I ♥ breakfast.
Oats ♥ my ♥. 🙂
Tate and I had a sweet 10th Valentines together, from the oats delivery to the midday picnic
Yay for the first picnic of 2011 being in FEBRUARY!
This salad rocked. Arugula, white beans, beets, gorgonzola, and avocado dressed with Newman’s Own Low Fat Rasberry Walnut Balsamic, served with Grape Kefir Soda.
My Valentine ♥
The remainder of the day was spent in the clinic and at a Neurofeedback appointment with Jessica. I am thrilled to report that I slept great last night! My brain must be responding to the training!
Tate and I went out for an early dinner and were in bed embarrassingly early.
Do you know what those are↑?
Soaking black beans!
Last week reader Laura asked me a question about how I prepare beans. Since I am a huge bean fan, and Tate is even more of a fan than me, this house sees a lot of legumes and I am more than happy to discuss this little wonder food.
Before moving to Peru canned black beans and garbanzos were a staple on our grocery list. Growing up my parents always fixed beans from scratch but on my own it seemed so simple to buy the $.70 cans.
Canned beans are a novelty item in the bean culture of Peru. Cans are expensive and wasteful, not to mention a serving size there is like a can a person! When in Rome Lima…I started soaking dried beans and cooking them on a regular basis.
This is a practice I have kept up with since returning to the land of cans and convenience. Cooking beans from scratch is both economical and ecological. Sure, you can recycle cans but think of all the energy that went into producing that can, cooking the beans, transporting the cans to the bean factory to the grocery store to your house, not to mention the energy required to recycle. You can reduce the impact (and sometimes the cost) even further by buying beans from the bulk bins and using reused produce bags (you are going to rinse and boil the beans so don’t worry about sanitation) to store them.
So what do you do with those little dry beans once you bring them home? My preferred method is the long soak. This method definitely takes some forethought but since we are always up for eating beans around here I always have beans soaking.
Here are the garbanzos in my fridge right now
Place dry beans in a container, cover plus a few inches with water, place in fridge or on counter for at least 12 hours, preferably 24 or more. If you are soaking for longer than 24 hours I recommend putting your soaking beans in the fridge. I often soak for days, I think those garbanzos have been in there since Wednesday. The longer the soak the quicker the cooking time (and less gas-inducing complex sugars!). Black beans can cook in as little as 20 minutes after a long soak.
Note: dry beans soak up a ton of water, check them after a few hours to make sure they are still completely covered.
I recommend soaking in glass so you don’t have to worry about the soaking water leaching toxins from plastic or metal.
When you are ready to cook your soaked beans pour them into a colander and rinse several times to clean them (beans never get washed prior to bagging!), dump into a pot, cover completely with water, bring to a boil, turn down and simmer until fully cooked (completely soft).
If you want to add salt to your beans DO NOT add it until the beans are very close to done, otherwise they won’t soften completely. Drain and enjoy!
I recommend making large batches with this method and freezing the leftovers in freezer bags or jars. This way you have beans ready to eat at all times and your freezer stays full (more energy-efficient).
This method is appropriate for any type of dry beans that require soaking (lentil and split peas are two that do not need soaked).
Beans are one of the healthiest and cheapest food sources so enjoy liberally!
I usually use canned beans, but I like the idea of using dried. I really should try doing that more often. But it does take planning. I have a bag of dried baby lima beans that have been in my pantry for going on a year.
Soak those babies!
I like cooking my own dried beans as well. Another plus is the bulk bins usually have more variety, so you can switch it up & try a lot of different types.
Your heart bowl is too cute — almost rustic which I really like — & that spoon! Where did you find that?! I love the photo of the rose — beautiful back-lighting without drowning it in shadows — well done. The soaking beans: that is such a cool picture too. You are on a roll! Oh, & Tate is very handsome. Dave & I should have had a picnic too in this beautiful February warmth!
Hi Allie!
My mom made the bowl 🙂 and the spoon was a wedding present, it hangs on it’s own little hook in the kitchen and I use it all of the time. Thanks for the photo complements, I really take that to heart coming from you. As far as Tate, yep, super sexy, this picture doesn’t do him justice! 🙂
Hello Faith!
I wanted to let you know, I SO enjoy reading your blog. It’s becoming a daily thing for me. I wish you were in Lewisburg so we could talk more! Keep up the GREAT work and hope to see you soon…!
Thanks Cate, for the compliments and for reading! I often think “I wish I could go to Cate’s Zumba class today” so hopefully someday soon I will. See you soon!
Aww, I wish I could picnic in February! Too bad we’re in the middle of a deep freeze here in Toronto 🙁
I always use dried beans also…love soaking them the night before and then making a huge pot of soup! I love your bowl and spoon! I love them even more because your mom made them:) So cool! Looks like you and Tate had a great Valentine’s day!
Hope today was just as good!
P.S. I am about to make your Gingersnap cookies for my hubby to take on a camping trip. I know he will love them:)
Thanks again for all the fun recipes!
Okay, I’m going to confess: it’s canned beans around here! I know, I know, but if I have to soak ’em, it doesn’t happen. Better canned beans than no beans, I guess?
And can I say how jealous I am of your outdoor picnic? It’s been warmer than seasonal around here, but that translates into hovering around freezing during the daytime. Sadly, it’ll be cooling off tomorrow – high of -9 C tomorrow and then colder after that! That’s pretty normal in these parts, but I don’t enjoy it. Oh well, at least the days are getting longer. 🙂
Beans are good. (period).
Sending you warm thoughts!
I’m a cook-beans-from-scratch convert because they taste better. I can control the sodium and I think the texture is far superior to the mushy beans you get from the canned version. Like you, I freeze leftovers.
I grew a couple different kinds of dried beans last year. The cranberry beans were just okay, they developed bean rust and the yield wasn’t very impressive. Black-eyed peas, however, were a great success, and fun to grow. Edamame also provided a great harvest for the effort.
Love your rose-in-the-vase photo (and the others). I don’t often think of tilting my lens to get an unusual angle.
I was just looking through a seed catalog last night and drooling over the dry beans. I don’t think I have the space to dedicate to them this year but hopefully in the future. My dad always grows edamame and it is so much better fresh, even though I like the frozen stuff as well.
Earth Friendly Foodie | Gracefulfitness
[…] shopper has also led me to lower my grocery bills. Making kombucha, yogurt, and beans from scratch take a minimal amount of time for a minimal amount of money and produce a minimal amount of […]