Cooking with Basic Food Storage: Legumes

LEGUMES

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

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

Overnight soaking: For each 1 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 beans, bring 8 cups water to boil. Wash beans, add to boiling water, boil for 2 min. Remove from heat, cover and soak 1 hr.

To cook soaked beans: For each 1 pound dried beans, dissolve 2 tsp salt in 6 C hot water, bring to a boil. Add soaked beans, boil gently uncovered, adding water if needed to keep beans covered, until tender. Yield 6 to 7 cups.

To cook old hard beans: Wash and sort to remove and discolored beans or foreign material. For each cup of dry beans, add 2 1/2 c hot tap water and 2 tsp f baking soda and soak overnight. Drain and rinse two times, then add water to cover and cook until tender and soft, about two hours, adding more water as needed.

Adding 1/8 tsp baking soda and 1 Tbsp of oil to each cup of beans while soaking will cut down on foam as beans cook and shorten 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.

COOKING TIMES:

• Black Beans 1 to 1 1/2 hours
• Garbanzo Beans 2 to 2 1/2 hours
• Kidney Beans 1 to 1 1/2 hours
• Pink, Pinto & Red: 1 1/2 to 2 hours
• White Beans: 1 to 1 1/2 hours
• Black Eyed Peas: 1 to 1 1/2 hours
• Great Northern Beans: 1 to 1 1/2 hours
• Lima Beans: 1 to 1 1/2 hours
• Soybeans: 3 to 3 1/2 hours
• Split Peas, Green & Yellow: 35 - 45 minutes (No soaking required)
• Lentils: 30 -40 minutes (No soaking required)

STORING COOKED BEANS

• Freeze cooked beans in zip lock bags. Will keep 3-6 months.
• Store cooked beans 3-5 days in refrigerator. Beans spoil easily so don't keep too long.

ALTERNATE USES FOR BEANS:

The following are great ways to put more beans into your diet without feeling like you are always eating beans.

Bean Flour:

• Any dry bean can be ground into flour using a hand or electric mill. (Read your instructions carefully, some specifically say you cannot use beans in them.) Baby lima or small white beans are the mildest in flavor
• Bean flour can be whisked into boiling water and seasonings to make an almost instant soup or thickener.
• Bean flour can be used in any recipe calling for flour by replacing up to 25% of the wheat flour with any variety of bean flour. The bean flour combined with the wheat flour creates complete protein.

White Beans Replace Fat in Most Baking:

Method 1: Cover beans with water and cook until very soft. Mash until consistency of shortening (use blender). Replace in recipes cup for cup. Example: Recipe calls for 1 cup margarine: use 1 cup mashed beans. Liquid may be added the adjust the consistency. Mashed beans don't keep long in the fridge, so freeze them.

Method 2: Grind beans in your wheat grinder. Store in air tight container. Replace fat in the recipe cup for cut as above. You will need to add liquid since the ground beans will be part of the dry ingredients.

CHILI
1 lb. Chili beans (about 2 cups)
2 lbs ground beef
3-4 ribs of celery
1can diced tomatoes (use juice)
3-4 tbsp. chili powder
1 large onion, chopped
½ tsp cumin

Soak beans overnight. Bring beans to boil and simmer until tender. Leave the water in the pot that should cover the beans and add the tomato juice to it. Brown ground beef. Add ground beef, onion, celery, chili powder and cumin. Let simmer until flavors blend. Adjust the amt. of chili powder to taste.

REFRIED BEANS
1 c chopped onion
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
2 c pinto beans
1 tsp garlic powder

Fill crock pot 1/3 full of pinto beans (sorted and rinsed). Fill with water until ¾ full. Cook beans and ingredients on high temperature for approximately four hours. Mash by hand or with a blender. Add oregano and salt to taste. Can be frozen.

PIONEER BEAN SOUP MIX: Yield 4 jars
1 C pinto beans
1 C Black beans
1 C Kidney Beans
1 C Yellow Split Beans
1 C Great Northern Beans
1 C Black Eyed peas
1 C Lentils
1 C Green Split Peas

In clean pint jars, spoon 2 Tbsp of pinto beans in bottom; continue, adding 2 Tbsp of each bean or pea variety in the order given until jar is full.

PIONEER BEAN SOUP
1 pint Bean Soup Mix
7 C Water
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1 -2 tsp salt
1 ham hock
2 carrots, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
Grated cheese.

Put all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on medium for 7 hours, or until beans are tender or place in stock pot and cook on stove at simmer. Remove meat from ham hock and return to soup. Before serving, add juice of 1 lemon and top with grated cheese. Makes 6-8 servings.

BAKED BEANS
2 c white beans
1 onion, chopped
¾ c brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 c reserved liquid
1 tsp salt
1/8 lb. bacon, diced
¼ c catsup
1 tbsp soy sauce

Cover beans with cold water and add salt. Simmer until tender. Keep liquid. Add remaining ingredients. Place in greased casserole or bean pot. Top with 1/8 bacon strips. Bake at 275 degrees for 6-8 hours.

PINTO BEAN CASSEROLE
1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans (use juice)
1 lb. ground beef
1 C grated cheese
1 (15 oz) can Italian style marinara sauce
1 pkg. Corn tortillas

Butter tortillas and layer and cover bottom of oblong cake pan. Brown ground beef and drain. Put beans over tortillas, then sauce and ground beef and grated cheese. Bake at 350 deg. For 30 minutes.

PIONEER STEW: Yield 8 servings
1 ¼ C (1/2 lb) dried pinto or kidney beans
3 C Cold Water 1 tsp salt
½ to 1 lb ground beef or 1 can of chunk turkey or beef
½ c onion, chopped
½ c finely diced green pepper
1 can (16 oz.) whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can (16 oz) tomatoes, undrained
½ tsp chili powder
¾ tsp salt
½ c shredded sharp American cheese

In large saucepan, place washed and drained beans, cold water and salt. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer 2 minutes. Return to heat and simmer 1 hour and 15 minutes. In skillet cook ground beef, chopped onion and green pepper until meat is browned and vegetables are tender. Drain off fat. Add meat mixture, corn, tomatoes, chili powder and salt to taste to beans. Simmer 20 minutes. Combine 1 Tbsp flour with 2 Tbsp water. Stir into stew. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in cheese.

CREAM OF SPLIT PEA SOUP
2 c split peas
½ c celery, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 ½ c milk (2/3 c powdered milk and 2 ½ c water)
4 ½ c boiling water
½ c carrots, diced
2 tsp salt
Season to taste (may add chunks of ham, bacon, etc)

Wash split peas and sort. In large saucepan, combine water, split peas, vegetables and salt. Simmer until peas are soft, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Put through a sieve or a blender. Add powdered milk and seasonings, chunks of meat, then reheat and serve.

BEAN WRAPS
2 lbs. pinto beans (4 cups)
1 qt. tomatoes
1 lb salt pork or bacon (optional)
1 ½ lbs. Ground beef, browned (optional)
3 onions, chopped
½ lb. shredded beef or pork (optional)
4 bay leaves
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 chili brick, warm and drain fat
½ lb. brown sugar
¾ tsp thyme
1 tsp chili (to taste)

Simmer Beans, salt pork, onions, bay leaves and garlic in Dutch oven for approx. 20 hours. Add chili brick, tomatoes, meat and spices. Simmer 2 hours. Add brown sugar the last ½ hour.