Spillin' the Beans

If you don't know beans about beans, read on for some great information and new ideas!

Beans belong to a group of foods referred to as "legumes." This food group includes peas, lentils, and peanuts in addition to the beans with which most of us are familiar. Next to cereal grains, the legume family contributes the most substantially towards feeding the people of the world. The high protein content of beans is necessary when meat is hard to come by, which is what makes legumes a wonderful addition to your food storage pantry! Beans are also high in fiber, complex carbohydrates, and contain important vitamins and minerals like foliate, calcium, iron and potassium.

There are many different varieties of legumes, and each variety is used in different ways!

Lentils

Lentils are a quick cooking legume commonly found in soups, stews, and salads. They have a meat-like texture and are high in protein and fiber, yet low in fat!

Pinto Beans
Pinto Beans are popular in Tex-Mex cooking and are used for refried beans in tacos and burritos. They are nutrient rich and provide a flavorful side dish often paired with spicy rice. These naturally dehydrated beans are sometimes specially prepared with salt and sometimes other ingredients and sold as refried beans.

Black Beans
Black Beans are known for their meat-like texture and versatility. They are a Latin American staple that have a mild flavor and are commonly used in salads and paired with rice as a side dish. This bean has recently become more popular with many Fresh Mex, Baja-Mexico-inspired restaurants. Due to its meat-like texture and dark color, it is often used as a red meat substitute.

Small Red Beans
Small Red Beans have a hearty flavor and a rich texture. They are often used in bean casseroles or served with rice and Cajun seasonings.

Kidney Beans
Kidney Beans are the bean most often used in chili recipes. This variety is also very hearty in texture and accents other flavors well.

Split Green Peas
Split Green Peas are known for their flavorful use in "split green pea soup." Their fresh flavor and color make them perfect for adding color and variety to your home storage.

Small White Navy Beans
Small White Navy Beans are excellent for use in soups and stews. Bean with Bacon soup is one of the most popular recipes for White Navy Beans.

Soybeans
Soy Beans are extremely versatile and used worldwide in making soymilk, textured vegetable protein (a meat substitute), and tofu. This bean takes flavor very well and has a wonderful texture.

Peanuts
Peanuts are in the legume family and are considered by many people to be a comfort food and family favorite. Most commonly used to make peanut butter, it is used in recipes and as a simple sandwich filling. Though their high fat content makes them hard to store, you can store peanut butter and peanut butter powder.

Garbanzo Beans
Garbanzo Beans (or Chick Peas) are often used in salads and as a base for making hummus. Though similar in use to other beans, they are not as commonly used for home storage.

Beans are also used to thicken gravies and add richness to soups and stews. Bean flour can be used in place of wheat flour in many recipes. Bean flour is delicious in dips, spreads, and can be used as a fat replacement when cooked and mashed into the consistency of shortening!

Dry beans should be parboiled or soaked overnight before cooking. Many dry bean varieties can be stored up to thirty years if packaged correctly. Once cooked, beans can be stored safely at least five days in the refrigerator, or up to one year if frozen. Over time, beans may require a longer soak and extended cooking times to achieve a softer texture.

This is just a small sampling of the many things you can do with beans! The recipes and possibilities are nearly endless with this versatile and healthy food storage basic. Hopefully you are an official "bean counter" and are ready to store and use more this wonderful food!

Source: LDS Magazine.com

Salt Grass Steak at Last!

The other night, finally we made it to the only restaurant we haven't tried yet in Dallas. We always see "Salt Grass Steak" every time we go see my doctor; and every time also, we say to each other that we will eat there someday, and so we did! It is a fancy resto and that is why it is a little bit expensive than Outback Steak and TGI Friday. Jacob ordered Cheese Pizza, Matt ordered a steak with salad and mashed potato for side dish, and I mine is steak K bob with grilled shrimp, baked sweet potato, veggies, and salad. I didn't take pix of their foods because by the time I got the camera, they are already eating. Anyway, here is the photo of my food ;-)!

This looks like a lot, but not really! I didn't finish the sweet potato and Jake has also left over from his personal pizza. I'll say, the foods were good, but not as good as the TGI Friday or Outback Steak, so I don't think we will go back there again!

4th of July Cheesecake!

