A. Leland's Garden

Is coming along quite nicely.

Potatoes

"It's f&^%   awesome," says Missy!

"ruff."

We spotted the first yellow squash today. :-)

Recipe: Texas Style Barbecued Baked Beans and Variations

Delicious!

Mr. Big Food comments that the beans should be pre-cooked. This is a delicious dish but as made according to the recipe, the beans are a bit tough. 

Like “Ranch Style Beans”? Then try these.

TEXAS STYLE BARBECUED BAKED BEANS AND VARIATIONS

Serves 6-8

2 C dried navy or pinto beans (or a combination of both)

Water (to soak and cook beans)

8 slices bacon, diced

½ C chopped onion

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 small hot red chili pepper

¾ C catsup or chili sauce (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

2 Tbsp prepared mustard (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

1 tsp salt

1 generous dash Tabasco (or more, to taste)

Soak beans overnight in water to cover. Next day, preheat oven to 350°. Fry bacon until crisp and drain drippings into baking dish or small bean pot. Add all remaining ingredients except bacon and soaking beans to fat and blend. Drain and rinse beans, and add to mixture. Crumble bacon on top and pour on fresh water just to cover beans. Cover dish and bake 2 hours, adding more hot water if needed during cooking time, and uncovering beans during last 20-30 minutes of cooking time.

VARIATIONS

Below the fold

Recipe: Baked Beans I (Veganizable)

They beat me to it!

To veganize, omit bacon, use vegetarian baked beans.

“Very tasty and easy to prepare”—Winifred Green Cheney, The Southern Hospitality Cookbook (1976) 

BAKED BEANS I  
Makes 12 servings 

24 oz can pork and beans 
¼ C (packed firm) light brown sugar 
1 C catsup or chili sauce (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section) 
1 very large onion, diced 
1 tsp prepared mustard (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section) 
2 to 3 slices bacon (optional) 

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine pork and beans, brown sugar, catsup or chili sauce, onion, and mustard, pour mixture into a greased flat 2 quart casserole, and cover with bacon slices (if using). Bake 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Recipe: Spicy Green Beans (veganizable)

SPICY GREEN BEANS 
Serves 6 to 8 

1 ½ Tbsp chopped onions
3 Tbsp fat 
1/3 C chili sauce (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section) 
¼ tsp salt 
4 C Cooked Green Beans (see recipe in this section, can use canned) 

Cook onions in fat until tender, add chili sauce, salt, and beans, and heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally.

Fall & Winter Soup #3: Creamy Bean

#3: A nice enough soup, but not up to Fall & Winter standards

 Served with a lovely winter salad and vegan cornbread.

Daughter C is learning how to take photos. She took this one-- which is nicely staged or whatever the photographers' word for that is-- and the one above. Somewhere between the soup pic & this, she changed camera settings.

This is a gimp-ed (photo-shop-for-free, see HOW TO GIMP link in the sidebar) version. In COLOR BALANCE, I toned down green to -45 in mid-tones only. And in AUTO I let gimp correct the white balance. I'm certainly no artist, but I like the L-R contrast of green salad vs. blue pot holders.

As I type, the temperature is hovering around 40°F, likely to drop to around freezing in just a few hours, and it's precipitating. It's nasty out there. A perfect night for soup.

The flavor of this soup is wonderful.

Briefly-- I'll post the recipe as Mr. Big Food's time allows-- it's three cans of beans. We used light red kidneys, baby and speckled butters. Drain them. The recipe calls for 1 qt. of water so we used 1 qt. of bean broth saved from last evening's green bean dish. (Sneak those vitamins and mineral in there any way you can!) Heat the beans and broth. Separately, saute some diced onions and carrots in 2T vegan butter (Earth Balance®). Add 2T flour, S&P, paprikka, and a dash of tobacco. Stir that into the simmering beans.

Mr. Big Food and A. Leland didn't arrive home until 7pm this evening. I let the soup simmer at this stage until the dogs announced their arrival. I then heated 2C almond milk and stirred that into the soup. The recipe calls for the soup to then boil, stirring constantly. I didn't let it come back to a boil. Nearly. But not quite.

