Calendula - Son may have Tourette's

[calendula]

Ahhh! The chickens got out today while we were at work and decided that my cucumber sprouts looked pretty tasty. I haven't seen them yet--my husband called to let me know, he just happened to stop at the house for lunch. Hopefully they didn't eat too many of them. Oh well, I suppose it's not too late to plant some more if I have to. Really gonna have to consider fencing the garden in though...

I had a nice Memorial Day, complete with beer brats and homemade baked beans. I don't have much experience using dried beans, but I planted a bunch of black beans and tongue of fire beans this year, so I figured I better start working with them. I used dried navy beans for the baked beans. It had a good flavor, but the beans weren't quite tender enough. I guess it needed to cook longer. I had soaked them over night, and then the next day brought them to a boil for 1/2 hour. Then, I mixed them together w/ the baked beans ingredients and put them in the slow cooker all day. Still, they were a bit too firm. I'll have to keep practicing I guess.

 

[savingdogs]

Sometimes dried beans take more than one day to cook. Especially if you have them on low or your crock pot isn't particularly high heat. You can cook them quicker if your heat is a little higher but then you need to keep a much closer eye on it or you could burn the whole thing and THAT is a nasty smell to get out of your kitchen, you don't want to burn them, I've taken to giving beans two days to cook on low so I don't have to worry about burning as I'm an inattentive cook. We like our beans pretty mushy or refried so we do like them really soft. Certain types of beans seem to take longer (like red beans) as opposed to others (pintos).

If you soak them in water with a little something acidic it helps makes the beans less.....uh....gassy...

 

[calendula]

Sometimes dried beans take more than one day to cook. Especially if you have them on low or your crock pot isn't particularly high heat. You can cook them quicker if your heat is a little higher but then you need to keep a much closer eye on it or you could burn the whole thing and THAT is a nasty smell to get out of your kitchen, you don't want to burn them, I've taken to giving beans two days to cook on low so I don't have to worry about burning as I'm an inattentive cook. We like our beans pretty mushy or refried so we do like them really soft. Certain types of beans seem to take longer (like red beans) as opposed to others (pintos).

If you soak them in water with a little something acidic it helps makes the beans less.....uh....gassy...

Thank you for the tips. I am usually a pretty inattentive cook as well since I am easily sidetracked into doing something else. Next time, I will try starting them them the day before on low heat. Also, I found that while I was making this batch of baked beans, that the liquid kept disappearing, so I had to add more several times during the day. I wonder if I didn't have enough liquid added.

 

[moolie]

Love your coop and cold frame!

Supermarket dried beans tend to vary in "age" (how long it's been since they were grown) and often take a longer soak than the package specifies.

I usually soak mine, with a couple of tablespoons of homemade yogurt added to help break down the toughness/reduce gassiness, for at least 18-24 hours before putting them on to cook.

Then I cook them plain (salt makes beans tough) for at least 6-8 hours before adding any seasonings or sauce (as for baked beans).

Recently I've begun pressure canning my beans for the convenience factor of being able to pull a jar of beans (black, pinto, kidney, baked in tomato sauce, Boston style baked) off the shelf as I would with store-bought canned beans.

When I pressure can beans, I soak the same way as usual, but then only cook them till hot (either plain or with sauce added) before putting them into the jars and into the canner. Additionally, I only fill the jar 2/3 full of beans and then add liquid because they absorb so much liquid in the canning process and fill the jar (I do this because my very first batch turned out great except that the top layer was totally dry/not submerged).

I'm thinking that your beans didn't soak long enough if they kept absorbing your cooking liquid?

Once you find what works, cooking with dry beans definitely saves money! Especially if you grow them yourself, we did this at our old place but haven't yet in our new place (been here a couple of summers now). It does take time if you need them for something (thus why I pressure can mine) but most of the time they just soak/cook all on their own and you just need to remember how long they've been soaking/cooking

 

[Farmfresh]

I usually cook up a HUGE pot of beans on a day when I am at home with little on my agenda. I just simmer them in a BIG old kettle with water salt and maybe some onions.

When they are almost done enough, we package them up in 2 cup batches and freeze them. Makes a great way to get a head start on a recipe and still save a ton of money by using dried beans.

 

[calendula]

Supermarket dried beans tend to vary in "age" (how long it's been since they were grown) and often take a longer soak than the package specifies.

I was doing some research on dried beans and many sources are saying that supermarket beans can be 2-3 years old, some older. No wonder they take so long to cook. I can't wait until I can harvest my own fresh beans later this year!

 

[calendula]

I usually cook up a HUGE pot of beans on a day when I am at home with little on my agenda. I just simmer them in a BIG old kettle with water salt and maybe some onions.

When they are almost done enough, we package them up in 2 cup batches and freeze them. Makes a great way to get a head start on a recipe and still save a ton of money by using dried beans.

I froze some extra black beans I had that way, and you're right, it was very convenient. I like to add some beans as a meat-stretcher in casseroles, and it was nice to just grab some out of the freezer.

 

[calendula]

Here is our garden as of the end of May (and Pete, our garden kitty):

We have the black beans and tongue of fire beans transplanted:

We have also transplanted the viney stuff, except for the loofahs, which I'll be doing this weekend. I've never grown loofahs before, so this should be interesting.

We almost have our garden sink all set, we just need to get water to it now:

The new chicken coop is coming along well. My husband got the third and final portion up. Now he needs to finish insulating, siding, and roofing it.

Polly, is eagerly awaiting her integration with the flock. We're going to sneak her in pretty soon now...

And overall, we've been having some beautiful weather in my area lately. Maybe summer will really come after all!

 

[framing fowl]

I'm so jealous of your outdoor sink! That is going to be so handy when it is plumbed. Definitely on my wish list for the next house.

Nice greenhouse too.

 

[calendula]

Well, we have a new lawn-care guy.

We let our oldest loose with the lawn mower, the first time he's mowed all by himself. He was so proud of himself, said he felt like a grown-up!

Today is the first official day of summer vacation, and it is dreary and cold out. What a big change in weather here. We went from 96 degrees earlier this week to...well, it's 46 degrees right now. They always say, "If you don't like the weather in Wisconsin, wait a minute, it'll change."

Today we are going to hit the library, and then we'll go back home and start on Dad's father's day present. I'm going to sew a BBQ apron for him, and then the kids are going to decorate it with fabric markers.

Hoping the weather looks nicer for this weekend, we have lots and lots of weeeeeding to do around here.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!