What's in the Pot? - SRS Meeting November 5, 2009

This month we are talking all about legumes (beans & lentils). Different types of beans, the many uses for beans and how to cook beans are some of the things we discussed!

Buy it: Beans are very cheap to buy and can be bought either at the LDS Cannery or at your local grocery store.

Store it: Beans can be stored in almost any airtight container. I still have my beans from the Cannery in their #10 cans, but also love the PETE Bottles. Here is the original post on Storage Containers.

Use it: Besides making awesome soups, Did you know that you can use bean flour to replace some of your wheat flour? Did you know you can use beans to replace margarine? Click here to find out more.

Newsletter

The entire newsletter can be downloaded here. Click on the links to view our posts on Types and Benefits of Beans, How to Cook Beans, Alternate Uses for Beans, Green Living & Recipes! The link to last years (November 2008) class on beans can be found here.

Cooking Beans

Soaking and cooking beans before mixing with other recipe ingredients helps to get the right tenderness and can minimize final cooking time.

Preparations: Rinse all beans and legumes in cold water. Remove all dirt, rocks and bad beans.

Overnight Soaking: For each pound of beans, dissolve 2 tsp salt in 6 cups of water. Wash beans, add to salted water and soak overnight.

Quick Soaking: For each 1 pound of beans, bring 8 cups of water to boiling. Wash beans, add to boiling water, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat, cover and soak 1 hour.

To Cook Soaked Beans: For each 1 pound dried beans, dissolve 2 tsp salt in 6 cups hot water, bringing to a boil. Add soaked beans, boil gently, uncovered. Add water if needed to keep beans covered. Cook until tender. Yields 6 to 7 cups.

To Cook Old Hard Beans: Wash and sort to remove any discolored beans or foreign material. For each cup of dry beans, add 2 ½ cups of hot tap water and 2 tsp of baking soda and soak overnight. Drain and rinse two times, then add water to cover and cook until tender and soft (about 2 hours), adding more water as needed.

Helpful Tips:
• Adding 1/8 tsp of baking soda and 1 TBSP of oil to each cup of beans while soaking will cut down on foam as beans cook and shortens the cooking time
• Add meat, onions, celery and herbs during the cooking to add more flavor. Add tomatoes, catsup, vinegar and other acid foods after the beans are tender. The acid prevents softening of the beans.

Storing Cooked Beans
• Freeze cooked beans in zip lock bags. They will keep for 3 to 6 months.
• Store cooked beans 3-5 days in the refrigerator. Beans spoil easily so don’t keep them too long

Cooking Times

Black Beans - 1 to 1 ½ hours
Kidney Beans - 1 to 1 ½ hours
White Beans -1 to 1 ½ hours
Black Eyed Peas - 1 to 1 ½ hours
Great Northern Beans - 1 to 1 ½ hours
Lima Beans - 1 to 1 ½ hours
Pink, Pinto & Red - 1 to 2 hours
Garbanzo Beans - 2 to 2 ½ hours
Soybeans - 3 to 3 ½ hours

Split Peas, Green & Yellow - 35 to 45 minutes (no soaking required)
Lentils - 30 to 40 minutes (no soaking required)

Recipes with Beans

"Do you ever allow yourself to experience the wonderful simplicity of a big ol’ pot of beans? Honestly, there are few things more fundamental than placing dried beans into a pot of water, cooking them, and serving them to hungry souls. If life ever get to be too hectic—if the 21st century ever starts to infringe upon my peace—I just throw a pot of beans on the stove and all my cares and concerns instantly melt away. They’re magical that way. "

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Recipes can also be downloaded in a pdf format: Main Dishes, Beans & Tortillas & Desserts. Here is the link to Tonya's Video "Mexican Pinto Beans and Tortillas".

A couple other websites that have tasty recipes are Hurst Bean Blog & All About Food Storage's Bean Booklet.

Lentil Soup

2 cups lentils
1 1/2 quarts water and 6 chicken bouillon cubes
(or 3 -14 1/2 oz cans chicken broth & 3 cans water)
1 large can (no 2 1/2) stewed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, cut in chunks
1 onion, chopped
1 lb cooked ground beef

Put all ingredients except ground beef in a 4 qt kettle, bring to a boil,
and let cook until tender. Add cooked ground beef and heat. A ham
hock may be cooked with above ingredients instead of ground beef or
pieces of ham may be added at the last - makes 8-10 servings

Taco Soup

1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can chicken, drained (or 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained)
1 can stewed tomatoes
½ cup chopped onion or 1 TBSP dried onion
1 can whole kernel corn, undrained (or creamed corn for a creamier soup)
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 can black beans (optional)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce

Combine all ingredients in pan. Heat slowly over medium heat. Serve
with tortillas chips, grated cheese and sour cream. You may also drain
the beans & corn, rinse, then add an equal amount of water to the soup
instead of using the juices from the can. This soup can be kept in a
crockpot on low for several hours.

15 Bean Soup

1 pkg 15 bean soup
1 lb. of ham, ham hocks, or smoked sausage
1 cup onion, chopped
1 15 oz. can stewed or diced tomatoes
1 tsp. chili powder
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Traditional Cooking Method:
Soaking: Place beans in a large pot, cover with 2 quarts of water. Allow
beans to soak overnight, or at least 8 hours. After soaking, drain water, add 2 quarts of water and meat. Bring beans to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 2 ½ hours. After
simmering, add onion, tomatoes, chili powder, lemon and garlic. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Add contents of ham packet 1 to 2 minutes before cooking is completed. Salt and pepper to taste.
Yield: approximately 3 quarts. Serves 14-16

Quickcook Method:
Place rinsed beans in a pot with 3 quarts of water. Bring to a rapid boil. Reduce heat, cover and continue boiling 60-70 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. After 60 minutes, add ingredients. Simmer for 30-45 minutes. Add contents of flavor packet 1 to 2 minutes before cooking is completed. Salt and pepper to taste.

Bean Cookies

2 cups white beans, cooked and pureed
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
-Mix-
4 eggs (I use powdered eggs)
2 tsp vanilla
-Mix-
4 cups oat flour (You can grind up whole oat groats, or blend up rolled oats in your blender until fine--I've done it both ways and they both work great)
5 cups quick oats
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon (opt.)
1 cups coconut (opt.)
2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
2 cups white chocolate chips--this is my favorite combo. You can do all
chocolate chips, or raisin, or half and half, or half white choc. chips and
half craisins is super yummy, too. Whatever you like.
-Mix-
Drop on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 min

Black Bean Brownies

1 (19 oz) box brownie mix
1 (15 oz) can black beans

Rinse and drain the black beans. Then spoon the beans back into their can and fill the can with fresh water. Pour beans and water into a blender and puree until smooth. Add puree to the brownie mix and stir. Pour into a sprayed cake pan and follow the directions for baking as printed on the back of the brownie mix box.

Only 2 points per brownie for Weight Watchers!

Pinto Bean Fudge

1 cup cooked, soft pinto beans, drained & mashed
1/4 cup milk
1 TBSP vanilla
2 lbs powder sugar
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 TBSP butter or margarine
nuts (optional)

In a large bowl stir beans and milk together, adding enough milk to resemble mashed potatoes in consistency; stir in vanilla. Melt chocolate and butter and stir into bean mixture. Add nuts. Gradually stir in powdered sugar to get it well blended. Spread onto lightly buttered 9 inch baking dish or form into two 1 1/2 inch rolls chill 1 to 2 hours. Cut into pieces. Refrigerate.