Great Bean recipes

[eliza61]

I often read that beans/peas are a great way to stretch a food budget. So I wanted to know how to prepare them. I totally admit that I've never learn to cook them although I do love Black eyed peas.

So what are your best bean recipes?

 

[DisMN]

I make a meaty baked bean dish using bacon end pieces.

Navy, pea or lima beans or a mixture of both. Rinse them well and make sure there are no little stones in them. You can presoak the beans or just cook them as is and they'll still get soft.
Just make sure your pot is big enough. A few beans go a long way! LOL

So anyway, beans in the pan and cover with water. (you'll add water as you go along if needed)
Add 1-2 large chopped onions and 1-3 pounds of ham, bacon end pieces or other meat.
Add 1/2-1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup mustard
half teasp salt
few drops of smoke seasoning or smoked salt

Bake many hours and taste often. Adjust with more ketchup, mustard or other spices you might want to add.

It's really pretty easy. Kind of no recipe to follow. I just put stuff that sounds good in with the beans. LOL

Good luck!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Black Bean Confetti Salad

Rinse, soak and cook black beans until soft. (You can use canned beans but your post indicated you were looking to stretch your food dollars. Dried beans are MUCH cheaper.)

1 cup of Black beans (or one can, drained and rinsed)
1 cup of diced carrots
1 cup of diced red pepper
1 cup of diced red onion
1/4 cup of finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup of vinaigrette dressing (i use mango vinaigrette from Consorzio or a nice balsamic) - you can totally experiment with the dressing.

mix together and refrigerate for 2 hours. Tastes even better the second and third days when the flavors have really blended.

This is my favorite summer salad. I have it for lunch often.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We are in the south so take with a grain of salt. We love pintos cooked in the crock pot. So easy. Look and rinse your beans, put them in the pot, add a few pieces of country ham, OR a few tablespoons of peanut butter and fill pot about 3/4 full of water. It takes a lot. Cook all day (at least 12 hours on low or 6-8 on high). Serve with corn bread.

You can do black eyed peas the same way but reduce cooking time.

 

[vsimeone]

I have two. First is Bean Soup:

Buy a cheap bone-in ham and use the bone after you eat/freeze the ham. (I buy cheap hams at Christmas and Easter and freeze the bones to use later in this soup!)

Place the ham bone in a crock pot and add:
1 bag 15 Been Soup (mixed beans with a seasoning pack look for the strange spelling!)
1 bag rinsed lentils
1 large chopped onion
liberal amount of celery salt
Cover with water and cook for at least 8-10 hours on low.
Remove the ham bone and eat!

The second recipe is for Black Beans and Rice
In a crock pot, place one bag rinsed black beans
1 large chopped onion
1 handful of cumin
1 lb cut up smoked sausage chunks
Cover with water and cook at least 8-10 hours on low
Serve over rice.

Both are super easy, super cheap and the leftovers freeze extremely well! Good luck cooking beans!

 

[roumic]

A Southern Monday Classic - Red Beans and Rice

1 lb Red (Kidney) Beans
1/2 lb ham or seasoning meat
8-10 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 toe garlic, chopped
2 Tbs celery, chopped
2 Tbs parsley, chopped
1 large bay leaf
Salt to taste

Directions:
Rinse and sort beans. Cover beans with water and start to cook over low fire. Render meat in skillet, remove and set aside. In skillet, sauté onion, garlic, parsley and celery in meat drippings. Add meat, bay leaf, salt and pepper to beans. Boil gently, stirring occasionally for about 1-1/2 hours, or until tender. Add water while cooking if necessary. Serve with long grain rice.

 

[roumic]

Friday's in the South means White Beans and Fried Fish

1 lb Northern (Large White) Beans
1/2 lb ham or seasoning meat
8-10 cups water
1 Tbs butter or olive oil (optional)
1 onion, chopped
1 toe garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Rinse and sort beans. Cover beans with water and start to cook over low fire. Brown meat with butter or olive oil with onion and garlic, add to beans and cook about 2 hours, or until tender. If necessary, add water while cooking. Serve with long grain rice.

 

[MineMail]

My next-door neighbor, who was american but had family in St. Maarten, used to make a dish she called "Peas and Rice." I lost the recipe before I got married and regret it to this day. It was nothing my mother would make, so I thought it was exotic. Today, I realize she was stretching her food budget, lol. (Now I understand why her kids would groan when they saw what was in the pot - they probably had it often.)

If anyone has a recipe for it, I'd love to give it a shot. It had long-grain rice, pigeon peas (I think), tomato paste and some sort of beef used as a base. Can't remember if she put in any veggies. It wasn't spicy. So frustrating!

 

[MineMail]

Pasta e Fagiolio is very easy to make, cheap and very filling.

I usually use canned cannellini beans or chick peas/garbonza beans to make it a quick meal, but I've made it with dry baby lima beans and it's just as good.