Here's my analysis. We veganized the heck out of it so I can't comment on what it might have been like had we used milk. The flavor was surprisingly good. (Almond milk is a much better substitute for milk than soy milk, by the way.) But it was thin. And here I mean that, yes, it was a thin broth, and maybe some processing of the beans & roux before the milk addition would have creamed it up, but I don't think so.

For me, it's more of an early spring soup. Hearty enough for March,-- portending of lighter fare-- but not Fall & Winter. But it was delicious!

Here's the score so far, keeping in mind that Daughter C did not partake of #2 and Miss M did not vote this evening.

Hot Potato Soup is the winner and Mr. Big Food suffers from 'recency bias.'

Be sure to check out the Tab (look up) for the 2013/14 Fall & Winter Soup Contest for recipes from this and previous contests.

Recipe: Potatoes and Green Beans (veganizable)

A old standby!

POTATOES AND GREEN BEANS  
Serves 6 

4 medium potatoes, pared, sliced, cooked in a small amount of boiling salted water until tender, excess water evaporated, still hot 

1 lb green beans, broken or cut into 1 inch pieces, cooked uncovered until nearly tender in just enough rapidly boiling water to cover 

1 Tbsp butter (or substitute)

Salt, pepper 

1 Tbsp minced parsley 

Combine potatoes, butter, salt and pepper to taste, and parsley with beans in cooking liquid, blend together lightly, and continue simmering until all remaining water is evaporated and beans are tender.

Recipe: Beans Irene

Quick, easy & good!

(I wonder where Mr. Big Food got this one from.) 

From Mrs. Michael E. Wilson, (Pat Perry), Wilson, Arkansas, 1971

BEANS IRENE

Serves 4

2 16 oz cans whole green beans, drained, rinsed

3 Tbsp bacon grease or olive oil (for vegetarian/vegan version)

1 tsp seasoned salt

1 tsp seasoned pepper

Melt bacon grease in medium-sized heavy frying pan with lid. Add drained beans to melted grease, sprinkle beans with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Cook covered over medium heat stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Serve directly out of pan without draining.

Recipe: Bean Porridge (Veganizable)

I know this doesn't look like much but it's remarkably good tasting!

BEAN PORRIDGE

Serves 6 to 8

1 pint black beans, washed, soaked overnight in water to cover, drained, rinsed

2 Tbsp chopped onion

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 tsp salt

2 whole cloves

2 quarts cold water or soup stock (the latter preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

1 hard-cooked egg yolk

1/8 tsp pepper

½ tsp dry mustard

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp fat

1 tsp sherry

Combine drained soaked beans, onion, celery, salt, and cloves with water or stock, and boil slowly until beans are soft. Rub beans and vegetables through a strained, and combine with sufficient cooking liquid to make “the consistency of thick cream.” Mash egg yolk with pepper and mustard, and stir into soup. Cook flour in melted fat to a golden brown roux, thin with a little of the bean cooking liquid, and stir into soup. Cook 5 minutes, thinning with additional bean cooking liquid if necessary. Add sherry and serve.

Recipe: Beans in Onion Sauce (Veganizable)

One pot cooking!

To veganize, use vegan 'butter' and almond milk for the white sauce.

BEANS IN ONION SAUCE

Serves 6 to 8

½ C onion, minced

3 Tbsp fat

1 recipe White Sauce (see recipes in Basics section)

4 C Cooked Green Beans (see recipes in this section or use canned)

Cook onion in fat, add to White Sauce, and combine with beans. Heat thoroughly.

Recipe: Queen's Beans

Yummy!

“This easy-to-fix vegetable dish can be a hearty meal-in-one with the addition of ham, ham hocks or hamburger. (Recipe contest entry: Mrs. Gil (Queen) Murphy, San Diego, CA)”

“Serve with lemon juice.”—The Garlic Lovers’ Cookbook (1980)

QUEEN’S BEANS

1 C small white beans

7 C cold water

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp paprika

2 large onions, quartered

½ C tomato sauce (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics and Canning … sections)
10 large cloves fresh garlic, halved

½ C parsley springs

¼ C olive oil

Cook beans in water for 1 hour, add salt, paprika, and onions, cover pot, and cook 1 hour longer. Add tomato sauce, garlic, parsley, and olive oil, and cook 30 minutes longer.

