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missionfamily
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 11:39am | IP Logged
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With food prices being what they are, we really need to stick to our plan of using beans a lot for protein. We eat all kinds of beans over rice with a small amount of meat seasoning, and my kids love them. But it has to cook a long time and it's heavy. It just doesn't feel like a summer meal.
Any suggestions for summer bean recipes?
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Colleen
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folklaur
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 12:13pm | IP Logged
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Lentils - especially red lentils - don't seem as "heavy" and are easy to cook.
There are LOTS of neat "pasta salad" recipes that have beans mixed in. Even going to "betty crocker" or Pillsbury and using their recipe search can find a bunch, with pictures ( I always like to "see" my recipes.)
Another idea for protein, is to use the grain quinoa. It is really good, and becoming more popular. I have found it is MUCH cheaper if you have a store that sells it in bulk, as opposed to the pre-boxed stuff. (The red variety is our favorite, but both are good!)
A quick summer recipe I use a lot is to mix black beans, corn, onions, and cilanto, and wrap it up in tortillas or in taco shells. (I often add tomato too, and sometimes a cucumber....)
I just read a pasta-bean salad recipe yesterday that uses ditalini pasta (teeny tubes), corn, and black beans...they used chicken too but you would only need a little bit, or I think it could be easily left out too. It had a honey-lime dressing....I can see if I can find it and post it? It looked yummy, I know I marked it as one to try....
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MacBeth
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Is it better to use canned beans, or dried? I recall my mother (once!  ) soaking dried beans to use in some recipe. I don't remember what happened next, and I do not remember ever eating them  . I imagine dried beans are cheaper...
Laura, beans corn and cilantro sound wonderful...Great idea for a thread, Colleen! 
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missionfamily
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 12:34pm | IP Logged
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Okay-here are some recipes that may need to go in my summer menu...
black bean burgers
Love these but never thought of making them myself. If I cooked the black beans in the crock pot on the deck outside, this could be a winner. I could lessen the cost by upping the beans and leaving out the pecans.
This one I could do with dried cooked beans instead of canned and add some shredded chicken breast to the top.
For a change from Cajun red beans, thiscould be fun.
yummy black bean recipe
I could do with only cooked black beans or less chicken and more beans. this one
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Colleen
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guitarnan
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 1:12pm | IP Logged
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An easy one, from Desperation Entertaining:
1 can black beans (or 2 c. cooked)
1 can kidney beans (or 2 c. cooked)
1 can "fiesta" corn (the kind with red & green peppers)
Drain and rinse all of the above items, combine in bowl and add the dressing. Top with sliced green onions (I use 3, for about 2 Tbsp., white and light green parts).
Dressing:
3T red wine vinegar
3T olive oil (I use less)
ground pepper
salt to taste
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
This keeps well, is easy to make and transports easily.
Great thread, by the way, as I've "bean" wondering the same thing! 
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folklaur
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 1:35pm | IP Logged
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Southwestern Chicken and Pasta Salad (from Pillsbury Cookbook)
Salad
4 oz. (1 cup) uncooked ditalini (short macaroni tubes) or elbo macaroni
1 (10 oz.) pkg. Green Giant Frozen Southwestern Style Corn & Roasted Red Peppers
2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 (15 oz.) can Green Giant, Joan of Arc, Old El Paso, or Progresso Black Beans, drained and rinsed.
Dressing
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon honey
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 Cook ditalini to desired doneness as directed on package. Drain; rinse with cold water to cool. Drain well.
2 Meanwhile, cook frozen corn in microwave as directed on package. Cut pouch open; pour into large bowl. Add chicken, onions and black beans.
3 In small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients; blend well.
4 Add cooked ditalini and dressing to corn mixture; stir to coat. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour to blend flavors. Stir just before serving. If desired, garnish with chopped fresh cilantro.
4 (1 1/2 cup) servings
This is the recipe as written, I know I would change it up little (I'd use more honey, no hot pepper sauce, probably wouldn't microwave, etc  )
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organiclilac
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Similar to Nancy's recipe above, we love "Cowboy Caviar":
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can hominy
1 can black-eyed peas
1 tomato, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 can diced green chilis (optional)
Mix it all together and add your favorite Italian dressing, to taste. Eat with chips, or use as tortilla or pita filling.
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Red Cardigan
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I recommend this--it's great hot or cold! And you can use cooked dried beans in place of canned, and put the spread on anything from bagels to tortillas to open-faced hamburger buns.
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JodieLyn
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dried beans are cheaper.. I make a huge batch and then freeze extras so that I have some easy to grab as well.
