Do you adore beans? :D

[lorihadams]

I'm not a huge fan, I do like black beans on my mexican food but I hate refried beans and if they are mushy then no way!

I have only recently started eating baked beans in the last couple of years and I do love a good baked bean. I can eat them in soups but to just cook a pot of beans and eat them.....ummmm nope.

 

[Ldychef2k]

This may be heresy, but I used to make a tamale stew from store bought canned foods when we went camping. It became a serious tradition. I know now that I can make it from my own ingredients, and indeed I just may give canning it a try when I make tamales this Christmas.

It was:
1 pound of hamburger, fried and drained
1 can chili with beans
1 can tamales, unwrapped and broken into large pieces
1 can corn
1 can tomato sauce

My daughter still asks for it ! Great memories.

 

[me&thegals]

Gasp! Storebought??!?!!!??

Just kidding Sounds very yummy!

 

[DianeB]

I like to soak and cook my beans in batches in the slow cooker. Slow cooked beans taste the best. Then I freeze them. Put 1 1/2 cups in freezer bags with a little bit of water. One pound of beans can make 4-5 cans of beans. A 60 cents bag of pinto beans can make about four 15 cents cans of beans. Now that is cheap. It is also more nutritious. The beans have no sodium. They also seem to hold their color and taste better when frozen. Just make sure that the beans are cooked enough to be soft, but still hold their shape. Make sure to lay the bags flat to conserve space in the freezer.

It is nice to have inexpensive bags of cooked beans on hand. A cheap, delicious meal in minutes.

There are a billion bean recipes online and I have three big cookbooks dedicated to beans and grains. I love beans!!!!

P.S. They don't have to be the musical fruit. If you make sure to soak them overnight. Then discard their soaking water and rinse them well before cooking. I also read that yogurt added to the soaking water helps. The fermintation breaks down the enzyme that causes gas.

 

[keljonma]

Here are some more bean recipes...

http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1677

 

[dianer29]

I need a few new dinner recipes that are inexpensive to make. We eat at least 2/3 recipes of beans a week,the other days are tofu recipes,or a light pasta dish ,egg recipes too.If anyone has them please blog them. We do not use any meat with our bean recipes. I tend to wash off and rinse canned versions due to very expensive electric bill here in Hawaii otherwise I would't mine having a healthier bean that I soak and cook alot longer but cannot due to expense.
My husband and I lost about 20 lbs each in less than a year as groceries expensive to barge over to island . We eat alot of fresh fruit,bean recipes,tofu and fish once a week. We do not buy potatoes too often . I just purhased a whole grain book and am working that recipe book into my menus as well. I buy poultry ,when on sale , but not very often and really do not miss it .I drink alot of tap water too..yummy!I have been making puddings for desserts and pumpkin muffins and bread.

 

[DianeB]

I need a few new dinner recipes that are inexpensive to make. We eat at least 2/3 recipes of beans a week,the other days are tofu recipes,or a light pasta dish ,egg recipes too.If anyone has them please blog them. We do not use any meat with our bean recipes. I tend to wash off and rinse canned versions due to very expensive electric bill here in Hawaii otherwise I would't mine having a healthier bean that I soak and cook alot longer but cannot due to expense.
My husband and I lost about 20 lbs each in less than a year as groceries expensive to barge over to island . We eat alot of fresh fruit,bean recipes,tofu and fish once a week. We do not buy potatoes too often . I just purhased a whole grain book and am working that recipe book into my menus as well. I buy poultry ,when on sale , but not very often and really do not miss it .I drink alot of tap water too..yummy!I have been making puddings for desserts and pumpkin muffins and bread.

You can try to use a slow cooker to cook beans if electricity cost is a problem. They are suppose to use the same amount of energy as a lamp about 100-120 kilowatts per hour. This is far less then the 2-3000 kilowatts of an oven or stove. I can cook my presoaked beans under 4 hours in a crockpot. So that should come out to about 430 or so kilowatts.

There are several recipes on http://www.all-creatures.org/recipes.html http://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/beanrecipes.html http://www.vegweb.com/. I can post some recipes out some of my cookbooks if you would like.

 

[DianeB]

Sorry, I meant watts not kilowatts. that would really through off your calculations. I looked up your average cost of eletricity to CA. For your it is about 16.75 cents per kilowatt hours and CA 12 cents. These are the drawbacks of living in states were everyone else wants to live.

P.S. I just calcuated the cost. For 4 hours on the stove it would be $1.70 on the stove and about 8 cents on the crockpot. $1.70, ouch!! I can see why you don't like to use the stove or oven. Also, the microwave is efficent in that is cooks fast. It does use about 900 watts per hour, but only 15 watts per minute,

 

[dianer29]

DianeB: I would not trade the island for any other place ever..unless it was another Hawaiian island . I do dishload every other day,hangclothes,make homemade soups and chilis, chase the family around in circles when they"abuse" the electric,trade recipes, no coupons to be found or rather few and far between,recycle when we can,compost,garden etc.We have alot of wonderful fruityear round.

 

[DianeB]

I understand. I absolutely love California and never plan on leaving. This recession and our state's budget crisis has many of my friends leaving like rats jumping ship before it sinks. I don't think it is that bad here. Things are beginning to look up while the recession is just starting to hit other place full force.

Besides, who wants to live in the snow and have only a three month garden season. I hate the cold and have worked hard to avoid it.