A Big Pot of Beans

I have shared with you our dream of one day moving onto our own plot of acreage and trying our hand at a small-scale farm.  My boys are fascinated with the whole "Little House on the Prairie" lifestyle; and my Beloved and I just love fresh air, country living, outside work, and providing our family's own (healthy) food and medicine, as much as we are able to.

To give you a little background about us, we moved to my husband's hometown in Missouri 4 1/2 years ago from Georgia with about $20,000 in debt from a business-gone-under and our moving expenses (including my Beloved's inability to find a full-time job for 3 months after arriving). 

Since we've lived here in Missouri, we've "met" Dave Ramsey via his books and radio program.  My hubby has also enjoyed listening to "Money Matters" by Crown Financial Ministries while he drives around on his Sears delivery job.

We decided that we did not want to live our life in bondage to debt, feeling that we were living paycheck to paycheck and never making ends meet.  We could never afford to do anything "fun" without charging on a little piece of plastic which had become our master, so... we started babystepping our way to financial peace.

We now keep money in savings, have plenty set back for our various quarterly and annual insurance payments, homeschooling  curriculum, and other sporadic (and big!) expenses.  We have managed to pay cash for all of our seven births (actually, we still owe $800 on this one, due in August ~ no problem) before the babies arrived.  And best of all, this has all been possible on just one very modest income while I have had the privilege of staying home with our kidlets.

For those who are interested in this type of lifestyle, I will gradually share little tidbits about what has made this possible and how we live, budget, save, and plan.  Let me start with this good old basic standby:

A pot of beans!  YUM!

I feel kind of hypocritical, after posting a shrimp scampi recipe, to be singing the praises of pinto beans!  Shrimp is truly a splurge for us that doesn't happen often, and last week's recipe came from a 2-pound $7.98 bag that I bought on sale after not buying shrimp in probably a year.  However, today's treat is more in line with the common fare of our household.

Beans are super easy, tasty, and nutritional.  For some strange reason, people get overwhelmed with them and think they are difficult to cook; but they are really easy and just take a little planning ahead of time.

I always throw my beans in a pot to soak the night before.  Some people use the "quick soak method," which involves bringing the beans to a boil and then turning it off and allowing them to sit there for an hour or two before fully cooking.  My mom doesn't soak them at all.  Some folks cook them in a pressure cooker, which takes no longer to cook than any other meal.

But since this is my blog... I'll stick with my "soak them overnight" method.  ☺

I always put 2 pounds of pinto beans (or whatever kind I want to cook) in a kettle the night before and cover them with water.  The next day they have grown, the water has shrunk, and the pan is very full.

I drain and rinse them in a colander, picking out any little debris (pebbles?) that might be hiding in there.  I return them to their kettle and once again cover with fresh water.

Bring them to a boil on the stove and then reduce the heat to medium low, tilting the lid on the pot.  You can leave them alone for a couple of hours, until they begin to get tender.  (Warning:  Do not add salt or tomatoes to beans before they are tender.  The salt and acid will toughen them.  I like to add a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies to my kidney beans for "red beans & rice," and I always dump that in last.)

When they are just getting tender, but not quite ready to eat, I like to dice in an onion; and sometimes I stick some leftover meat or a ham bone or hock in there (actually, if I'm using a hock or raw meat, I put that in at the beginning with the raw beans).  The pictured pot of beans contained the previous night's pork roast remains.  They are certainly good meatless, too, though.

When they are thoroughly tender, I finally season them.  Salt and pepper are fine for a pot of beans.  Make sure that the beans stay plenty moist through the whole process.  You don't want them to dry out, and you can add more water throughout the cooking time whenever needed.  You want plenty of "pot likker" to dunk your cornbread or garlic bread in!

I try to cook a pot of beans at least once a week.  We typically have them on Monday nights with plenty leftover for bean burritos, nachos, or quesadillas.  Or, well, leftover beans.  They also freeze well ~ just spoon them into a quart-size freezer bag.  They are great accompanied with cornbread, garlic bread, or corn pudding.