If you're using dried beans, sort and rinse half a bag. Soak them overnight with a pinch of dried ginger. (Just a little - cuts down on stomach aches) Change the water, then simmer the beans for an hour or two until they're firm but cooked. Don't overcook them or it will be tasteless.

Cook 16 oz. of some small pasta, like shells, ditalini or rotini, according to the package directions.

In a separate pan, saute one large onion with a little salt in 1/4 cup of olive oil until it is translucent and soft. (I like the onions carmelized, but the kids like them pale and mushy.) Sometimes, I toss in two cloves of crushed garlic towards the end, but I take it out before I mix everything together.

When the pasta's almost done, add the beans along with their liquid to that pot.

Put a measuring cup in the sink to save about 2 cups of the liquid. Lightly drain the pasta and beans, leaving some of the cooking water in the pot. Add the onions and oil, toss to coat. I add a 1/2 cup of leftover tomato sauce, but a small can of paste will do fine - just don't drain the macaroni as much. Season with a little pepper and salt (taste it first - might not need the salt)

If it seems too dry, add some of the reserved cooking water.

Mix well and serve in bowls with crusty bread.

I can put this together in less than 30 minutes.

 

[pampam]

Of course you know that dried beans are far cheaper than canned, but did you know that you can cook up a whole batch of dried beans and then freeze them to use like canned beans?

I usually do this with kidney beans. I soak them over night in water. In the morning I drain them, add water and cook for several hours till tender. Before they turn mushy, I drain them, cool them and put them in baggies for the freezer. Then when I'm making chili, or whatever, I take them out of the freezer instead of using canned beans.

 

[auntmeme7577]

We make Taco beans and it's a favorite

Start with cooked Navy bean2 or a mix of cooked beans, about 6 -8 cups
Add 1 lb hamburger or ground turkey, cooked
Onion to taste
1 package of Taco seasoning plus water
Mix it and bake or put in the slow cooker

Serve with taco chips , lettuce, tomatoes, cheese , whatever your family likes

 

[ENSOCK]

A Southern Monday Classic - Red Beans and Rice

1 lb Red (Kidney) Beans
1/2 lb ham or seasoning meat
8-10 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 toe garlic, chopped
2 Tbs celery, chopped
2 Tbs parsley, chopped
1 large bay leaf
Salt to taste

Directions:
Rinse and sort beans. Cover beans with water and start to cook over low fire. Render meat in skillet, remove and set aside. In skillet, sauté onion, garlic, parsley and celery in meat drippings. Add meat, bay leaf, salt and pepper to beans. Boil gently, stirring occasionally for about 1-1/2 hours, or until tender. Add water while cooking if necessary. Serve with long grain rice.

The only changes I would make is double the meat and add sausage! My DH does not care for beans but loves mine because of the extra meat added. To make the beans creamy once they are tender, mash some against the side of pot. Then stir.

 

[Free4Life11]

I'm going to try making some Black Bean brownies this weekend:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/black-bean-brownies/detail.aspx

 

[Gigi22]

I make a meaty baked bean dish using bacon end pieces.

Navy, pea or lima beans or a mixture of both. Rinse them well and make sure there are no little stones in them. You can presoak the beans or just cook them as is and they'll still get soft.
Just make sure your pot is big enough. A few beans go a long way! LOL

So anyway, beans in the pan and cover with water. (you'll add water as you go along if needed)
Add 1-2 large chopped onions and 1-3 pounds of ham, bacon end pieces or other meat.
Add 1/2-1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup mustard
half teasp salt
few drops of smoke seasoning or smoked salt

Bake many hours and taste often. Adjust with more ketchup, mustard or other spices you might want to add.

It's really pretty easy. Kind of no recipe to follow. I just put stuff that sounds good in with the beans. LOL

Good luck!

This plus I serve baked beans on whole wheat toast, with either sausages or hotdogs, and ketchup. You can serve coleslaw as a side.

 

[cseca]

Have you tried the Chili recipe behind McCormicks seasoning packets?
I just follow the recipe using very little meat (ground turkey). It says to use 1lb but I just use 4oz for flavoring and then either add on Morningstar/Boca crumbles or just add on another can of beans.

I personally love the Hot chili mix better than the original one, but DD loves the original one.

 

[Tarheel Tink]

I just wanted to second the pinto beans recipe cooked with a ham bone. We serve with optional chopped onions and or chow chow/sweet relish and of course corn bread! Beans do freeze wonderfully and mashed up a bit with some jalapeño added becomes a refried bean option for taco night or added on a tostado, etc.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Anyone have a Crock Pot recipe for baked beans? I have tons of bags of dried beans and my bf LOVES baked beans. Neither of us care if the beans aren't the "normal" beans used for baked beans, just want a good baked bean sauce.