Using Dry Beans

[midwestgal]

What recipes/ideas do you have for using dry beans?  

[mogal]

I can 7 quarts of dry beans in the time it would normally take me to cook enough for one meal so in winter when I don't have a boatload (if I'm lucky!) of produce to process, I can dry beans--pintos, black, navy, you name it. Then we can have them in chili, with cornbread and a salad, Mexican dishes, with rice and a salad. Get the idea? Another suggestion is to have various seasonings so you don't suffer "food fatigue."

One resource is Hillbilly Kitchen on youtube. While the lady's recipes aren't always part of a balanced meal, she has some very frugal ideas and I can add things to meet our needs. One she did recently was "pinto bean fritters" or something of that sort. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU20_X5yodo

Be warned. She's a lovely person and sounds every inch of her east Tennessee upbringing. I understand her just fine, just like Patara!

Another youtube channel you might find helpful is Rose Red Homestead as she also has a lot of bean recipes. She has a Tuscan white bean soup that's very good and one for "rainbow" lentils but I just use plain colored ones that I can find locally.

[bowdonkey]

I'm just learning how to use an instapot. Revolutionary. Makes cooking beans and making soups so easy. And the energy savings over any stove top methods will quickly pay for the pot. Unless you drop it on the floor. Or you have to go to the doctor with a bad steam burn. Read the instructions. 

[mogal]

Bowdonkey, that dropping on the floor or getting a steam burn sounds like the voice of experience. Hope the burn healed well and quickly.

When Instapots first came out, I considered one. I decided to keep my pressure cookers and Crock Pots. Except for being able to use the pressure cookers on a camp stove, rocket stove, etc., and the fact that I already had all the previously mentioned appliances, I don't have a real reason for rejecting the Instapots. Oh, my pressure cooker--not the canner--is also stainless steel and I don't think the instapot was.

A while back, we bought a bunch of books from a neighbor's auction when he and his wife sold their house to move nearer to their adult children. One of the books was The Pressured Cook and I've found some really delicious recipes in it including methods for cooking rice and dry beans so I'm good.

That's why Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors, right?

[midwestgal]

Mar 11, 2022 19:26:33 GMT mogal said:

Another suggestion is to have various seasonings so you don't suffer "food fatigue."

What seasonings do you or anyone else recommend?  Thanks for the links.  I'll check them out!

[midwestgal]

Mar 11, 2022 19:55:14 GMT bowdonkey said:

I'm just learning how to use an instapot. Revolutionary. Makes cooking beans and making soups so easy. And the energy savings over any stove top methods will quickly pay for the pot. Unless you drop it on the floor. Or you have to go to the doctor with a bad steam burn. Read the instructions. 

Hope you don't know about the burns personally!  I might just have to get one someday.  

[mogal]

We like pintos with the more intense flavorings you get in Mexican style dishes--cumin, garlic, onion, chili powder, oregano.

That Tuscan white bean soup calls for navy beans and chickpeas flavored with "mirepoix", Italian seasonings like thyme, oregano, garlic with some lemon powder of all things but it's good.

We like "hoppin' John"--black eyed or purple hull peas seasoned with bacon drippings or cooked with a ham hock, garlic, a bit of cayenne, black pepper, served over rice.

I've seen some bean recipes that call for cinnamon but don't remember where or what the dish was. A lot of the Mideastern cuisines also have some good bean main dishes but I can't think of any there either. Just pick out a country and go for it.

Incidentally, if your family will eat beans only sporadically, buy a bottle of Bean-o or grow some epazote...just sayin'.

[bowdonkey]

No burns yet, just close calls. Use a pot holder to check if the pressure is down. I would also caution you to set it up where it can just stay in place. This thing gets hot, and it really needs some bigger handles to pick it up with. You don't want to move this thing around once it gets going. Overall I'm a believer. This thing is great. And I'm not kidding about the energy savings.

[bowdonkey]

I just love this instapot. It's actually my son's, but I'm using it to pay him back for all the tools of mine he used, broke or lost over the years .  I made some chicken and rice soup before heading out to do chores. This is so ez. I threw a hunk of left over fried chicken in, 4 cups of water, diced carrot, celery, onion. Garlic, salt and poultry spice and a cup of jasmine rice. Set it for 20 minutes. An hour later it's ready. I'll have to fiddle with the time as the rice was a little to done, but the soup was awesome. Left over meat, water, fresh veggies and homegrown spice. Life is good.

[mogal]

bowdonkey, what were your "homegrown" spices?

[bowdonkey]

youtu.be/guJFrtfF520 I'm definitely going to try this in the instapot. Mo gal,  I used Greek oregano, thyme, basil, bog pepper?, found it growing at a camp 13 years ago and have been growing ever since. And the usual garlic and onions.  I've started lots of lovage and hope to get that growing in the future. I'm having a heck of a time getting this easy to grow herb to grow up here. And salt, no salt mines around here so I had to buy that.  I think that's it. I'll look tomorrow and see if I missed any. I blend my own Italian seasoning and that's basically what it is. Every year I put in 1 or 2 new culinary or medicinal herbs. Great fun.

[gayle]

I've been making bean burgers. The original recipe calls for black beans, but they bother my gout so I use pinto beans instead. They're lower in purines.

To make them, I mash 1 cup of cooked beans, stir in 1 cup cooked rice, an egg (raw), and whatever else I want to add (usually a handful of shredded cheddar and, maybe some minced onion). Then I add enough dry bread crumbs to make it hold together, form the mixture into 8 patties, and bake them. I turn them once or twice while they bake, until both sides are browned a bit. You could fry them, but I'm lazy.

Once they're cooked and cooled, I put them in hamburger buns and wrap them individually in squares of waxed paper. When I want one, I heat in the microwave for 30 seconds and dinner is served.

I also make my recipe for Big Mac sauce to serve on them (1 T each of mayonnaise, ketchup, dill relish or chopped dill pickles, mustard, and raw minced onion)

[bowdonkey]

One of the best free books I got for Kindle was Seasoning: Homemade Spice and Seasoning recipes by Micheal Perkins. I'm not sure if it's avaliable anymore, but it's my goto.

[midwestgal]

Mar 18, 2022 19:16:41 GMT bowdonkey said:

One of the best free books I got for Kindle was Seasoning: Homemade Spice and Seasoning recipes by Micheal Perkins. I'm not sure if it's avaliable anymore, but it's my goto.

Thanks!  I found it and it looks good! 

[mogal]

Mar 18, 2022 19:16:41 GMT bowdonkey said:

One of the best free books I got for Kindle was Seasoning: Homemade Spice and Seasoning recipes by Micheal Perkins. I'm not sure if it's avaliable anymore, but it's my goto.

So did I.  Thanks.

[mogal]

Another bean recipe from Red Rose Homestead on You Tube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUNGREl8r0A&list=TLPQMjIwNDIwMjJHuSrxRZsH4A&index=3

[jo]

For lunch, I often make bean salad:
-1 cup cooked beans (per person)
-stir through 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and spices (my favourites are cumin seed or sumac)
-add at least one cup chopped salad veg: carrot, cucumber, kale, fennel, celery, tomato etc.
-optional: add animal protein i.e. boiled egg, diced cheese, cold meat
-top with seeds/nuts and fresh herbs

Healthy, satisfying, and (almost) infinite combinations!

[jo]

Another favourite bean recipe of mine is 'superfood' pasta sauce:
-1 onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-2 cups black beans
-1 cup kale, shredded
-1/2 cup mushrooms, roughly diced
-2 cups passata/pasta sauce
Top with plenty of cheese and fresh herbs