Favorite Bean Recipes, Tips, and Ideas

Here I will list a few things to do with beans. Mostly what I do with them and some tips. Tip number 1. Beans cost about 10 cents per serving of protein compared to cheese at .40 and meat at approximately .75 per pound.

Here is what a pot of beans turns into in 1 week at our house. I normally do about 5lbs at a time. Cover with water and soak overnight. Add a bit of vinegar or lemon juice if you have a 'hard time' digesting beans. In the morning rinse, add bacon or ham, (optional) garlic and onion. Don't spare the garlic and onion either. I use about 2 onions and about 4 cloves crushed garlic. Bring to boil and cook until soft. Add salt at the END of cooking time rather than the beginning to avoid 'tough' beans. This will serve as day one with potatoes and bread.

Other meals for the week:

1. Scoop out a pan of basic beans and add a bit of hamburger, taco seasoning and heat. Serve with chips or tortillas and picante sauce, sour cream, etc.

2. Heat up beans with more hamburger and make chili and serve alone or over rise.

3. Heat beans, cheese, and picante sauce and spoon into tortillas for burritos or put in oven and smother with a mexican burrito sauce.

4. Another way is to add the beans, taco seasoning, and mexican rice together and make burritos.

5. We love them with potatoes. Take baked potatoes and smother with beans and cheese. Or, fry up some potatoes and use as a side dish.

6. If you have enough chili left from the beans mix up some cornbread mix and pour over a pan of chili and bake as directed for the cornbread. Add cheese for added protein.

7. When beans are cooled, we put into blender and whirl for a bit and heat them up to use as a dip for nachos. We call this a light meal and it's a favorite if the beans are smother with cheese.

The above ideas are our favorites and mostly the way we use the beans. If you have any other ideas please feel free to share.

Tip number 2. Grind the beans and use as flour. Then use the flour as a thickener in soups, stews, and gravy. A great way to add protein. I mix up my bean flour into my wheat flour mixture. I take whatever I have on my shelf and grind it to flour and add to my base of wheat flour. Dried peas, beans, rice, corn, etc. Whatever, it's a good for you. We use this for all our baking needs. Breads, muffins, pancakes, etc.

Tip number 3. If you grind your beans for flour and don't mix it with your normal flours then be sure to label it. A story I have to share that my sister in law Mary did. One Sunday morning before church she mixed up a batch of cookies for her kids to bake later in the day. The kids ran across the dough in the fridge and after 4 kids were done picking in the dough it didn't take long for it to disappear. Long story short. Off to church they went only to arrive with 4 kids running to the bathroom to through up their morning "snack." Mary had mistakingly used 100% bean flour for the cookies and it made all the kids sick.

(As with all 'whole grains' they are best when soaked in a fermented liquid if possible before using. This process pre-digest those hard to digest proteins for you making your digestive system work less. For more on this check out the book Nourishing Traditions from your library.)