Feb12011
February Skill of the Month: Rice & Beans for a week!
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How did you do with January’s Skill of the Month? Did you discover bread-baking for the first time, learn a new technique, or discover the best recipe ever? Many of you shared tips and recipes on the original post, and you might want to copy some of those comments for your next round of baking bread.
This month the challenge is a little different. You probably have a nice stash of rice and beans (if you don’t, you should!), but have you ever thought about serving them day after day? How would you make the meals creative? What could you do to avoid a bad case of food fatigue, or mutiny? This month you get a chance to find out! Currently, there are no food riots here in America, and store shelves are as full as ever. Now is a really good time to put to the test some of your survival plans, and that includes survival cookin’!
You can serve rice & bean meals seven days in a row or seven days throughout the month. The challenge will be more helpful if you try to use only what you already have on hand. I’ve posted a couple of my family’s favorite rice & bean dishes here and here, and you’ll find hundreds more on the internet. Later this month I’ll be sure and post my Mom’s recipe for a basic bean dish she’s been serving for fifty years.
We all want to hear from you! What recipes will you be using? Which ones were hits? Which were misses? Did you discover anything brilliant about cooking with beans? Did you try cooking them in a Sun Oven or a Dutch oven? Be sure to print out helpful info and recipes for your Survival Mom binder. You never know when your computer might crash or a power outage might leave you in the dark with nothing but hard, dry beans and rice!
I’m really excited about this challenge, which is also quite a skill. If you have the rice and beans, put them to good use this month!
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(35) Readers Comments
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FernWise
Can we count using bean sprouts? Especially those we sprout ourselves? If so, then I can count eggrolls and all my stir-fries as bean dishes!
As it is – this week'slunch soup is split pea. If I have leftover rice, as I did today, I add a scoop of that to the soup.
Next week's 'soup' is chili, mostly beans rather than meat. I could do a veggie soup heavy on chickpeas or butter beans the week after that. Maybe end the month with tomato-rice soup served with hummos and cut veggies!
Rice is already scheduled several times in the next couple of weeks: two stir-fries served over it, and one night of fried rice. I can easily add a night of bean/rice/cheese burritos, and a night of half beef/half black bean tacos.
Money is going to be really tight here this month, so this challenge is right up my alley!
Holly
Sounds like a great motivating challenge! Beans and rice, combined, form a complete protein, so they are a good, healthy meal. This is probably where we find out if we have all of the spices, sauces, and condiments stored to make simple foods more interesting. Thanks for encouraging us all to actually get used to using what we have in storage!
Lady Glover
I'm going to give it a shot starting tomorrow. Thanks for the challenge!
Granny Miller
A pressure cooker is the way I cook beans. It's really fast & saves on the energy. Beans are cooked in 7 – 8 minutes.
Black beans with brown rice, combined with onions,lots of garlic, red peppers& olives sauteed in olive oil is my favorite beas & rice dish.
On really busy days I slow cook my brown rice in the stove warmer and I use chicken stock & butter in place of water & salt.
So good.
Cindy
I have a pressure cooker and it is aluminum. Is yours made from aluminum? I heard that it is bad to use them because the aluminum leeches into the food and over time can cause Alzheimers. What do you know about this?
SD Mom
This is perfect timing! Red beans & rice was on the dinner menu tonight. It was my first time trying this recipe, and the kids loved it. Hubby is still at work, so will have to see how he likes the leftovers.
I can do 7 days of rice & beans, thanks for the encouragement!
plgasadmin
Hey, too funny! I haven't made rice in AGES and tonight I made a rice and black beans mixture for stuffed peppers! I have a head start, hee hee.
Barbara
East Indian curried rice will get me to the dinner table every time. Made with canned chicken, bean sprouts and other vegies, and scooped over rice, it has everything you need. (Once you've had brownies afterward, of course.) And no decent Southerner would pass up the Red beans and rice. Just find your favorite recipes and look where fresh ingredients can be canned, frozen, dehydrated, and made shelf-stable.
Fran
i'm very new to this. My first attempt to create a rice and bean dish actually turned out pretty well. I made tacos for dinner but created a blackbean and rice side dish.dish. I did use minute rice and canned blackbeans. First I sauteed dehyrated onions in olive oil, then i addded a can (16 oz) of diced tomatoes with the juice. Since i was using minute rice I cooked that seperately. I added the blackbeans and rice to tomato mixture. My family thought it was good. Next time i'm going to add a few more spices for added flavor.
