This vision of sweet, soft green loveliness comes from reading one of my absolute favourite all time American cookbooks: The Taste of Country Cooking, by the prolific Edna Lewis. What strikes me again and again when I leaf through the evocative gustatory scenes and recipes described in this book is the incredible ability of Ms. Lewis to not only provide the reader a recipe, but a vivid depiction of the seasons of life and food and community in Freetown, Virginia (founded after the Civil War by freed slaves, including her grandfather). If you haven’t read or tried the recipes from this incredible cookbook in the Virginia region of the American south, I strongly encourage you to get your hands on this as soon as possible. It is full of the most beautiful prose and recipes. A masterpiece. I understand the importance of beans (including the baby Lima!) to the history of food and diaspora in American, and Canadian history. We owe a lot to these wonderfully filling protein bundles, from filling our tummies whether in refried, smothered, baked, buttered, raw, creamed, in brownies, in cakes, in muffins.....and in other ways as the weight in our prebaked pie crusted to the subject of many elementary science or counting activities.....the list goes on.....! This recipe is just one part of the amazing Christmas Dinner section of my copy of The Taste of Country Cooking on page 217. Try it today! My god, Lima beans are taken to a whole new, rich and heavenly place. Delicious.