I never knew that there was a recipe for butterbeans, but I am mighy impressed with myself. I’ve actually been cooking from scratch all these years and didn’t know it! :)
Not being southern myself, I just can’t imagine that those Butterbeans would be good. Maybe you should come over and cook some up for me. And bring some chicken.
Can you believe I’ve never had butterbeans? Granted, I’m not southern, but you’d think that at some point during my 39 years on this planet I’d have had butterbeans.
Stop by and visit my Sunday Party Sunday post.
You rock! And crack me up :)Hope you and your friend are enjoying your butterbeans! I can honestly say I’ve never had those…or Popeye’s chicken…or Church’s chicken…I feel so deprived :(
Hi, there! We LOVE butterbeans. I never would have eaten them the first time had I known that they are lima beans. I found that out after I fell in love with “butterbeans.” This is how we fix ours as well, and they are simply delicious! I’m participating in the blog party as well. Isn’t this crazy fun?
The butterbeans sound great and everything but I’m a whole lot more interested in the big ole fried apple tart.
Okay, I didn’t know that butterbeans and lima beans were synonymous, except for the fact that I don’t care much for either one. In fact, I had never heard of butterpeas until a few months ago at my ex-wife-in-law’s. I wonder if she cooks them same way you do, because I gotta tell you, they were not only edible, they were downright tasty!
Thanks for the recipe!! I love getting some humorous metaphors along with a butterbean recipe! You just can’t find that kind of humor in a cookbook! :-)
Oh, the cornbread I made at lunch would be scrumptious with your Butterbeans! but I did truly think that butterbeans were a little different variety than real lima beans…I guess my parents had me fooled! ;-)
I sooo want to live your life. Can I come stay with you for a while and you can teach me how to be a good Southern woman, and then ship me back to California where I can impress all my friends with southern cooking and my awesome southern twang? What do you say?????
ps. I am going to make your beans for my Dad, he will love love love them.
Well, I am a southern girl, but why did I not know that butterbeans didn’t involve butter?
Um. Not a fan of beans. But I do love a good party!
As intrigued as I am by the butterbeans (never met a lima I didn’t like), I REALLY REALLY REALLY have to know more about a fried apple tart. Because that sound delicious and, as you would say: NOT! AT! ALL! HEALTHY! (but then I could rationalize that it does have apples and those are fruit).
Boomamma, after months I’m finally delurking. Because my mouth is watering after all this talk of Southern food. I’m a homegrown Arkansas girl transplanted to Rhode Island. Can you imagine! Yankees EVERYWHERE! = ) Thought my dad was going to kill over when we told him where we were moving. KFC is as close as I can get to fried chicken and Cracker Barrel has to make do for my catfish and okra cravings. I’m counting down to my trip back to AR in May. We always go with a list of foods to eat…Catfish with hushpuppies, Sonic burger with Route 44 Vanilla Dr. Pepper, and mexican food! I’ll stop now before I have to go cook some cornbread and 9 pm…sadly it would be Jiffy mix..but that’s another story.
You make fancy butterbeans. . .I just use salt pork and. . .ummm. . .more salt. But I’m gonna try yours, ’cause the red beans did not disappoint.
I am from the South (sort of–Texas is really an independent entity), but “my people” are from Mississippi, so I know about butter beans. Recently, my hubby and I were discussing what exactly butter beans were, and I kind of thought that they were lima beans.
And what do you mean, “If you’ve never been here before?” I don’t think that particular statement can be proven true. . . .
Although I’m not a fan of butterbeans, I will eat the baby ones out of politeness at a friend’s house. I am however, a HUGE fan of pink-eyed purple hulls and lady peas. Regular ole field peas are quite good too. Crazy as it sounds, I like to shell peas too. I cook mine with ham bouillon powder and Nature’s Seasoning. Oh….and water. And I don’t think 45 minutes sounds like a long time. I’m from Alabama. My momma cooked all our peas all day long on simmer. :)
What a pure joy it has been to visit your blog! i have been poking around your little piece of the internet and I must say, it has been a real treat. I am thankful for the blog party- I have met some of the coolest folks! You take care.
If you make the butterbeans ,I’ll bring the fried taters and buttermilk biscuits;D.
You can’t go wrong with that.
Thanks for the party,I think this must be a home cooking party.Yum!!.
I hope you had a good week-end Mrs Boomama.I think I’ll call Diane and Cecil and see what they can bring…Maybe a cheesecake or brownies..