Mestebla
I love this idea! I am definitely going to be giving this a try. Your rice and beans recipes sound great! We will sometimes just have plain rice and beans for dinner (kids' request even!), but I love the idea of stepping it up a notch.
TheSurvivalMom
Great! A couple of weeks ago I tried out a new bean, Anasazi beans. I have several pounds of them but had never made them myself. They\’re a nice, mild flavored bean, and would be good in just about any bean dish.
Lone Star Prepper
Great to hear. I picked up a bag last week at the grocery store, the coloring caught my eye. We haven't had them yet. Maybe next week — after we try the Charro Bean recipe from rightwingmom:)
rightwingmom
I've mastered my Charro Beans…now it's time to expand. Love this idea. I've stocked lentils, white, black, red, Navy pintos, and even 15 Bean soup. Love to have a recipe swap!
Charro Beans (Not everything's from stockpile, but you can improvise.)
1 lb. pinto beans (washed & sorted)
3 Xs water
2 ham hocks
2 Chappell Hill venison sausages (cut into pieces)
1 can regular Rotel
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cube chicken bullion
1 cube beef bullion
1 medium onion – chopped
1 clove garlic – chopped
1 ½ tsp. garlic salt
½ tsp. chili powder (or to taste)
2 T chopped or dried cilantro
Wash & sort beans. Soak for 2 hours.
Combine ingredients in crock pot on high for 2 hours.
Turn to low for remaining time. (12 + hrs.)
* Ham hock and sausage can be substituted for any meat.
** I've also had great success cooking this in my 6 quart pressure cooker.
Serve over rice and / or cornbread. YUM!
TheSurvivalMom
This sounds fabulous! I'm going to make it tomorrow night but will have to get something other than venison sausage. I doubt they carry that at my grocery store.
Lone Star Prepper
That sounds great! Looks like our Valentine's Day dinner! Thanks for sharing!!
Jan
Thanks for the recipes. We are going to try the Macho mexican rice recipe next week!
Husky
I really like Hoppin John (black eyed peas & rice) but haven't made it in forever so guess what's going on the menu now? :0
Mike in Virginia
Do lentils count? And black-eyed and/or split peas? Some of these are really legumes, but the kids think they're all beans.
I'll be making chili (with homemade cornbread from freshly milled popcorn), lentils & rice, black beans & rice very similar to the earlier post with lots of olive oil and garlic, several Tex-Mex dishes using all sorts of beans including "re-fried", and whatever else looks good on this comment list. Keep those recipes coming! Thanks.
Mary
Red beans and rice! I serve them with cornbread muffins, add some tomatoes and Texas Pete! Sweet!!
Alaska Rose
I like to soak the beans and rinse a few times until they are almost sprouted, Very little or no gas from them and they cook faster. It also increases the food value in them. Usually I have rather plain beans and rice for the first night, then the next night it gets stepped up a bit with added ingredients and so on, all through until the last night they are mashed and spiced to fill tortillas and fried, for chimichangas. We usually have a pot of sticky rice on hand since for a while I was cooking for an oriental friend and a pot of rice has become a staple now. It is such an easy way to extend any meal, and for hot soups or chowders, the rice don't even have to be hot, just place a scoop in the bowl and ladle the hot soup over it, breaking up any chunks of the rice. It coold the soup and heats the rice.
Hawaii Honey
Now I am not sure what the chemical composition of ginger is that when added to beans make them less flatulent, but it works. I soak my beans overnight with a big chunk of fresh ginger in them. Then I put another chunk in the bean cooking water. It gives the beans a nice flavor too. Gas be gone! Go figure!
A good Italian standby for us is Pasta Fagioli – small ditalini pasta, tomato sauce, and kidney beans with seasonings.
Delicious!
Lone Star Prepper
Thanks for the tip. I'm definitely going to try that — we eat beans several times each week.
Sean
I've never really developed a wide ranging taste for beans. I'm pretty much stuck in the Kidney beans as an additive to some dishes, and baked beans in mollasses with pork as a breakfast and/or dinner staple (home made of course…one of the first presents I was given when I moved out on my own was a bean crockpot from my Grandmother…it still see's regualar use)…I guess I should probably look at broadening my horizons (either that, or see how Baked beans in Mollasses with Pork tastes when mixed with Rice)
Michelle in ID
My January column (for various parenting magazines) was about using whole grains in recipes. One of the recipes I developed was using barley in fried rice. I tweaked this version for using food storage and to fit the challenge. Enjoy.