Recipe: Green Bean Casserole I

Fresh!

We cut the recipe in half and used fresh green beans. I picked the beans this morning, threw them into a pot of boiling water and cooked them five minutes. Bonus? We have bean water, also known as vegetable stock, for next week's cooking. Waste not want not.

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE I

2 lbs French style green beans, cooked or canned, drained

3 Tbsp butter

2 heaping Tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

4 tsp grated onion

8 oz sour cream

6-8 oz shredded Swiss cheese

Small can French fried onion rings OR buttered corn flakes (for topping)

Preheat oven to 350^o. Spread green beans in a lightly greased casserole. Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in flour to make a smooth roux. Stir in salt and sugar, and stir to make a paste. Remove from heat, and stir in grated onion, sour cream, and cheese, then spoon mixture into beans and spread evenly. Top with French fried onion rings or buttered corn flakes, and bake 20-30 minutes.

Recipe: Green Beans with Pine Nuts

Best, of course, with homegrown green beans!

GREEN BEANS WITH PINE NUTS

1 lb green beans, trimmed, left whole if small, halved if large, cooked in boiling salted water 10-15 minutes or until just tender, drained, refreshed with cold water, and drained again
½ C pine nuts
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
Salt, pepper

Melt butter, add beans and pine nuts, and cook over medium heat, tossing beans carefully until very hot and well coated with butter. Add parsley, and salt and pepper to taste, and pile into a hot serving dish.

Recipe: Cajun Baked Beans UPDATED

UPDATE (6/17, 8am-ish): Mr. Big Food sent me an email this morning letting me know that he had made some changes to the recipe as he was preparing it yesterday. He said the beans, "turned out great so I made the change permanent to the recipe." I agree, so I deleted the previous version. Here's the new and improved recipe:

Make sure the beans are tender before you start baking them. This recipe can easily be doubled

CAJUN STYLE BAKED BEANS

¼ lb bacon, cut into squares

1 lb dry white beans

1 C dry white wine

Water

Tabasco, to taste

1 tsp dried thyme, crushed

2 tsp dried parsley

3 drops bitters

Salt

½ C honey

1 C good catsup, chili sauce, or barbecue sauce (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics and Grillin’ … sections)

¼ C good mustard (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

1 Tbsp steak sauce (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

2 tsp mustard seed

Fry off bacon squares lightly, drain, and set aside. After washing beans, cook in a mixture of wine, water to cover, Tabasco, thyme, parsley, bitters, and salt. Cook beans until tender, drain (saving liquid), and place in a roaster. Preheat oven to 350^o. Mix together honey, catsup, chili sauce, or barbecue sauce, mustard, steak sauce, and mustard seed and blend into beans in roaster. Add some of the reserved bean cooking liquid to make beans a little soupy. Top with bacon squares. Bake covered for about 2 hours, stirring two or three times during cooking time and adding more reserved bean liquid if beans get too dry. After 2 hours, stir, and continue cooking uncovered if beans are still too soupy.

Recipe: Green Beans with Tomato Sauce

Prepared with Diner Tomato Sauce.

GREEN BEANS WITH TOMATO SAUCE 

For 8

1 medium onion, minced

3 Tbsp fat

3 ½ C Cooked Green Beans (see recipes in this section, can use canned)

¾ C Tomato Sauce (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics, Canning …, and Casseroles … sections)

½ tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

1/8 tsp pepper

Cook onions in fat until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add beans, Tomato Sauce, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and pepper, and heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally.

Recipe: Texas Bean Barbecue

To veganize, omit bacon and use oil.

“A zesty addition to any barbecue lineup”

TEXAS BEAN BARBECUE
Serves 10

8 slices bacon, chopped
1 C chopped onion2 
16 oz cans yellow hominy, drained
2 15 oz cans chili beans or Ranch-style beans
1 can Ro*tel
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp Jalapeno relish (preferably homemade—see recipes in Canning … section)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp prepared mustard (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

Preheat oven to 350o. Cook bacon until almost crisp and drain, reserving 2 Tbsp drippings in skillet. Cook onion in reserved drippings until tender but not browned. Combine onion, bacon, drained hominy, beans, Ro*tel, vinegar, Jalapeno relish, salt, and mustard, turn mixture into a lightly greased 2 ½ quart casserole, and bake covered for 1 ½ hours.

