Beans

 Beans have always been a favorite of mine.   Easy to cook, can go well with about any other dish and fairly cheap.   Not sure at what age I became addicted to them.  Do remember my dad cooking up a big pot of white beans with ham hocks that would last us a good part of a week.    No need for receipts, make it up as you go; black beans with rice, small red beans with rice, pinto beans with rice or any kind of beans with rice.   Large red beans with pasta salad along with a can of black olives, chopped kale, squash, especially all those zucchinis from the garden that you don’t know what to do with.   

One of the great dishes I have come up with is black bean enchiladas.    Take black beans with rice and wrap up in flour tortillas, pour over with a can of green enchilada sauce, topped with grated cheese and olives.    Bake in oven for 35 minutes and enjoy morning, noon or night.   I usually bake two dishes of this to make it through a couple of days.  

Bean soup can include about anything.   Need to clean out the refrigerator?   Throw it all in a pot of bean soup, except those items that are too far gone, such as those moldy items in the far back corners that have been in there a while.   Best to put those in the compost.  Some of my soups Celia has called a pot of compost swill. 

A few months back when this pandemic hit and people were in a panic at the stores, mostly stocking up on toilet paper is when I noticed Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Soup Mix that the general public was passing by.   I grabbed a couple bags thinking it could be our last meal if we got caught short, as my old grandfather use to say.   Any time I go shopping now I throw a bag of it in the cart to be on the safe side.    Ways to cook a pot of this are endless.   It will cure any problems with irregularity.   Don’t forget the Tabasco Sauce for additional seasoning. 

Enjoy!