Beans Etc

Baked beans amped up! There's so much good stuff going on here you'll just have to try it!

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsps BBQ sauce

398 ml (14 oz) can baked beans

1/2 cup canned black beans

1 cup canned white kidney beans

2 weiners sliced, plant based if keeping vegetarian 

2 rings canned pineapple

1 1/2 cups diced onion

1/2 cup diced bell pepper

2 green onions, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

 

In a skillet, heat butter to medium high and add the onion, weiners and pineapple. Cook 5 minutes, then add the bell pepper, mushrooms and green onion and cook another 2 minutes. Next add all the beans and the BBQ sauce of your choice and heat through for a few minutes. Serves 2

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Cowboy Beans and Potatoes

Don't let it's plain appearance fool you. This dish is deceivingly delicious! And since it's got Italian sausage in it maybe it should be call Spaghetti Western instead of Cowboy Beans!🤠

Ingredients:

2 hot Italian sausages, casings removed and broken up

1 onion, cut in wedges 

4 small potatoes, cut in 1" cubes

1 tsp olive oil

2 cups canned diced tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste 

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

19 oz (540 ml) canned mixed beans, drained (red kidney, chick peas, Romano and Northern white beans)

Toss the crumbled sausages, onion wedges, potato cubes and olive oil together and spread out in an oiled 10 X 10" baking dish. Bake in 425°F oven for 25 minutes or until you can pierce the potatoes with a fork.

Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, ground cumin, smoked paprika and mixed beans (you could just pick one kind of bean but this mix was interesting).

Return the dish to the oven for another 30 minutes until piping hot.

Makes 2-3 servings

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Garden Basil Beans

Still picking beans from your garden? Here's a quick and zesty side dish that combines yellow (or wax beans), green beans, garlic, basil and a hint of orange.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb yellow and green beans

2 tbsps olive oil

2 tsps minced garlic

2 tbsps fresh sliced basil

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp orange zest (optional)

First, boil a pot of water then add the beans. Cook 3-4 minutes until tender crisp and using a slotted spoon remove to a cold water bath.

Add olive oil to a skillet and heat to medium. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds to 1 minute. Drain beans and add to the skillet. Toss to coat and very lightly brown.

Remove from heat and add the salt, pepper, basil and orange zest.

Serves 2

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Beans and Potatoes (Fasolakia)

The perfect recipe for everything coming from the garden right now! Ok, full disclosure, I didn't grow potatoes this year, but everything else for this Greek classic came fresh from the backyard!

Ingredients:

3 tbsps olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 - 2 tsps minced garlic

2 large, juicy tomatoes, diced (or use canned diced tomatoes)

pinch of sugar

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 lb green and yellow beans 

3 medium Yukon gold potatoes, cut in wedges

Salt and pepper to taste 

1/2 tbsp fresh chopped mint

2 tbsps fresh chopped parsley

water

zucchini flowers (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet to medium then add the onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and stir 1 minute before adding the tomatoes and a pinch of sugar. Simmer on low for 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and remove from heat. Add the mint and parsley.

Place the beans and potatoes in a 13 X 9" baking dish and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the sauce on top.

Add enough water to partially cover the vegetables. Pour it into the dish on the side so as not to disturb the tomato sauce. Cover dish with foil and bake in a 375°F oven for 1 hour.

Then uncover and return to the oven for another 1/2 hour. The potatoes should be fork tender. If you'd like to add zucchini flower, just tuck them into the sauce for the last 10 or 15 minutes. 

Serves 4-6

Adapted from: herbsandflour.com

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Mediterranean Bean Salad

Super easy and healthy too with fresh colourful vegetables and high fiber legumes. Customize with your favourite beans like kidney, edamame, chickpeas. And best of all you can make this a day or two ahead of when you need it! In fact, leftovers were still good 5 days later! Great as a side with anything grilled.

Ingredients:

3 - 19 oz (540ml) cans beans 

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced 

1/2 red onion, diced 

1/2 cup celery, diced 

handful fresh chopped parsley 

juice of 2 lemons

1 tbsp olive oil 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Couldn't be easier... mix everything together and chill! That's the whole recipe! I used red and white kidney beans and black beans.

Serves 10

Adapted from: delectablyhealthy.blogspot.com 

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Slow Cooker Asian Spiced Chicken and Beans

This slow cooker favourite is loaded with protein and fiber along with great taste! Up the nutrients with a serving of brown rice. 

Ingredients:

1 - 19 oz can (540 ml) red kidney beans, drained

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 " cubes

3 large carrots, diagonally sliced

3 tsps minced garlic

3 tsps minced ginger root

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

2 tbsps cornstarch

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3 tbsps soya sauce

3 tbsps ponzu sauce

green onions to garnish

Stir together the kidney beans, chicken, carrots, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and 1 1/4 cups chicken broth in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 5 1/2 hours.