Recipe: Saucy Pork and Beans

Tasty!

SAUCY PORK AND BEANS

1 lb bulk sausage (any variety—you choose)

2 16 oz cans pork and beans

½ C shredded cheese (any variety)

2/3 C onion (white or yellow), chopped fine

¼ C brown sugar

1/3 C barbeque sauce

2 Tbsp molasses

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1 Tbsp chili powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp liquid smoke

Preheat oven to 350^o. Brown sausage. Drain. Combine sausage and remaining ingredients in baking dish or casserole. Mix thoroughly. Bake uncovered 1 hour.

How to Cook... : Part 4? No Rest for the Weary

Updated as I'm able. Scroll down for parts 1-3.
~~
I am so mother...  tired of this. I hope I hear someone complain about the seasonings. So I can go off. There is no end in sight. It's 8:30 and there is no end in sight. Holy Crap.


~~
Post supper update. Mr. Big Food is so smart. When it dawned on me that we were having steak for supper, I declared I'd have a martini. And now Mr. Big Food has me right where he needs me. 

We should be done with all of the cooking before midnight. 


~~
5pm update. Today has been a production line. It will continue into the wee hours. Only one brisket fits in the oven at a given time... . Obviously, we need a Viking Range.

How funny is it that I was thinking about volume last evening? This funny. Mr. Big Food got up sometime after midnight and discovered that the volume of dry beans had expanded well beyond the volume of water  in which they were soaking. Or more precisely, he discovered that the entire volume of water had moved into the beans. He made some after midnight adjustments--  moved some beans to other pots, added water. And so on.

You should see what 40 cups of soaked red beans looks like! I'd show you but the kitchen is a mess. I hope to remember to put the turkey fryer full of red beans on the bathroom scale tomorrow morning. I'm curious how much 40 pounds of beans plus all that onion, etc. weigh. 

~~

4pm update. One thing has become obvious. We do not have enough refrigerators. The first batch of red beans is done. Mr. Big Food decided that the turkey fryer pot would be more appropriate for carting and serving those than a tinfoil roasting pan. But now the question is, where are we going to put it tonight? Humm... . We'll think of something. We always do.

~~

10 C red beans (soaked over night) + onion, peppers, parsley, celery tomato sauce, thyme & bay leaves

There will be three more batches like this! The food processor is a wonderful invention! 

Recipe: Green Beans Belle

Photograph here.

GREEN BEANS BELLE

2 cans cut green beans, drained, liquid reserved

1 bunch green onions, sliced thin

Large can sliced mushrooms, drained, liquid reserved

1 stick butter

Salt, pepper

Slivered almonds

Chopped pimento

Fry green onions in butter until soft but not browed. Add reserved green bean and mushroom liquids to onions, and cook down until only about 1 C liquid remains. Add green beans, and salt and pepper to taste, and let heat thoroughly. Add slivered almonds, and chopped pimento before serving.

Sausage Stuffing Bake with Home Made Caraway Sausage

It wasn't really burnt.

What we have here is a sausage patty topped with stuffing topped with a sausage patty. 

What we have here is Green Beans Belle. 

Very good

Recipes as soon as Mr. Big Food sends them from the kitchen to the den via the World Wide Web. (It would go so much quicker if the recipes were on note cards.)

Do you think this will work?

Just ignore those cabbage and squash

This is the late bean/corn garden. I already have corn planted but you just can never have too much corn. Last year was the first year I'd ever grown corn. What a learning experience! Unfortunately, when I planted corn this year I'd forgotten what I'd learned. Birds pick planted corn seed out of the corn row and presumably eat it. This is a problem. Replanting a week or more after the first planting means some plants will be a week or more younger when the older plants begin to tassel. It doesn't matter with insect pollinated plants but it does with wind pollinated corn.

Anyway... I was certain I had bird netting in the workshop, and I did-- just not enough. So I covered each little planted corn seed with a clay pot which I'll remove just as soon as I see a little corn plant peep through the soil.

The periphery is beans, by the way. 

I'll report problems with this scheme if there are any. (Right. If. Who am I kidding?)