Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Kitchen Tip NEEDED


Okay, I have a confession to make...

I hate beans. Well, maybe I don't hate them. I just have a very strong dislike for them. I like green beans, but I prefer them young & tender with more pod and not much bean.

It's not so much a taste thing, as it is a texture thing for me. I've never liked beans. Somehow in my extremely-picky-eater-childhood we never had beans very much (maybe because I was so picky?), as an adult I've never cooked them and so I've never developed a taste for them - and yes I believe it must be a developed taste.

For most of my life this bean hating thing has not been a problem because - I just didn't eat them. I learned to cook partly so that I could cook (and eat) what I like! Over the years as chief-cook I have sought out recipes for foods that were not my favorite and have learned to eat many things that I did not eat in my picky-eater-childhood.

However, beans have never been one of them.

Until Now.

As a grown-up I have learned that beans are quite healthy and they are much less expensive than meat (which I soooo love).

So now in my journey to being more frugal, I am asking for help. I am looking for good bean recipes. So, all you great cooks out there... Please send me bean recipes. For me, bean recipes that do not have the "mealy texture" my brain associates with beans, would be helpful. But really, any delicious bean recipe would be appreciated.

Thank you.

For real kitchen tips (not just requests) please visit Tammy at her wonderful site.

5 comments:

Lynn said...

I have a few bean recipes on my blog. One is for bean burgers which we really like. I was not a big fan of beans either. I think it is all in how you serve them. They need to be seasoned well. I have also discovered that I like cooked dried beans better than canned. I make a large pot of dried beans up and than freeze them in small containers to use in recipes that call for canned beans. The texture and taste is better with dried. We also like homemade refried beans much better than canned ones. You can make those from black beans as well as pinto. I hope that helps.

mub said...

I agree with what lynn said... I think that the texture of dried cooked beans is different and you might find it more pleasurable to you. Also, there are so many different varieties of beans! I love love garbanzos and black beans, but I'm not always so keen on brown beans.

This site is pretty interesting and gives some good tips to cooking with beans: http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/howtobeantypes.html

Anonymous said...

I feel for your dislike of beans, me myself I love beans! I have a great lentil recipe on my blog. here's the link. Good luck on your bean loving journey! I promise you try some good homemade recipe and you will be hooked.

http://newlyweds.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/beef-lentil-soup-crock-pot-style/

Anonymous said...

I would suggest that you start slowly by adding them to meat (like taco meat!) to stretch it. You won't even notice them!

Anonymous said...

Adding just a few to other things like soups,salads, or taco meat might help. Try a bunch of different kinds because they all have different tastes and textures. My son also is not a bean fan but after trying several types we found that he tolerates pinto beans best and if it is mixed into something else, not by itself.
-kattmaxx