You like spicy red beans and rice with Cajun or Creole seasoning and some andouille sausage is New Orleans gold. Hopping John is another rice & beans dish, traditionally served on New Years Day For good Luck in the coming year. Add lentils to your usual soups and stews. The spicier the dish the less they will notice them. Green and brown lentils help thicken the broth. Mix them into burger in hamburgers, meatloaf, casseroles, taco meat, burritos, enchiladas. Dishes that have a lot of flavor going on. Red lentils and split peas break down into the broth. Cube black beans & rice are an option. Lentils won’t be noticeable in Sloppy Joe, cook & mash & add to bread. I’ve had them in vegan cottage(ground beef) or shepherds pie(ground lamb). I don’t like lentils unless they are mixed into something well seasoned. They are included in dry 12-15 bean soup mixes, but disappear into the soup. I’m a New Englander life long and love baked beans of all kinds.Ketchup can be replaced by unsalted tomato paste, less brown sugar with more molasses. I can’t and won’t use most convenience foods, ie ketchup, brown sugar, pasta sauce, salad dressings, No Sodium, No MSG, No GMO’s as much as possible, no bad fats only unsalted butter and Olive Oil, No Spice Mixes, only whole grains, no dry mixes of any kind, no premade baked goods. I use dried beans or rinsed LS canned, canned unsalted tomatoes, no McCormick Spices ( undeclared salt, sugar, and fillers, GMO, MSG, pesticide residues, overpricing) I buy from Amazon with Prime, cheaper, well documented contents, non GMO, not irradiated, even organic! I use beans in Italian recipes, I love Mexican but Tex-Mex does not love me! Chile Pepper & Cayenne make me terribly ill. I sub fresh or canned hot peppers and spices, real garlic, onions and bell peppers, can’t use canned retried beans, the fat makes me ill. We make our own & often sub black beans for pinto. I can’t have much dairy as in heavy amounts of cheese. I sub non cow dairy cheese, unsweetened Greek yogurt in strict moderation. Beans grace many cultures besides the Southwest. Italian, Greek, North African ( some really fiery dishes, try Ethiopian, Moroccan, and Egyptian), the Middle Eastern countries, Turkey, the 14 cuisines of India and the country’s that surround it. Southeast Asia, China with so many cuisines they are uncounted and tofu. The East Indies and Malaysia, Java, some spicy cuisines, suitable to add beans.South America has some very good cuisines, Central America and the Caribbean use some hot spices. Many of these cuisines may be expensive in restaurants, but are cheap to create at home. Most of the world uses far less meat than the US and many less expensive proteins like beans and bean products such as tofu. Even if beans aren’t in a dish you can add them. If your family like Southwestern heat, there is a good chance they will take to other cultures that use heat from various hot peppers and spices. Amazon is a great resource for spices, they carry them in many brands and sizes so you can try something in a small size & buy in bulk at another time. Freezing is great to maintain their freshness and many cultures are slow cooker friendly. My cookers are well used believe me.
Sandi
Red beans and rice seems to be missing from the list. 🙂
Jessica Fisher
Ha! This California girl has never had red beans and rice!
Jillbert
My family loves beans! Some favorites are lentil tacos, ANY kind of bean soup, baked beans (on toast!), and crockpot sausage & beans. Hummus, too.
Jessica Fisher
I wish I could get my people to like lentils!
Alice E
I’m from the Midwest, so ham and beans is a favorite, I usually cook them with onions. But, the ham is optional, and meat can be only a little for seasoning or none.
If I’m fixing beans without the ham, I like to use more than one variety of beans, I think it has more flavor, and used to mix pinto, great northern and navy beans and cook them together. With rice or (my favorite) corn bread it’s a pretty good meal. You could obviously use kidney, black, pink or any other bean you like in the mixture. I just bought several packs and kept them mixed them together in a gallon jar.
I also like to add greens such as kale to beans, much like the Italian white bean and escarole soup. I think the original has sausage, but I don’t always include it and I use kale instead because escarole isn’t really available for me.
