Hannah M

One very useful skill you should learn now is how to cook dried beans. I think Debi mentions this in the book. Beans are tasty, healthy, and cheap. 🙂 Our family eats a lot of beans. Here are some of our favorite recipies.

Soaking Beans

First of all, dried beans should be soaked the night before you want to cook them. We normally soak and cook our beans in a big crock pot. You need:

4 cups beans (any kind or a mixture)
Warm water
1/4 cup lemon juice or whey

Like I said, we use a big crock pot. Normally we put the beans in and fill it 3/4 of the way with cold water. Then we heat water in the tea kettle and add it to the crock pot until the water is kind of warm. (I think we do it this way because our water heater adds weird stuff to our hot tap water) You don’t want it to be hot but neither should it be cold to the touch. Then add the lemon juice or whey and let soak over night. In the morning the beans should be drained and rinsed before you fill the crock pot with water again and cook them.

Its that easy. 🙂 Once you get used to the process you don’t even have to think about it. However, plain beans aren’t amazing. Beans taste good once you start adding spices and herbs, yumm!!! Here are some of our favorite recipes.

Apple Bean Bake
2 quarts cooked, drained beans
4 T butter
3 C tart cooking apples cubed and peeled
1/2 C chopped onion
Sautee apples and onions for about 10 min until apples are tender. Add 1/4 cup brown sugar (we use honey). Stir until dissolved. Blend in 1/2 Ketchup and 1 tsp cinnamon, salt to taste. Place beans in a 2 quart casserole dish. Pour apple mixture over and mix well. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hr. Serves:8

Refried Beans

Soak beans as mentioned above.
When cooking add:
1 t cumin seed
1 t garlic
2 T onion flakes

When beans are done cooking let cool slightly and then process in a food processor. Our food processor will only fit half of the batch at once. Both times we process we add 1 t cumin powder, 2 T oil, 1 t salt. Then, of course, the beans can be fried on the stove top.
These are great with tacos or spread in a dish and top with sour cream and salsa and serve with corn chips. Yumm!! 🙂

Here are some other favorite recipices:

Taco seasoning

1 T chili powder
2 t onion powder (or 2 T onion flakes)
1 t each of cumin, garlic powder, paprika, powdered oregano, and sugar
1/2 t salt
1 T cilantro (optional)

This recipe is good for 1 lb beef. It is a whole lot cheaper than buying little packets of taco seasoning!

Spaghetti Sauce ( This is our favorite)

Brown:
2lbs hamburger
1 big onion
2 cloves garlic

Drain fat and add:
6 cans (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
2 tsp salt

Simmer for 1 hour

Tomato Soup
46 oz tomato juice (1 1/2 qts)
8 oz tomato sauce
1/2 cup beef broth (or chicken)
1/2 tsp basil
2 T honey
1/4 t whole cloves (float in tea infusor) (optional)

Combine and simmer on stove top. Great with grilled cheese sandwhiches. 🙂 If you don’t have beef broth subsitute with 1/2 cup of water and 1 T bullion granules.

Basic Roast Chicken
1 chicken
3 T butter, softened
1-2 cloves garlic
3/4 t salt
4-5 grinds pepper
2 t thyme

Melt butter and stir in herbs. Rub all over chicken and bake at 350 for 2 hours. Easy and delicious. 😉

Okay, one of my weaknesses:

Pesto
1 C Pecans or other nuts
1 1/2 C fresh grated parmesan cheese
3 T chopped fresh garlic
2 C basil leaves (fresh)
1 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Process (pulse) cheese, nuts, garlic, basil in food processor for 1-2 min or until well chopped and blended. With procesor running add oil slowly. Add salt and pepper. Don’t process too long or mixture will get dark and look gross. Keeps well for 3 weeks in the refridgerator and freezes well. Serve on crackers, in salad, on chicken or fish, sandwhiches, or anything.

Hope you find a favorite out of these for your family! 🙂
~Hannah M