“My modus operandi has been to make a big pot of
beans (1 pound of organic beans of almost any kind will hover in the $1 range) and use it throughout the week to create a variety of dishes using other pantry staples. Depending on how many beans I make this creates at least 5 meals for 2 for the week at around 15 dollars total. How can it get any more affordable than that?”
With this blog series, I am responding to her call for everyone to “make a big pot of beans this week and report back STAT.”
Soaking right now: white kidney beans
I’ve been doing my research, and from what I’ve read, dried beans are cheaper, tastier and less wasteful than their canned counterparts, and if you prepare them yourself, you can control their flatulence factor almost at will.
Isa’s suggestions for what I can do with my white beans include:
- Day 1 �?? Pasta Fagioli
- Day 2 �?? White Bean Quinoa Croquettes
- Day 3 �?? Roasted Garlic and White Bean Soup
- Day 4 �?? White Bean and Tempeh Sausage Patties
- Day 5 �?? Vegetable Soup with White Beans
I have some ideas of my own. We shall soon find out if the beany life is the life for me.
Comments
Comment from Tara (strawberrygirl)
Time: January 8, 2006, 9:54 pm
Hey Jill. I love your blog…you always mix it up so it is always so interesting. I just bought a bag of quinoa, so those croquettes sound good. Not sure what to do with the quinoa yet.
How do you control the flatuance? I am always weray to feed my hubby beans for this reason….LOL:)
Comment from Jill
Time: January 8, 2006, 10:23 pm
Thank you Miss Strawberry. I’ve been trying to figure out if I ought to narrow this blog down to a category. Maybe “none” is still just fine. To date, I have not observed myself to be capable of concentrating on only one thing at a time, so this is probably the most honest format anyway.
Haha on the flatulence.
The first thing to do is introduce beans slowly, in smallish quantities, on a regular basis. (Say, one day a bit of dip, another day, sprinkled on a salad…) You can also rinse your beans throroughly after soaking. Some also report that if you add kombu seaweed while they soak, that can help, as well as helping them cook beautifully, so, bonus. I’ve not tried that though. Today is, in fact, my first ever personal bean-soaking experience.
Quinoa is good for tabouleh-style salads. In fact, if you already have a tabouleh recipe, make that. It will work, for sure. You can also turn quinoa into a pretty satisfying warm cereal. And it’s one of the only foods on Earth which, all by itself, contains ALL of the amino acids that create a complete protein. So good choice. Don’t burn it though. It smells super gross when it burns and it becomes mighty adheisive, too.
Comment from reinvisioner
Time: January 9, 2006, 1:10 am
Greetings Jill and company
tip from my whole foods class:
throw a potato into your stewing beans, throw it out when you are done - it soaks up the gas
Jill, I saw your comment on performancing.com on where are the women, and I could so relate. I’m hesitant to post yet, this is all so new. I’ve livejournaled for about a year but I’m just beginning to become acquainted with the blogosphere in its vaster sense.
My newest blog is more of an experiment, I’m writing a business plan and I thought a blog might help me connect with others so my vision can expand and unfold to include external insights and thus be more successful.
Kudos on your very fun space here. I’ll check back often. Kind regards, Christy (reinvisioner)
Comment from Jill
Time: January 9, 2006, 10:16 am
Thanks Christy, that’s a good bean tip, and I’m glad to hear you’re writing a business plan. I support the writing and using of business plans. This blog doesn’t have one, since I’m not even really sure what it is yet. But once I figure that out, you can be sure I’ll put something on paper.
As far as the potato goes, I’d just like to add some clarification– the gas from beans actually comes from the sugars that break down as we digest them. So what the potato would hypothetically be doing is absorbing some of those sugars so they’re history before we even eat them, thus lessening the gassy potential of the beans.
Comment from Katie
Time: January 9, 2006, 8:13 pm
Jill, in your honour, I went to the bulk food store today and bought a bunch of dried black beans and chick peas. We have rice and beans at least once a week, and I’ve often tried to remind myself how much cheaper the dried ones are from the canned ones. I’ve got a bunch of black beans soaking away for tomorrow night’s dinner. Horray!
I also took the containers with me to the bulk place, and the nice man weighed them and wrote the weights on the bottoms, so no waste was incurred in the bulk expidition.
:)Katie
Comment from Jill
Time: January 10, 2006, 1:24 pm
That is great news, Katie. If my minuature shoulder-katie makes me work out, then you should have a little Jill to follow you to the grocery store.
Good call on the containers. Enjoy your beans!