)
Asian Fried Barley & Rice
Reminiscent of fried rice, this recipe is quick and delicious.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter (or rehydrated equivalent)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup rehydrated dehydrated minced onion
1 cup rehydrated dehydrated chopped carrot
4 cups cold cooked barley, rice or combination of the two
4 eggs (or rehydrated equivalent), beaten
1 cup soybeans (rehydrated or cooked, dried)
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (optional, but tasty)
2/3 cup rehydrated green onion
5 tablespoons soy sauce
Kosher or sea salt, to taste
Ground white pepper, to taste
Directions:
Step 1: Cook Veggies
Place butter and oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat; stir in onion and carrot. Cook, stirring ocassionally, until fragrant.
Step 2: Finish Barley/Rice
Stir in the barley/rice; cook until heated through. Scoot grain to one side of the pan and pour in the eggs. Cook eggs, stirring ocassionally, until dry. Mix eggs, soybeans, sesame seeds, green onion and soy sauce into the rice mixture. Check seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!
Makes 4 side dish servings
Michelle’s Note: Adding bits of rehydrated jerky would be delicious!
Chris
I usually eat rice plain with some butter and sugar. Yummy. Its actually what I had tonight.
D T
We eat rice for breakfast almost every day and often for dinner too.
Beans are 3 or 4 times a week.
A new bean dish we just did was Lentil patties. I know don't tell me, sounds hippy and gross. Well it actually was good and ALL four of my kids raved about them, even the husband. Big surprise!
Recipe- Cooked lentils, some garlic & onion powder, salt, store bought bread crumbs (like crumb dust), dry oatmeal and 2 or 3 eggs (enough to make it all hold well). Mix well, form into patties and fry in skillet. We ate these plain and with a bit of mustard or mayo. Would work on burger buns.
Aggie
Right wing mom you must live near me. I use Chappell Hill brand sausage, too. For the rest of you, that is a brand name sausage named for a small town in Texas where they make it.
Andrea
http://www.justbeanrecipes.com/inxbre.html
Just found this site…all beans, all the time. It's not the prettiest site, but they have pages of bean recipes!
D T
LOOKS GREAT! Thank you!
Rena H.
I love red beans and rice! My family does too. A good friend of mine gave me a fabulously easy recipe for them. Slow cook 1pm. small red beans in a crock pot (or maybe over a low fire if TSHF) add garlic salt, onion powder & black pepper to taste while it simmers. Then brown 1 lb. ground meat, we use venison, with chopped onion, chopped celery & chopped bell pepper (I use the frozen seasoning blend from the freezer, about a cup total for 1 lb. of meat). When beans are done thicken juice with corn starch or flour, then add the meat. After that, season with Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning…I sprinkle it liberally, but we like it spicy. Serve over white rice with Louisiana Hot sauce. Mmmmmm good! If you have small children or those who don’t like spicy food, you can always leave out the Tony’s and let each person add what they want to thier own bowl.
Penni
I stepped up to the challenge and made a version of red beans and rice completely from food storage foods. Using canned bacon and canned ham for the smoked seasoning. It was amazing. The onion, celery, bellpeppers, shallots, were all dried veggies from harmony house foods. The cajun seasoning I had made myself. Additions were chili powder, sage, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper, tabasco sauc, 2 bays leaves. Canned kidney beans and canned pinto beans and two cubes of chicken broth. Poured it over cooked white rice. It was amazing.
TheSurvivalMom
That sounds delicious. I really love beans, but I'm married to a guy that swears "real" chili doesn't contain beans. Download my bean chart so you can compare the nutrients of different varieties. Surprisingly, the lowly white navy bean is quite a little champion in the nutrients department.
workingonit
Did you can the bacon and ham yourself? If so, how? Thanks
Rebecca Noel
This might not sound appetizing but it's actually pretty awesome!
Black Bean-Cocoa Soup with Lime Zest
2 T. grapeseed oil
1 small red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 large carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cups organic vegetable or chicken broth
2 T. cocoa powder
1 t. ground cumin
2 c. canned black beans
Grated zest of 1 lime
Place grapeseed oil in medium saucepan and add onion. Saute on low heat until onions are carmelized, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots and celery, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the broth, cocoa powder and cumin. Stir well. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the black beans. Add the lime zest. Cook for approximately 20 minutes over low heat.
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