Bean Update

Sorry for the lack of posting. Let's just say wicked Shakspearean art project. Ok back to the beans. My family loves them!!!! The coolest thing is soaking them overnight in the crockpot, rinse in the morning and cook all day. Its the easiest (and one of the healthiest) methods of one pot cooking ever. Our favorite accompaniments are cornbread, salad, biscuits, sopapillas, jello, greens, homemade bread. My secret: liquid smoke. This is powerfully good stuff. It makes the beans have a smoky flavor without adding any meat. Brown sugar is great with pintos and white beans for sweetness. The two combined is a tummy filling heaven.

The basic idea is to throw in the pot whatever you have. I found these recipes and adapted them to what I had in my kitchen:

http://www.recipezaar.com/1100

http://www.recipezaar.com/17250

http://www.recipezaar.com/27786

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vegan-Baked-Beans/Detail.aspx

Basic bean cookery notes:

1. Always soak your beans! Some people say you do not have to do this but I disagree. It really makes cooking them easy, it helps you to plan a bean meal and it doesn't require anything but time.

2. Cook them a long time. The crock pot or pressure cooker are your best bets. I'm a little afraid of my pressure cooker so I am still tentatively using it. The crock pot is your bean's best friend. Slow, even cooking, no work in the kitchen and delicious smells, not to mention it doesn't heat up the house in the summer.

3. Cook beans in just broth all day and then jazz them up to go with dinner. They can be frozen in 2 cup amounts to be used whenever they are needed. I did this with a batch of black beans because I wanted to be able to feed them to the baby and didn't want any seasoning. I took out a couple of cups of beans, added them to a skillet with a can of diced tomatoes, taco seasoning, and 1/2 pound of ground beef...there were 0 leftovers.

4. Rice and beans actually go really well together but there are other ways. Look for soups, wraps, casseroles, even breads. We also love chalupas Kirk family style. Fry tortillas in oil so they puff up, spread with mashed pintos (or canned refried if pressed for time)and cheese and bake for about 10 minutes. Then we cover with all the fixin's: lettuce, tomato, onion, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, bell peppers.

Homemade is great!

One of the reasons I love food storage is because there is a great deal of peace of mind when the weather is unpredictable. Yesterday was a good example. When I headed out to get the kids I realized I wasn't going anywhere else for the rest of the day. Now, in this situation I knew that today the sun would come out and the power would probably not have any trouble. However, I've been in ice storms before in which the power did go out for a while and the store shelves were empty. It is such a relief to know that if we got stuck at home we would be fine for a week or more without any additional store trips. I would be a busy bee because everything would be made from scratch but it works.
So yesterday's scratch meal was hot chocolate (from the Cannery, that they do not carry anymore) and homemade donuts. I'm constantly amazed at the variety of food items that you can make with flour, sugar, and fat. With a few added ingredients your possibilities are endless.
This donut recipe is a favorite. It doesn't make a huge batch but just enough for us to have a snack and the kids took one in their lunch today. It makes a crispy outside and a cakelike inside. Covered with cinnamon and sugar and nice and warm.....MMMM!





Best Ever Doughnuts

Makes 1 dozen (I found this high, I only got like 8)

3 cups unbleached flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsps butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
oil for frying

For dipping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a separate bowl until light and smooth. Add butter, milk and vanilla to the egg mixture and whisk well. Add the dry ingredients, mix just until smooth. Turn out the dough and knead a few times, then roll and cut. I don't have a donut cutter so I just used a biscuit one and cut out the center with a child's medicine cup :) The dough is soft but easy to work with. I found that rolling the donuts thicker rather than thinner was better. The recipe says 3/4 of an inch exactly! I had some that were thinner than that and they were fine. The thicker the dough is the more chance there is of them not being done when you fry them.

So once the dough's rolled out and the oil is good and hot you just drop them in. I was actually pretty surprised at how fast this went. I always think that frying things is this huge ordeal but it wasn't bad. This is definitly a healthier alternative to store bought donuts and it was a comforting and warm snack after fun in the snow.


The kids also thought it was so cool that we could make our own donuts. I concur!