Thanks for having us:).
Donna
Enjoy your beans. More importantly, enjoy Elise enjoying your beans. Stop by my place if you get a chance. It rocks (not really; well, okay sort of).
Blessings,
~Toni~
Thank you! I come from a long line of amazing Southern cooks that don’t use recipes, so when I ask about the necessities for my Southern table such as butterbeans or biscuit puddin’, all I get is “oh you know, just…” followed by some nonspecific items such as “sweet milk” (which I’ve learned is anything that isn’t butter milk or “hawg jawl” (still don’t know what this is, but am fairly certain they don’t sell it at the Publix).
Anyhoo, I’m looking forward to trying your recipe!
PS- My husband’s solution to my many attempts at the butterbean: “put butter in them”…duh.
Umm, what’s a butterbean?
Here via the Ultimate Blog Party!
I’ll have to try your recipe! My Mississippi Granny always sent me home with her homegrown butter beans, and she told me to add a few pieces of ham, a teaspoon of salt, and a teaspoon of sugar, and then pressure cook them for about 20-30 minutes. Yummmmmmmmmm. I miss those homegrown veggies now that she no longer has that garden. I too buy the bags of frozen baby limas! That’s the closest I’ve found to the ones I remember. I’ll never forget the first time I tried to find “butter beans” at the grocery store. I bought a can that had “butter beans” on the label, only to get home and open the can and find these HUGE yellowish beans! Yikes! I just couldn’t eat them. Those aren’t butter beans to me.
Thanks for the post! Only Boomama would have a post about my favorite veggie. :)
Huge, yellowish beans in a can…yes, I thought those were butter beans….are they not???
It’s not a Southern par-tay without the butterbeans! I do believe we’ll be having some butterbeans for dinner some time soon. Maybe with chicken fried steaks and mashed potatoes. Yum. And iced tea!
You need to try McKenzie’s Butterpeas-they are frozen in a bag-and are out of this world when cooked with a little salt pork. My Walmart carries them but they can be hard to find since they sell out often!!
Love the recipe!
Linda
Boo, I love your blog! I don’t EVER serve butterbeans or lima beans–childhood trauma, don’t ya know! But if I change my mind about that southern staple I will definitely use your recipe–Sounds yummy–its just those funny shaped beans! I am in lurking mode, but plan to be part of the blogging world soon. I was almost al set to come online when ife got in the way. In the next few days I hope to be a legitimate blogger–I’ll invite you over when I am ready for company.
Hello! Just stopped by your blog via the party. I really like your blog-you have a good sense of humor! I will be stopping back again soon! :)
BooMama,
Can I just tell you I love, love, love your blog? I laugh, I cry, I come back for more! I have been reading for a while now and haven’t ever commented. It’s a joy to read and you are hysterical!
Lisa
The only thing I know of that sounds nearly as good as your Butterbeans are my Kentucky grandmother’s Greazy Beans: Green beans drowned in one or two dollops of bacon fat (or Crisco, in a pinch) and cooked the whole-live-long day. Pure artery-clogging heaven!
never heard of butter beans, but I love the fact bacon grease has no calories! lol.. you are the infamous boomama that I hear your name lurked around these circles of woman! lol Glad you joined the party!
I just love your blog Boomama – party or without party – I’m here! I love you too. You are such a wonderful encourager.
hi there!
it’s funny that you posted the recipe for your butterbeans – i was actually gonna ask for the potato casserole recipe…will ya share? pretty please?
I have to say that I have never ever tasted butterbeans in my life!
Oooh, butterbeans. *drool* Could someone pass a napkin, please?
I must say, these butterbeans taste better than all the chips I’ve been gorging myself on lately.
Thanks for sharing the recipe! Party on!
The secret ingredient Worcestershire! The name ‘butterbean’ does sound better than Lima bean! Thanks for the recipe and for being a FUN hostess.
Enjoy the Party!
As a Southern girl myself, I love butterbeans, but no one else in my family will eat them. Geez, I’m gonna have to stop by your place sometime!
Just flipping through blogs from the blog party thing — I like your “about me” paragraph. Made me smile.
I hate cooking so I won’t try the butterbeans.
Just wanted to say Hey.
Hello! Visiting for the party, but this is not my first visit here =) I love reading your blog, but I’m not sure I ever commented before and decided now would be a good time!