I also sometimes fix pinto beans with onions added and just add a little cooked ground meat such as hamburger or some chopped up roast. This goes back to a western book I read decades ago where the cowboys ate a lot of beans and beef. In those days, beans meant ham and beans, but I didn’t have ham and did have hamburger so I started experimenting. I don’t add chili to this, just season it with onion, garlic, salt and maybe some summer savory.
I also do a spicy white bean dip with garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. It is similar to hummus but without the tahini which makes it cheaper. And of course just bean dip, which can be as easy as mashed or refried beans and salsa with cheese optional served hot.
Sorry for running on a bit, but obviously I do like to cook with beans.
Jessica Fisher
I’m working on including more white beans in what we eat, but at least one child is balking. It’s always something. 😉
Carol in CT
Bean burgers!!! I have a Mexican black bean burger recipe on my blog, there’s “A girl named Jack”‘s kidney bean burgers, I make a homemade version of Beyond meat’s vegan burgers and freeze any extra. Cheap and easy. See my blog for the recipes/link. CTonabudget.blogspot.com
Jessica Fisher
Sounds yummy. Thanks!
Janet
My family members are committed carnivores, so I use beans more to bulk up our meals rather than to make them meatless. I have been trying to reduce the meat per servings from the traditional 3 to 4 ounces per person to 2 or 3 ounces per person. Consequently, I make a number of bean side dishes. Some of our favorites include black bean and corn salad and three bean salad, which are served cold. My favorite hot bean side dish is sautéed onions, peppers, corn and black beans seasoned with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. And of course, every Mexican dish needs a side of refried beans.
Jessica Fisher
Great strategies!
Roberta
Like you, we’re having more meatless meals as well. I’ll be sure to try out some of your recipes. 😉
In addition to what you have listed, I also throw beans into ratatouille and pasta sauces (generally white or black beans), and we’ve been enjoying black bean burgers quite a bit (with your homemade hamburger buns–yum!). I also like to add roasted red pepper hummus to quesadillas. And of course there’s my son’s favorite–bean and cheese burritos.
Jessica Fisher
I need to go back to trying bean patties. I haven’t made them in years, but that sounds yummy. Thanks for the nudge.
MaryAnn Coy
You like spicy red beans and rice with Cajun or Creole seasoning and some andouille sausage is New Orleans gold. Hopping John is another rice & beans dish, traditionally served on New Years Day For good Luck in the coming year. Add lentils to your usual soups and stews. The spicier the dish the less they will notice them. Green and brown lentils help thicken the broth. Mix them into burger in hamburgers, meatloaf, casseroles, taco meat, burritos, enchiladas. Dishes that have a lot of flavor going on. Red lentils and split peas break down into the broth. Cube black beans & rice are an option. Lentils won’t be noticeable in Sloppy Joe, cook & mash & add to bread. I’ve had them in vegan cottage(ground beef) or shepherds pie(ground lamb). I don’t like lentils unless they are mixed into something well seasoned. They are included in dry 12-15 bean soup mixes, but disappear into the soup. I’m a New Englander life long and love baked beans of all kinds.Ketchup can be replaced by unsalted tomato paste, less brown sugar with more molasses. I can’t and won’t use most convenience foods, ie ketchup, brown sugar, pasta sauce, salad dressings, No Sodium, No MSG, No GMO’s as much as possible, no bad fats only unsalted butter and Olive Oil, No Spice Mixes, only whole grains, no dry mixes of any kind, no premade baked goods. I use dried beans or rinsed LS canned, canned unsalted tomatoes, no McCormick Spices ( undeclared salt, sugar, and fillers, GMO, MSG, pesticide residues, overpricing) I buy from Amazon with Prime, cheaper, well documented contents, non GMO, not irradiated, even organic! I use beans in Italian recipes, I love Mexican but Tex-Mex does not love me! Chile Pepper & Cayenne make me terribly ill. I sub fresh or canned hot peppers and spices, real garlic, onions and bell peppers, can’t use canned retried beans, the fat makes me ill. We make our own & often sub black beans for pinto. I can’t have much dairy as in heavy amounts of cheese. I sub non cow dairy cheese, unsweetened Greek yogurt in strict moderation. Beans grace many cultures besides the Southwest. Italian, Greek, North African ( some really fiery dishes, try Ethiopian, Moroccan, and Egyptian), the Middle Eastern countries, Turkey, the 14 cuisines of India and the country’s that surround it. Southeast Asia, China with so many cuisines they are uncounted and tofu. The East Indies and Malaysia, Java, some spicy cuisines, suitable to add beans.South America has some very good cuisines, Central America and the Caribbean use some hot spices. Many of these cuisines may be expensive in restaurants, but are cheap to create at home. Most of the world uses far less meat than the US and many less expensive proteins like beans and bean products such as tofu. Even if beans aren’t in a dish you can add them. If your family like Southwestern heat, there is a good chance they will take to other cultures that use heat from various hot peppers and spices. Amazon is a great resource for spices, they carry them in many brands and sizes so you can try something in a small size & buy in bulk at another time. Freezing is great to maintain their freshness and many cultures are slow cooker friendly. My cookers are well used believe me.
