Beans!

Beans, beans, the musical fruit!
The more you eat the more you toot!
The more you toot the better you feel,
So, eat some beans at every meal!

When I was in elementary school we loved to chant that. Now I actually love to eat beans. Not because they make me toot, but because they can be pretty delicious. (I know, another post about food...) When I was a little girl I thought that beans meant chili and I hated them. Then I was a somewhat bigger girl when someone introduced me to Boston Baked Beans. I hated those even more than the beans in the chili.

Then I went to the Dominican Republic with a church group shortly after graduating from high school to help build a hospital, I fell in love with beans. One night our hosts served us a "native meal" that included the most delicious beans that I have tasted in my entire life. They were black, firm, and seasoned to perfection. Never again have I tasted them quite so good. That has not stopped me from trying to experience once more that sort of bean nirvana.

That has led me to all kinds of ways to cook them. There is the southwestern chili in a tomato sauce with some sort of chili powder. There is Indian style with Cumin as the base flavor. There is Italian style with the same seasonings you might find in spaghetti sauce. I have even used them in place of meat balls in my spaghetti sauce. I have discovered the endless possibilities.

I have also discovered that I prefer preparing dried beans rather than using the canned ones unless I'm making a bean dip. They are have a firmer feel in my mouth that I enjoy much more than the mushy feel from the canned versions. So I spend several days trying to remember to put them into a bowl of water to soak. Then when they have plumped up in the water they get a rinse in the sink and off to the slow-cooker! That's when the real fun begins. I pour in plenty of water for them to cook in. Then come the spices! I pick an area of the world that I would like to explore and hit the spice cabinet. A few hours later I am in bean nirvana.

Spooned over rice or noodles, they fill me up with a wonderful warm feeling. A nice hot cooked meal to enjoy with my family. Yum!