Comments on: PERFECT PINTOS

By: Liesa

Liesa — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 19:50:20 +0000

Hi Sherry! Your book is in the mail! The pico de gallo recipe is really only ONE recipe, but the ingredients are divided as fresh or storage. I’m sorry that it’s confusing to you. The tomatoes are listed twice because you may choose to go with fresh or canned, from your food storage. Pick one and then add everything else. Better? Don’t be shy if this still doesn’t make sense. If you send me your phone number I’ll call you. Liesa

By: Sherry

Sherry — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:38:04 +0000

I have a question on the pico De Gallo recipe: I see one using fresh tomatoes, and then one below it using canned tomatoes. The recipe with canned tomatoes has only 2 other ingredients is that because the canned tomatoes have the onions ect. in it already? Thanks for clarify.

By: Liesa

Liesa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:46:52 +0000

Charlene, I forgot to ask you something. Have you tried serving beans to your family using the rice and beans (basically a vegetarian taco salad) presentation? You can find the recipe/idea posted with the rice recipes. The most important ingredient is the fresh pico de gallo. (Giant thanks to my dear friend Kris for sharing that recipe.)
Our stake served the rice and beans meal to all the sisters, a couple of weeks ago, before the RS broadcast, and it was a huge hit. Concerns about not offering some kind of grilled chicken strips, beef, or shredded pork were forgotten in the wake of vegetarian converts. In the end, every bowl was empty. I’ve had numerous sisters tell me that they’ve served the same meal to their families and received rave reviews. Hope it will work for your family!

By: Liesa

Liesa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:43:04 +0000

Hey Elizabeth! Long time! No kidding on the freezer space. That’s why I’m excited to learn how to bottle the little guys. I have this dream of having 7 quarts of pinto beans, 7 quarts of white beans, and 7 quarts of black beans, neatly stored in my kitchen cupboard. For me, that would be the big time!

By: Liesa

Liesa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:39:54 +0000

Laura from Mesa Arizona, wooooow! Bacon Pate’? That sounds AWESOME…and just a tiny bit scary. jk Thank you for sharing your friend’s recipe for beans. I’ve already told the editor on my book to check this post for great suggestions for pinto beans. She’ll love your instructions. I know I did!

By: Liesa

Liesa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:32:03 +0000

Hi Laura! I’m so glad my much needed pause in postings didn’t throw you off. I appreciate your friendship. You’r suggestion to soak the beans in salted water seems like a great idea. Thanks for sharing. I’ll give it a try.

By: Liesa

Liesa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:27:51 +0000

Thank you very much Charlene for the kind welcome back and the link to terrific videos on pressure canning dried beans. Watching that demonstration helped me feel ready to bottle my own. Now I just need to buy a pressure canner!

By: mentalutopia/ElizabethJ

mentalutopia/ElizabethJ — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:30:05 +0000

Cooked beans can be frozen in 2-cup quantities and used to replace canned beans in many recipes. You’d better make some room next to your bags of frozen wheat, Liesa.

By: laura from mesa, arizona

laura from mesa, arizona — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:12:50 +0000

Liesa,

I have a really good recipe for cooked beans that I got from a sister in my ward (cooking class). Note that she told me that when people have discomfort from eating beans, it just means that they don’t eat them enough! My husband was hesitant but now requests these beans several times a week.

Renee’s Beans:

Slow Cooked Beans

2 ½ cups of dried beans (pinto, black, red or any kind you wish)
2 Tablespoon bacon pate’ or canola oil or olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
1 Tablespoon sea salt or kosher salt
1 Tablespoon sugar

Clean beans.
(Renee’ says to pour them on your sideboard and sort through them removing any little stones or debris you encounter. Scoop the beans into a colander or large strainer and rinse.)

Pour beans into a deep medium/large (4-6 quart) pot. You can also use a crock pot.
Add about 2 ½ quarts of water.
Remove any beans that float since they are the ones that are not fully formed.
Add the fat or oil, onion, salt and sugar.
Bring to a strong rolling boil and then reduce the heat to low. Let the liquid simmer at a very gentle boil.
Simmer for 2 to 4 hours depending on how new or old the beans are.
Beans need a long, slow simmer to reach their full flavor and smooth meaty texture.
You can add more salt if needed.

Bacon Pate’
Fry a package of bacon.
Put all of the cooked bacon and the grease in a high powered blender or processor.
Pulverize the bacon and grease creating a paste texture.
The mixture can be stored in a bottle in the refrigerator.
The bacon paste adds lots of flavor to beans, vegetables, soups etc.

I now use this bacon pate’ with a lot of things for flavor. You don’t need much but it adds so much flavor!

Laura

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:51:54 +0000

I’m so glad to see you ‘back’! If you have any software that shows you your visits and tracks them, then you know I’ve been checking now and then, hee hee.

I was watching Cook’s Country (the America’s Test Kitchen folks) and learned a few things about cooking dry beans. They were making a Tuscan soup and through their process figured out that if you soak beans in salt water, the skins become more tender and the beans have a better tendency to stay whole through the entire cooking process. However, if there is salt present during the cooking process there are sometimes hard spots in the beans. So, soak in salt water, drain and rinse, then cook in plain water, and they are supposed to be the best.

I haven’t tried it yet, since I have quite a few cooked beans in my freezer right now.

I’m just so happy to read here again – welcome back!

-Laura at http://www.tenthingsfarm.blogspot.com