"Salute the red, white and blue with this layered dessert studded with fresh blueberries and strawberries." From AllRecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
* 1 quart strawberries, divided
* 1 1/2 cups boiling water
* 2 pkg. (4 serving size) JELL-O Brand Strawberry Flavor Gelatin
* Ice cubes
* 1 cup cold water
* 1 (10.75 ounce) loaf pound cake, cut into 10 slices
* 1 1/3 cups blueberries, divided
* 2 (8 ounce) packages PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 (8 ounce) tub COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

DIRECTIONS:
1. Slice 1 cup of the strawberries; set aside. Halve the remaining 3 cups strawberries; set aside. Stir boiling water into dry gelatin mixes in large bowl at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to cold water to measure 2 cups. Add to gelatin; stir until ice is completely melted. Refrigerate 5 min. or until gelatin is slightly thickened (consistency of unbeaten egg whites).
2. Meanwhile, line bottom of 13x9-inch dish with cake slices. Add sliced strawberries and 1 cup of the blueberries to thickened gelatin; stir gently. Spoon over cake slices. Refrigerate 4 hours or until set.
3. Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with wire whisk or electric mixer until well blended; gently stir in whipped topping. Spread over gelatin. Arrange strawberry halves on cream cheese mixture to resemble the stripes of a flag. Arrange remaining 1/3 cup blueberries on cream cheese mixture for the stars. Store any leftover dessert in refrigerator.

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

Got this from sister at church, thought you might want to try this especially those who love salsa and chips like my husband.

Fruit Salsa:

• 2 kiwis, peeled and diced
  
• 2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
  
• 1 pound fresh strawberries, diced
  
• 1 (8-ounce) package frozen raspberries, thawed
  
• 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  
• 3 tablespoon fruit preserves, any flavor
  

Cinnamon Chips:

• 10 (10-inch) flour tortillas
  
• vegetable oil for frying
  
• 2 cups cinnamon-sugar mixture to taste
  

Fruit Salsa: In a large bowl, mix kiwis, apples, strawberries, raspberries, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and fruit preserves. Cover and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Cinnamon Chips: Cut tortillas into strips or triangles. Heat oil in frying pan. Drop tortilla strips into hot oil a few at a time. When golden brown, remove and immediately drop into cinnamon-sugar mixture. Coat chips with mixture, then place on paper towels. Allow chips to cool. Serve with fruit salsa.

No Chinese Food for Me!

I don't know why but lately, I have been trying telling my husband that I don't like Chinese foods. Weird, huh! Yup, just the thought of it makes me sick! I used to like it a lot, but now I feel like I cannot stand it anymore. I would rather go eat at Asian Restaurants like Vietnamese, Thai, Malay and Indian. I also love Greek and Mediterranean foods. I so love sea foods and steaks. Anyway, I wonder if this happened to you, too! I don't know...maybe I will like it again, who knows?

One of Our Food Adventures!

As I mentioned before, sometimes it is kind of tiring eating at home, so every once in awhile, we go dine out for a change. We also love trying new foods like Japanese foods which we rarely do. Here is one of our food adventures. I didn't take pictures of them, the foods we ordered pretty much looked like these...

Jake's shumai....he loves it!
Hubby's sushi...very good!
and mine.....salmon teriyaki...very yummy!

My Independent Son!

Yesterday after school, my son told me he was hungry. I was busy with my blogs and told him "just a minute baby". Then he couldn't wait and went to the kitchen and found a cereal to eat. Here he is...

I was watching him the whole time and was kind of smiling. He can feed himself if he wants to, I know. He ate a bunch of cereal; and I thought he will not eat dinner. To my surprised, he still managed to eat when we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner!

I Love Lamb Stew !

One of my favorite meats is lamb. I love it whether it is grilled, curried, stewed of just plain roasted. I don't know but I like the taste of it. That is the reason why I like Mediterranean foods.




Ingredients:

40 servings Lamb Shank Raw Per Ounce
1/4 cups All-purpose Flour
3 servings Baby New Potatoes
2 servings Chopped Onions
2 servings Thyme, Fresh
2 servings Guinness Draught
2.5 servings French Onion Soup
3 servings Carrots
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil, Canola

Instructions:
Cut lamb into 1" cubes and brown in a saute pan with the oil. Set on paper towels to drain. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and paprika to taste on the lamb. Saute the onions if desired.