I don't soak the beans. I know they say you should but I don't.. and they cook just fine.
I use my electric roaster and set it outside or in the garage in the summer.. put in 4-5 lbs of beans.. 24-30 cups of water.. turn it to about 375* and they're usually cooked in around 4.5-5 hrs.. I add seasonings near the end but with some time left to cook.. oh except onion.. I add chopped onion in when I start the beans.. it cooks down, tastes great, and there are no "but I don't like onions" comments
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folklaur
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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MacBeth wrote:
Is it better to use canned beans, or dried? I recall my mother (once! ) soaking dried beans to use in some recipe. I don't remember what happened next, and I do not remember ever eating them . I imagine dried beans are cheaper...
Laura, beans corn and cilantro sound wonderful...Great idea for a thread, Colleen! |
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The only time I usually use dried beans is for chili (but also I always use dried lentils....). I usually get canned - still cheap, but no, not nearly as cheap as dried. And...sometimes the taste isn't quite as good with canned.
I want to start using more dried. I know it isn't hard....just time consuming. And I have had "bad" batches of dried...when they just never got soft after hours of cooking...
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PDyer
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 3:25pm | IP Logged
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2 tsp olive oil
2 cups chopped tomato
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups hot cooked pasta
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
15 oz can chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup grated parm
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar.
1. Cook tomato and garlic in oil, 2 minutes.
2. Add pasta, basil, salt, pepper and chickpeas, 2 minutes.
3. Put mixture in bowl, stir in cheese and vinegar.
TADA!
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cornomama4
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OK, here's my summer salad w/ black beans:
2 cups frozen corn
1 can black beans
1 red bell pepper, diced
"some onion", like 2 green onions or 1/2 vidalia
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp oil (olive oil?)
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper
1 tsp hot sauce or a dash of red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro if you have it
Just make sure to rinse the beans! mix it up. if you want a little more zip, add 2 tsp WHITE Balsamic vinegar
Last night I served this over spinach leaves "wilted" in a little butter....dag!
Also, we make hummus with chick peas and tahini and way too much garlic Good w/ pitas or Ry-crisp crackers.
I use canned beans right now, for the convenience (.65 a can) but may try dry soon.
cm4
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missionfamily
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| Posted: June 24 2008 at 8:19am | IP Logged
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WE make a lot of hummus too. Hummus and pitas and cold cous cous salad are a favorite Friday meal of mine. Since so many good summer recipes are black bean based, I think I'm going to buy the largest bag of dried black beans I can find and cook them in large batches and freeze in 16 ounce portions, that way when the recipe calls for one can, I can just defrost one bag. Black beans will be a nice switch for us as we used kidney and great northerns a lot through the fall and winter and a cajun mix through the spring. All my kids like them and got very used to eating them when we lived in Costa Rica--black beans and rice with sour cream are a breakfast staple there.
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Colleen
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mimmyof5
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| Posted: June 24 2008 at 9:33am | IP Logged
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missionfamily wrote:
| Since so many good summer recipes are black bean based, I think I'm going to buy the largest bag of dried black beans I can find and cook them in large batches and freeze in 16 ounce portions, that way when the recipe calls for one can, I can just defrost one bag. |
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Is there anything special you do when you freeze cooked beans? Do some freeze better than others? The one time I tried it with left over baked beans they were not good. Mushy. I usually buy canned beans because of time, but would love to spend a day cooking beans and freezing.
Thanks,
Janet
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missionfamily
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Janet--I double and triple cook beans and freeze them all the time. I've never had a problem. Maybe it's beans in a lot of sauce that is a difficulty? I usualy am freezing beans cooked in water and seasoning.
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Colleen
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Molly Smith
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Our favorite is All Purpose Southwestern Corn and Black Bean Salad from Cooking Light. We eat it as side, as a dip for tortilla chips, as a topping for grilled quesadillas, as a filling with fajitas, on top of spinach or other greens--it truly is all-purpose! It's easy to double and keeps well in the fridge. I always double the vinaigrette.
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Jeanne
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I use lentils in place of meat in a lot of receipes, for expample--for tacos and sloppy joes. I use the same seasonings I would use for the beef.
My kids really like a dip I make using refried beans.
I usually buy the canned to save time, but I have made the refried beans myself.
1 can of refried beans
1 can of diced tomatoes and green chilies
chopped red onion( I use about 1/4 of a small one)
Mix together --sometimes I warm it in the microwave or stove, but they will eat it cold also.
We dip tortillas and raw veges.
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Topic: summer bean recipes?
