by Sherry Christensen, Stake Temporal Welfare and Self-Reliance Specialist
Maybe you’ve heard some of the stories in the Old Testament that refer to our diets. One is found in Ezekiel: Ezekiel 4:9
“Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches” (a grain)… thus we have today what some call Ezekiel Bread due to the ingredients found in this verse.
Another is: Daniel 1:12
“Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink,” referring to Daniel’s request that he eat pulse rather than the meat offered by the king’s servants.
(Pulses are edible dry peas, beans, lentils, and chickpeas. They fall under the legume family.)
We’ve known for years that beans are an excellent source of vegetable protein, which is why some people choose to replace their meat intake with beans. But because vegetable protein is not a “complete protein”, you must combine beans with grains (which are high in methionine and other important amino acids), to provide a complete protein to your diet. Thus we combine beans with breads, tortilla shells, pasta, etc.
To learn about bean nutrition for both cooked and dried beans, check out these web-sites:
http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/publications/its-all-about-beans
These sites and many others share recipes to help you get into the routine of introducing beans to your family on a regular basis. You may want to learn how to use beans from a can (always drain and rinse before using), before investing in several pounds of dried beans (which need to be soaked for hours before using).
When storing canned beans, look for the expiration day stamped somewhere on the label.
When storing dried beans, you have several options, and ALL dried beans store much longer, even as long as 25 years, than the pre-cooked canned beans do. But, in a pinch, it’s nice to have pre-cooked canned beans on hand.
Also, when I make a 3-, 4-, 5-, or even 6-bean salad, it’s a lot easier to grab a can of each type of bean than it is to use dried beans and go through the process of soaking several types all at once. On the other hand, when I make good old-fashioned baked beans, I never use pre-cooked beans from a can. They’re simply not as tasty.
Today I will share one recipe with you using pre-cooked canned beans (5-Bean Salad) – a cold salad – and one recipe for baked beans, which requires several hours of both soaking and cooking beans. Next time I’ll share tips on storing dried beans as well as more recipes.
5-Bean Salad (serves 8)
Chop up ½ cup celery and add 5 cans of drained, rinsed beans in a large bowl
(I use green beans, wax beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, and black beans)
Mix the following in either a pan (stove) or bowl (microwave) and heat for about 2 minutes:
½ cup salad oil ½ tsp salt ½ tsp pepper
½ cup vinegar 1 tsp celery seed 1 tsp dry mustard
½ cup sugar
Pour hot syrup over beans and stir well. Refrigerate, covered, over-night, stirring occasionally.
Chop 1 cup onion and 1 green pepper; place in zip lock bags in fridge over-night.
1 hour before serving the salad, add onions and green pepper and stir well.
Boston Baked Beans serves 8
Sort 1# (2 cups) dry Northern Beans, then rinse them in a strainer.
Place 7 cups cold water in large bowl andadd beans and 1 tsp salt.Soak over-night.
In the morning, simmer beans until tender (1-2 hours, depending on how dry your beans are). Drain the water off into a separate bowl/pan – RESERVING all liquid.
Fry up ½ # side pork or bacon; cut into smaller chunks and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups of the reserved water, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp dry mustard, and ¼ cup molasses.
Add the pork/bacon, 1 medium chopped onion, and this mixture to the beans, then place in a deep baking dish that has a tight cover (or cover tightly with aluminum foil).
[Do NOT place in a shallow dish as the beans will dry out.]
Bake at 3250 for 7 hours, stirring 2 or 3 times. Continue to add water to keep beans moist throughout the baking time. Serve with Boston Brown Bread or Corn Bread.
Self-Reliance 