Add lamb, potatoes, carrots, onions, and spices (turmeric, garlic, rosemary, red pepper to taste) to the crock-pot. Pour soup and beer on top. Cook on low several hours. About 20 minutes before serving, stir in the flour a bit at a time to thicken. Serve in a bread bowl, if desired.

Hubby's Apple Pie

Yup, hubby can cook and bake as well :-)! I am so lucky that he can do the cooking when I am lazy or not around.

Matt decided to make apple pie out of the apples who have been sitting in the refrigerator for a week. He thought they are going to get bad and will end up in the trash can.
Here it is; before he baked it and after baking it. It looks yummy to me. Sorry I didn't watch him while he was preparing it, so can't tell you the amount of ingredients he put into it.

Foods from Matt's Birthday!

We really enjoyed celebrating Matt's Birthday with these foods I have prepared for him :-)

As I mentioned with my other blog, this is hubby's Birthday cake I bought at the store. I figured out it is cheaper to buy than bake :-)! This is Pumpkin Creme Cake!
These are the foods I made for hubby: steamed broccoli with garlic, salt, pepper and butter; and macaroni salad Italian style with olives, artichoke, red sweet pepper and celery.
Since we can't grill, I just pan fried it with little oil. Not bad for a steak for it is still tender and tasty. It was medium well....so it was still little bit pink inside.
and this is just a tossed salad with craisins, pecan and i added some tomatoes later before we ate it. Oh, the dressing was raspberry vinaigrette. I didn't take photos of drinks and croissants here.

My Hubby is a Chef!

Am I lucky or what? My husband does the cooking during his days off from work. No, I didn't ask him to do that! It was of his choosing... he even does the dishes because he said it is a therapy for him. The only thing I hate when he cooks, you can feed a town! He cooks more than eating! So we ended up eating them for a week or two. So what I do is that divide the left overs food and put some of them in the freezer.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

Yesterday, I finally made a yellow split pea soup on which I have been putting off for awhile. We love this soup so much and I have to make it because we still have ham from Christmas Party. Anyway, when I cook, I just eyeball the ingredients especially the spices and sometime made up my own version. This soup is very easy to make especially if you have a pressure cooker, but you don't, just do it the old fashioned way. I used a pressure cooker here.

Here's how I cooked it:

Ingeredients: 16 oz of yellow split pea bean, ham, celery, carrots, onion, 3-4 cups of water and parsely for garnishing.

Procedures: Wash/rinse split pea 3 to 4 times; then put it in a pressure cooker with water and the rests of the ingredients. Cover and let it cooked till the cooker stopped. That it, season with salt according to your taste. Enjoy!

Christmas Tradition in the Philippines!

Filipinos are very religious and family-oriented by nature. Nothing could ever measure to being with your family and love-ones on special occasions like birthdays, Christening, anniversaries, New Year, and ofcourse Christmas. Filipinos have high regards for Christmas, having known as the ones who celebrates this sacred day the longest and in the moss blissful way.Christmas preparation starts as early as September and the Christmas season does not only focus on just the eve and the Christmas day itself. Filipinos have this "simbang gabi" (Attending mass) that starts on the 16th of December and ends on the 24th, a day before Christmas. Filipinos ritually attends the mass for nine consecutive days. Then have their festive celebration of the tradional "Noche Buena" (Christmas Eve).

For the Noche Buena, you would see variety of mouth-watering dishes, from desserts, to the main course and you'll get full even at the sight of these Filipino Christmas cuisine.

Two of our favorite foods

When we went to Washington DC, on the way home we stopped by at an Oriental Store owned by a Filipino. We bought veggies, canned foods and cooked foods, too. I saw a frozen squid and bought it. I just cooked it the other day. Here is my version of Adobong Pusit :-)

Adobong Pusit and Boiled Bockchoy

The here is the Bockchoy, which I have boiled and then put a sauteed garlic with soy sauce and oyster sauce mixtures on top of it. My husband and in-laws love it!

Hotdog, anyone?

This is my son showing me his hotdog ready to be eaten. We bought it at the stall near the White House. I just think it is weird that they are allowed to put a stall there. For me it's not apprpriate place and doesn't match the beauty of everything in that area, considering that it is a historical place and attract tourists and travelers alike. Anyway, maybe it is because those are just rolling stall and they can move wherever and whenever they like to.