Beans, beans, the magical fruit!

Yep they sure are, in more ways than one! I have cooked with beans for a long time and love beans! I'm talking those dried beans that you can buy in the Hispanic food isle. Or the ones in cans are fine too. Pinto, black, red, pink, white, cannellini, garbanzo, kidney, etc.


Beans are so healthy for you! Not only are they a great source of protein, but they have half the fiber that you need for one day! They also have antioxidants, are low in sugar and are great for weight loss and insulin!! Does sound like a magical fruit, doesn't it?!


I realize for some people it's hard to cook your own beans, that's why they have canned beans that are already cooked for you, just open the can and rinse and put in whatever you want. Just be careful when choosing your canned beans. Some companies will add sugar or excess amounts of salt to make them taste better.


Sometimes I will just grab a can of beans for a meal when I don't have time to cook my own. Especially refried beans for burritos or 7 layer dip. I did notice yesterday when I opened a can of refried black beans that I didn't look at the label for, that it had more than just beans and salt, it had lard and partially hydrogenated lard! The latter ingredient is so not good for you! I was just a little upset! Why did my super healthy beans need to have such awful ingredients in it? Sometimes I don't understand why they have to do that!


Years ago when we were very poor, we couldn't afford meat very often. I didn't know how to stretch food very well as our family grew. My husband, on the other hand, was awesome! He would just say, throw a can of beans in it. I thought that was kind of weird, but the more I did it, the more we grew to love beans. We would have stroganoff with kidney beans, which sounds weird but is actually really pretty good!


Now I don't use beans quite as much, but I do still use only one pound of ground hamburger or turkey, or in our case now, ground elk, and add things to it to stretch it. I can feed all 7 of us on one pound of ground meat, mixed with rehydrated refried beans and some taco seasoning. This is how I make tacos. I always stretch it with beans of some kind.


Fresh refried beans are some of my favorite! We got an easy recipe from a friend years ago that I use often still. I usually double this recipe and freeze whatever I don't use for another meal. Here is the recipe I usually use:


Refried beans


1 cup pinto beans
1/4 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
3 TBS oil
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Wash beans thoroughly, remove any rocks or twigs. place in deep pot with 3 cups water. bring to a boil and slowly add baking soda to "de-gas" beans. Remove from heat, skim off foam, cover and let stand in liquid 1 hour.
Add 2 more cups water to beans. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring once, until beans are tender. Save 1 1/2 cups bean liquid for use during mashing. Heat 3 TBS oil in skillet over medium heat. Add cooked beans and 1 1/2 cups retained bean liquid. Add 1 tsp. salt and 3/4 cup cheese. Mash until smooth and cook until liquid is mostly absorbed. Serve warm topped with 1/4 cup cheese.


Really easy recipe, but plan about 3 hours start to finish. I don't usually mash these beans, I have, but don't usually. I will just cook them and then scoop them out into quart size freezer bags and freeze for when I need them later. Or we will use them right away for chicken burritos. I will either leave them whole or mash them right on the tortilla if I don't want them whole. They work out great!


I also use this recipe for other types of beans as well. I have done black, kidney and pink beans as well and they all turned out great!


I also love soups and chili with beans! There are so many ways to use beans! Do you have any favorite bean recipes? Share yours with us!