Homemade Beans - Made Easy!

Hello friends!



This week I decided to make a big batch of beans, starting with Dry Beans.  I wanted to have them on hand for soups, stews, refried beans...you get the idea!  I've been working to stretch our meat budget and beans are the perfect way to do so!  I found an amazing looking recipe on Pinterest from Eat At Home - you can find it HERE.







First, I started with my dried beans, which you can buy SUPER cheaply at your local market.  I didn't pre-soak the night before (oops!) so I went on a hunt for a quick soak method.  The method I followed can be found here.  

Rinsed beans prior to soaking

Ready to soak!

Simply put, add your beans to a pot, cover with 2" of water.  Bring to a boil.  Once boiling, turn off heat and put on the lid.  Let sit for 1 hour, drain & rinse. :)  Easy peasy!  Now, your beans are ready for the recipe you choose!

I modified the Eat at Home recipe slightly.  

Here is what I used:

1 lb black turtle beans
1 lb pinto beans
3 cloves elephant garlic, minced (my garlic cloves are HUGE and grown locally with tremendous flavor!)
2 onions, chopped finely
1 tbsp crushed chilies
1.5 tsp cumin
2 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper
11 cups of water




















Instructions:

1. Prepare beans using your pre-soak method of choice and add to slow cooker
2. Add all remaining ingredients on top
3.  Cook on high for 6 hours low, 8 hours on high
4.  Mash or keep them whole - your choice!
5. These freeze amazingly well!

mmm - cooking away!

I chose to keep mine whole. I simply drained the liquid, added them to my freezer containers and popped them in freezer!  Always use safe food handling procedures :)

All cooked, drained and ready for packaging!

According to Eat at Home, "some types of dry beans have toxins in them, especially kidney beans. These should always be soaked first and the water discarded to rid the beans of toxins. A slow cooker isn't hot enough to kill the toxins without soaking". This is why I chose to pre-soak.

SO, now I have a freezer full of yummy beans with no added chemicals or preservatives ready to go!

What are your fave types of beans? I can't wait to try new combos!

Until next time,

Jess

Freezer Cooking with Ground Beef

Hello friends!

So, this week I found fresh Lean Ground Beef on sale at our local Co-op store for $2.99/lb - wahoo!  This is an amazing price considering Ground Beef has been hovering between $4.99 and $5.99/lb. So, of course, I grabbed a couple pounds (6.5 or so) and decided to do a mini freezer-cook!

What is freezer cooking?  Simply put - it is preparing some meals ahead of time to keep in the freezer for the future.  So, the night before you can just grab one, put in the fridge overnight to defrost and cook the next day!  Some meals are pre-cooked (just needing re-heating).  Others need full cooking (slow cooker or the oven). 

 I love when Do You Bake? comes out with their freezer meal kits (usually once every three months or so) and I also love making up my own versions.  More on freezer cooking to come in the next few weeks!

What did I make? 3 Meatloaves and 80 meatballs!  Yup!  I was busy.  I used 2 of my fave recipes from "The Big Cook" by Deanna Siemens and Lorelei Boschman - BBQ Meatloaf and Mighty Meatballs!  

You can use your own family favorite recipe or something simple like the following: 
(adjusting to your amount of ground beef)

- egg
- salt & pepper
- minced onion
- breadcrumbs (I like to use oatmeal :) )

Of course, I used my custom Do You Bake? French Onion Soup Mix, For the Love of Garlic and Chive & Onion Seasonings to prepare them (you can order them here if you are interested!).  I popped 2 of the meatloaves in the freezer for future meals & prepared one for supper - YUM!  So, in the time it took to make 1 meatloaf, I had 3. 

Same goes for the meatballs!  I made 3 trays of Might Meatballs for the freezer and bagged the remaining (without sauce) for other uses (Sweet & Sour Meatballs, Spaghetti & Meatballs,etc). 

So, for the $20. I spent on ground beef, I will get 8 meals! WOW!  Everything else I had on hand to prep (breadcrumbs, onions, seasonings, etc.).  That's $2.50/meal for the protein.  I don't think you can feed a family of 4 for less than that.  My girls are not huge meateaters, so it's perfectly portioned for us.  If you have older children or larger appetites, you may have to double the size (but still, 4 meals for $5/a piece, not bad either!).  

Simply prepare some mashed potatoes, steamed veggies or a side salad and you are good to go!  No excuse for takeout :)

Do you like to freezer cook (or big batch cook)?  Let me know your fave meal to freezer cook with in the comments section!

Until next time,

Jess

Make Your Own Take Out - The Classic 'Za

Make Your Own Take Out! 

The concept isn't new - making your own versions of take-out and delivery fast food items so when the urge strikes, you have something on hand!

I recently wanted to have some ready-to-go pizzas in the freezer, but we are trying to avoid the supermarket versions that are laden with chemicals, preservatives, and ingredients you cannot pronounce!

I grabbed my 'Za kits and went to work in the kitchen to see what I could come up with.

The dough is super-easy to make - simply throw it in your breadmaker (if you have one!) with some water and olive oil and let the dough cycle run through.  If you don't have a breadmaker, its really easy to do by hand or mixer as well! 

Toppings - everyone in our house LOVES different topping combinations!  Ham & pineapple is a classic along with pepperoni & cheese (I love that I can purchase "naturals" or healthier, nitrate free versions of these items in my local grocery store!).  Veggies are always a great choice for pizza - and my fave combo is  BBQ chicken & pineapple!  Simply shred some cooked chicken breast and use your fave BBQ sauce as the sauce base!

Each of the Do You Bake? 'Za kits include the sauce seasoning as well!  Use some canned tomatoes (or fresh if you want!), add the sauce mix and set it in your slow cooker.  Cheeseburger pizza?  No problem!  The seasoning mix is for your ground beef - simply prep as directed while browning your beef.  Easy peasy.

So, I don't think I need to go into details on how to put together a pizza....hahaha.  Roll out dough into two circles, add desired sauce, toppings and of course the CHEESE! Mmmmmmm.....cheese.........drool.........

The last step was to flash freeze them - I put them in the freezer until frozen solid.  Then I took them out again, wrapped them with plastic wrap first, followed by a layer of aluminum foil. 

When I'm craving pizza, now I just grab one out of the freezer, pop it into the oven at 375F for about 1/2 an hour and presto! 

Homemade pizza with take-out convenience!

You can check out the full line of our 'Za kits on my website: www.doyoubake.com/jessicakaiser.

Now, I'm off to make some more 'Za's for the freezer!  

Enjoy!

Jess