Soak the beans overnight (about 8-10 hours) or do a quick soak by placing the beans in a pot of water, bringing it to a rolling boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and cover for an hour.

After the beans have soaked, rinse them and add to a large pot, cover with water by 3 inches, ad a pinch of salt if you like. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 1-2 hours until the beans are tender.

While the beans are simmering, in another large pot, heat on medium temp and crisp up the bacon, set the bacon aside and drain the fat from pot, reserving about 1 tablespoon of fat in the pot.

Cut the pork into 1 inch cubes and brown in the bacon fat in the large pot. You are not trying to cook it through, just brown and sear it up a little, then remove from the pot and set aside.

When the beans are cooked and good and tender, drain, reserve one cup of beans and set aside. Now using the pot the pork was cooked in, add the carrot and cook until soft, then add the garlic and cook until it is fragrant. Then add the beans, pork stock, butter, bay leave, thyme, and pork. On a low simmer let this cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour with lid on, stirring occasionally.

Take the last cup of beans that you reserved and smash with the back of a fork to make a paste, add this to the pot and stir to combine, this will thicken the stew, continue with the low simmer for another 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with a garnish of crumbled crispy bacon on top and some buttered bread.

Boil chicken and veggies in the water for 20 minutes, when the chicken is cooked through, remove from the water, shred and return to the pot. Add cream of chicken soup, basil, and pepper and bring to a boil again before adding noodles and peas (if desire). Simmer for 5-10 minutes, serve.

In a large pot, add the water, rice, veggies, and stock powder, for 20 minutes, or until rice is cooked. Add the turkey (or chicken), the soup, basil, and pepper to your liking then brink to a boil again, then simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve.

In a pot, brown your ground meat in a splash of olive oil, then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the vegetables are tender. For a thinner chowder, add a bit of beef stock. Serve.

Salt and pepper the chicken, inside and out, place chicken in a large pot add water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook for about 90 minutes, or until chicken meat is falling off of the bone. Skim off any foam from time to time.

Remove the chicken from the pot and remove the skin and debone, return the meat back to the pot, add the squash, onion, garlic, and cumin to the pot.

Now for the tomatoes, use fresh or canned tomatoes. This is the brand I use for canned tomatoes, Brook (it is in English on the other side). There is about 4 small tomatoes in the can and it is packed with tomato juice. This a 565 gram can and cost is about 35 Baht. I would recommend using 2 cans, simply open the first can and pour into the pot, there is the whole tomatoes and about 1 cup of juice. Open the next can, drain the juice into a glass, chop the tomatoes while still in the can, very easy, drain more juice into the glass. Pour chopped tomatoes into the pot. (photo credit: Tesco Lotus Thailand)

Return the pot to a simmer to cook the vegetables. Drink and enjoy the tomato juice while the soup is simmering. Adjust salt, pepper, and cumin to taste as needed while the soup simmers, when the veggys are soft, serve.