Then turn slow cooker to high. Combine cornstarch with remaining chicken broth, soya and ponzu sauce. Make a well in center of slow cooker and add. Stir well then cover and cook 30 minutes.

Serve over rice garnished with sliced green onions.

Makes 5-6 servings.

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Braised Cannellini Beans with Acorn Squash

No-nonsense nutrition with these creamy cannellini beans and roasted slices of nutty, acorn squash. This not-so-sweet squash is pretty easy to cut and peel but if you like leave the peel on, it's edible. And if you prefer a sweeter squash you can use butternut squash instead.

Ingredients:

Croutons:

1 cup cubed foccacia

1 tbsp olive oil

generous sprinkles of onion and garlic powders

pink Himalayan salt

Vinaigrette:

1/4 c + 1/4 c olive oil

6 or 7 garlic cloves

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp dijon

1 tbsp water

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

Squash:

1 acorn squash, peeled or not

1/2 red onion, sliced

2 or 3 crushed garlic cloves

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsps brown sugar

Cannellini:

28 oz can cannellini or white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth

1 tbsp olive oil

1 bay leaf

1 garlic clove

salt and pepper or Mrs Dash seasoning

Some mixed greens and parmesan cheese

There are a few steps in this recipe so we'll start with the vinaigrette. Put 1/4 cup olive oil and the garlic in a small saucepan and simmer on medium heat until the garlic are just golden, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a blender. Add the lemon juice, dijon, water, sugar salt and pepper and blend until smooth, then add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil. Pour into a jar and set aside.

Next up, the croutons. Pretty easy...mix the crouton ingredients together and spread on a baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 7-8 minutes.

On to the squash. Acorn is relatively easy to cut and peel, so cut it in half, scoop out all the seeds and strings and peel if you choose to. Then cut into 1/2" slices. Toss with the onion, garlic, olive oil, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Spread on a lined baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 40-45 minutes, turning over halfway through the cooking time. Sprinkle brown sugar in the last 10 minutes.

And finally the beans...Once the beans are drained and rinsed pour them into a saucepan along with the broth, olive oil, bay leaf, garlic clove, salt and pepper and/or Mrs. Dash. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or until almost all the liquid is absorbed. Remove the bay leaf and garlic.

Plate the acorn squash and beans then toss the greens with some of the vinaigrette. Top with croutons and parmesan cheese and drizzle more vinaigrette over everything.

Serves 4

Adapted from: cherryonmysundae.com 

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Cannellini Bean No Meat "Meatballs" with Tomato Sauce

My youngest daughter needed to make a vegetarian meal using beans for her humanities class.  One of her favourite meals is spaghetti so we found this recipe to try
(adapted from http://www.cookincanuck.com).
Cannellini beans sounds kind of exotic and maybe hard to find.....but no worries.  It's only a fancy name for white kidney beans!

1 roasted red pepper, roughly chopped
22 oz can cannellini beans, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup packed chopped spinach
1/2 onion, grated
1  1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

3 cups tomato sauce
250 g cooked spaghetti
parmesan cheese to serve

You can buy roasted red peppers, but there's nothing to making them yourself. Simply broil whole pepper turning every 2-3 minutes until each side is slightly blackened. Remove from oven and place in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for about 5 minutes.

Once cool enough to handle, cut in half, remove seeds and slip off the peel.

Place the pepper and rinsed beans in a food processor and pulse until chopped.  You don't want a purée.

In a large bowl mix the bean/pepper mixture with the remaining ingredients up to and including the bread crumbs.

Line a  baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350F.

Make 2 tbsp size balls and place on sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Take the "meatballs" and add to your tomato sauce.
We used this recipe

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2013/09/roasted-tomato-garlic-basil-sauce.html

but you could use any sauce you like.

Simmer on low 10-15 minutes.  Serve on spaghetti with parmesan to top.

I wasn't sure if I would like non-meat meatballs, but I really did enjoy them.  And my daughter did a great job making them! 

Secret Ingredient Bran Chocolate Muffins

No one will ever guess what the secret ingredient is. 
Trust me.

And these muffins don't rise a lot but are surprisingly light.

You'll need:

3 cups all bran cereal
2  1/2 cups water

1  - 19 oz can black beans, drained (really!)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Add the water to the bran cereal and set aside for 5 minutes.

Take the rest of the ingredients, except the chocolate chips, and process in a food processor until smooth.

Mix together with the bran.
Fill muffin papers 2/3 full.

  
Sprinkle chocolate chips on top

and bake in a 350F oven for 25 minutes.

Makes 24

Here's another recipe made with beans:

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/11/no-flour-chocolate-chip-brownie.html