WONDER BOX HAM & BEANS

I tried making pinto beans in the wonder box today.  Last time I lost track of time and they set there for 8 hours. . . . too long!!

1.  Cook ham bone in crock pot from morning to afternoon.
2.  Drain the broth into a container and put it in the fridge to chill.
3.  Clean beans and put on to soak overnight.  Reminder is HERE
4.  Next morning, drain and rinse beans.
5.  Pull meat off the ham bone and add to beans.

6.  Scoop fat off the top of the broth.

7.  Add broth to beans, making sure the pan is good and full.  The level of the liquid is very important.  Always have the pot very full for using the wonder box! 

8.  Boil the beans for half hour with the lid on.  This is longer than I usually do, but I am finding that it will help to get the beans soft enough.  

9.  As soon  as you take the pot off the burner, get it into the WB.  

10.  Since this pot has a long handle, I made sure the bag wrapped up around it for a tighter fit. 

11.  As soon as you have it nestled into the bag, get the cover on it.  speed is important.  Every second that it is exposed, you are losing heat!

12.  After 4 hours, the temperature was 180 degrees.  The beans were very tasty but still had just a little "crunch".  At 5 hours, it was 175 degrees and still had that little "crunch".  At this point, I took the pot out and simmered them for awhile until they were completely soft, all the way through.

13.  I happened on this great box that is just the right size.  It is a definant improvement.  It has kept the little critters of all kinds off of the WB.    It gives me something to grab if I need to move it.  It holds the hear in even better.

The dimensions are 19" X 19" and 17.5" tall.  It could be just 14" tall and be fine.  Wal-mart carries these baskets, so if you wanted to get one, they could probably help you out.  They usually are pretty good about saving boxes for customers.