Macaroni and Cheese

It was high time I tried to sneak some beans into baked macaroni and cheese, and I had these odd little bits of cheese that needed to be used.  I'm noticing a theme in my recipe choices:  using up leftovers.

Cookie Friday: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

 
We have a tradition of making cookies on Fridays.  It started when my kids were little and often wanted cookies.  I had the idea that we would cook a batch of homemade cookies every Friday.  When they were gone, no more cookies until the next Friday.

Tacos (not on Tuesday)

 
Tonight, my very nice cousin and sister made dinner while I ran around town like a mad woman, manning Girl Scout cookie booths and playing general chauffeur.  I missed most of the preparation but here is the scrumptious result.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I love hummus...love, love, love it.  And since my kids are getting a bit tired of beans in their dinners, I'm giving them a break and working on lunches and snacks.

Box Mix Black Bean Brownies

Apparently the second week of this challenge is the week where I figure out how lazy I can be and still somehow incorporate beans and rice into our diet. In my defense, my sister-in-law gave me this divine idea for quick and easy Black Bean brownies. I have seen a lot of black bean brownie recipes and I was eager to try one, but I also wanted to ensure that the first try was a success. You know, so that the kids didn't always declare that they "hate black bean brownies" regardless of how good they are.

Lentilized Sloppy Joes

What you see here, my friends, is the marriage of children who are adverse to change and a mother who is wiped out.  This week has been particularly busy (and next week isn't looking any better) and I have been making fast, easy dinners.  One daughter has been begging, literally, to have sloppy joes for several days.  I fully intend to find a good sloppy joe recipe that doesn't use canned sauce but I thought that I would have the best success in sneaking in the lentils if the rest of it tasted the same.  I didn't even eliminate the meat entirely.  I'm a wimp, I know.

Oven Baked Beans

One thing that nearly everyone in my family loves is baked beans.  I have a few daughters who will gladly open a can of baked beans, microwave them, and eat them for snack.  In my research, I stumbled across Alton Brown's The Once and Future Bean recipe.  The reviews were very positive, plus I adore Alton Brown, so I put on the "recipes to try" list.

Lentil and Bacon Soup

Today's lunch was a variation on a recipe from old friends in Australia.  They made it for me on my 30th birthday and I loved it!  The original recipe called for red lentils but I didn't have any, so we tried it with brownish-greenish lentils.

White Bean Pasta Sauce

I was starting to worry that my kids were going to rebel at all the beans, and it seems a shame to not eat pasta when you live in Italy.  I got it in my head that you could make a pasta sauce out of pureed white beans and Googled it for a recipe.  Remarkably, nothing came up.  Lots of white bean dips and pureed white bean soups, and even an idea to make cheese fondue with white beans, but no pasta sauce.  Off into uncharted territory I went...

Sausage and Bean Soup

Today we are having one of my favorite soups.  This recipe started out as an Italian wedding soup and has gradually morphed into a beans and sausage soup.

Faijao e Banana

Once upon many years ago, my kids would watch some Disney Channel.  They had a series of mini-commercial type programs called Pass The Plate, aimed to introduce kids to the idea that different cultures would eat the same foods with different preparation.  My children latched onto a recipe called Arroz con Faijao e Banana, or Rice with Beans and Banana.

Black Eyed Peas

Well, I finished my first recipe and we all survived. I started out with four pieces of uncooked bacon and chopped them into rough bits. This bacon really didn't want to chop so it looked like a great big mess, but I threw it all in the three quart sauce pan anyway.

How To Soak Beans

Tomorrow's Black Eye Peas

I'm sure there are some of you who looked at my bags of beans and thought:  "How in the heck do you turn dried beans into beans that you can eat?"  Well, you could just dump the beans into your recipe, but you would need a lot of extra liquid and the results probably wouldn't be nearly as good.  Some beans would cook faster than others, and some might split open and make a bean starchy mess of your liquid.

I have to admit, it still scares me even though it is so incredibly easy.  E-A-S-Y.  If you can make soaking beans hard, I want to know how you do it.  What it isn't, however, is fast.  Soaking beans takes time, even if you use the speedy methods.  Different beans require a different amount of time, but basically there are three methods for soaking beans:

Bags and Bags of Beans

Today, I bought a bag of every type of bean at the grocery store. I have this illusion that I'm going to be organized and use dried beans, as they are really cheap and some people think they have better flavor than canned beans. I think the reality is that I will use just as many canned beans, but a girl has to start somewhere.

The more I think about it, the more I am either excited or terrified at this little project I've allegedly started. I really, really do not want to be one of those bloggers who goes all gung-ho at the beginning and then disappears. (Especially if they have an excellent name at blogspot and it is being wasted!) On the other hand, I am wondering how long it is before my kids gang up on me and refuse to eat anything that has either beans or rice. I intend to get creative, and track down recipes for fun things like black bean brownies and rice pudding, but I still think they will start to push back sooner rather than later.

Heck, I'll be lucky if I make it to February.