Meatless Monday

First let me start off by saying thanks for all the well wishes over the weekend. I apperciate all your comments EVERYTIME!

Secondly, I thought that I thought of this totally neat idea that nobody had ever thought of. Well, it seemed so simple that I googled it to make sure. No, not orginal. Yet very much still what I am going to start doing here on my blog. I am going to start doing a Meatless Monday post. Every week my family and I have dinner without meat. It is a great way to stop one day of the week and see what your missing from your diet and insert it. Also it saves money because meat is a bit expensive. I am hoping that there will be lots of participation in this because I need a bit of help with it. The more tips, idea's and recipes sent my way the better this will be! Also if you would like to Host a Meatless Monday here, that would be fantastic just let me know.

I am going to start out very simple. A Pot of Pinto Beans is a great classic meatless meal. If you are missing fiber in your diet here is a chance to get caught up for the week. Pinto beans are good in many other recipes and freeze great. So making a huge pot once can help you out several times thoughout a month. Also you can get dried Pinto Beans cheap, store brands and name brands taste the same!

My mother was a horrible cook. Also we didn't get along so I didn't spend much time learning to cook from her. My dad is more of a baker. So when I cook I just kinda make it up as I go. I spent alot of time learning what works and what doesn't. I know there are cook books for that but there are so many ingredients that usually I have to substitute or do without. This is how I make a pot of pinto beans.

An hour before I want to start cooking 3 hours I put the beans in a pot of water and bring to a boil. I let them boil for one minute. Then I put the lid on and walk away for an hour. Then I come back and rinse the beans off in a colindar. I also rinse out the pot. Then I put a small amount of olive oil in the pot and saute some diced garlic. I find that adding dried herbs to hot oil also helps bring out their flavor. I just put whatever I have the most of either basil, tyme or rosemerry. How much depends on the quality of the herbs usuall like a tablespoon per 6 oz of dried beans. Not letting the garlic burn I will a glass with water and wait until the garlic is done and dump the water in the pot. Then I add the beans. Make sure there is enough water to cover the beans about 1/2 inch. I also add salt, black pepper and a dash of red pepper. I bring it to a boil and turn down to Med-Hi for just over an hour. Occasionall, I make sure they are at a hard boil, there is enough water and stir them. Then it is ready to serve.

I really like to eat home made biscuits with a pot of beans. You can make a large batch of those and freeze too. My husband loves to eat beans over white rice. We have cheap rice that takes 15 minutes to cook. So I set my timer on the beans 15 minutes ahead of their done time.

I like to put some beans aside. Later I put them in our little food processor. Then transferto a pot cook until thick for refried beans on tacos or burritoes. You can also make them into a bean dip, add some jalopeanos and grated cheese. You can use them to bulk up a soup. Don't forget how well they freeze so you can just not cook one night later this month (if you are fortunate enough to have a freezer bigger then my husbands stomach...I'm not).

What other uses do you have for pinto beans? How do you cook them. Do you eat anything with them.

Look how great Pinto Beans are for you too!

"Nutritional data and images courtesy of www.NutritionData.com."






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