Thursday, February 25, 2010

Beans!

I've had my fair share of success with pinto beans. After all, I had this 25 pound bag from Costco taunting me from my cupboard, which we've finally just polished off.



So, I've definitely learned a few things along the way. Pound by pound, pot by pot. I love beans! In my opinion, pinto beans can be pretty bland on their own, so what I've learned to to do is to saute some chopped onions in a little bit of bacon grease and add them to the cooking water--works wonders.

Now that those 25 pounds of pinto beans are out of the way, I feel freed up to try other things. I had never cooked my own black beans before and have been really surprised by the outcome. I was amazed at how tasty they are all on their own. Are you interested? Probably not, but I will tell you my secret black bean recipe just in case.

2 cups of dried black beans (Rinsed, picked over, and soaked overnight. Or else you could do the quick soak method***.)
4 cups of water
5 cloves of garlic

Put the beans, water, and whole garlic cloves into your crockpot on high for 4-6 hours or until tender. Add salt (about a tablespoon). Eat and enjoy! So simple, yet so delicious!

These are great as a vegetable dip, too. Just mash and voila!



***Quick soak method: Add beans, and more than enough water to cover them, to a pot. Bring to a boil. Let boil for 2 minutes. Take off heat and place lid on pot. Let sit with lid on for one hour. Drain and rinse beans. Beans are now ready to cook.

Addendum: You could also do this on the low setting for 8 hours, but I never seem to get to it in time. Alternately you could simmer them on the stove top partially covered for a few hours. And of course you can do more than 2 cups of beans. Beans to water ratio should always be 1:2. So, 3 cups of beans would mean 6 cups of water, etc., etc.



Beans, beans, the magical fruit; the more you eat, the better you poop. (That's what we're hoping, for Caiden's sake, anyway.)




5 comments:

Nina49a said...

Beans beans the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot. The more you toot, the better you feel, lets eat beans at every meal!

The Montgomerys said...

I <3 beans!

Anonymous said...

I love this! Thank you! Our household loves navy beans, pinto beans, black beans, etc. We use a turkey leg to season - it's great! Oh, did you know there is a bag of beans with 16 different types all in one bag?!

Corynne Escalante said...

hey anonymous, thanks for the tip! and i didn't know about that 16 variety bag... interesting.

Anonymous said...

Cryn your beans are the best.