Sandi
Red beans and rice seems to be missing from the list. 🙂
Jessica Fisher
Ha! This California girl has never had red beans and rice!
Jillbert
My family loves beans! Some favorites are lentil tacos, ANY kind of bean soup, baked beans (on toast!), and crockpot sausage & beans. Hummus, too.
Jessica Fisher
I wish I could get my people to like lentils!
Alice E
I’m from the Midwest, so ham and beans is a favorite, I usually cook them with onions. But, the ham is optional, and meat can be only a little for seasoning or none.
If I’m fixing beans without the ham, I like to use more than one variety of beans, I think it has more flavor, and used to mix pinto, great northern and navy beans and cook them together. With rice or (my favorite) corn bread it’s a pretty good meal. You could obviously use kidney, black, pink or any other bean you like in the mixture. I just bought several packs and kept them mixed them together in a gallon jar.
I also like to add greens such as kale to beans, much like the Italian white bean and escarole soup. I think the original has sausage, but I don’t always include it and I use kale instead because escarole isn’t really available for me.
I also sometimes fix pinto beans with onions added and just add a little cooked ground meat such as hamburger or some chopped up roast. This goes back to a western book I read decades ago where the cowboys ate a lot of beans and beef. In those days, beans meant ham and beans, but I didn’t have ham and did have hamburger so I started experimenting. I don’t add chili to this, just season it with onion, garlic, salt and maybe some summer savory.
I also do a spicy white bean dip with garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. It is similar to hummus but without the tahini which makes it cheaper. And of course just bean dip, which can be as easy as mashed or refried beans and salsa with cheese optional served hot.
Sorry for running on a bit, but obviously I do like to cook with beans.
Jessica Fisher
I’m working on including more white beans in what we eat, but at least one child is balking. It’s always something. 😉
Carol in CT
Bean burgers!!! I have a Mexican black bean burger recipe on my blog, there’s “A girl named Jack”‘s kidney bean burgers, I make a homemade version of Beyond meat’s vegan burgers and freeze any extra. Cheap and easy. See my blog for the recipes/link. CTonabudget.blogspot.com
Jessica Fisher
Sounds yummy. Thanks!
Janet
My family members are committed carnivores, so I use beans more to bulk up our meals rather than to make them meatless. I have been trying to reduce the meat per servings from the traditional 3 to 4 ounces per person to 2 or 3 ounces per person. Consequently, I make a number of bean side dishes. Some of our favorites include black bean and corn salad and three bean salad, which are served cold. My favorite hot bean side dish is sautéed onions, peppers, corn and black beans seasoned with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. And of course, every Mexican dish needs a side of refried beans.
Jessica Fisher
Great strategies!
Roberta
Like you, we’re having more meatless meals as well. I’ll be sure to try out some of your recipes. 😉
In addition to what you have listed, I also throw beans into ratatouille and pasta sauces (generally white or black beans), and we’ve been enjoying black bean burgers quite a bit (with your homemade hamburger buns–yum!). I also like to add roasted red pepper hummus to quesadillas. And of course there’s my son’s favorite–bean and cheese burritos.
Jessica Fisher
I need to go back to trying bean patties. I haven’t made them in years, but that sounds yummy. Thanks for the nudge.