Bea's Beans

If I was to create a cookbook that represents my mom, one of the standouts would surely be Bea's Beans. These beans are legendary.


If there's a potluck, it's assumed that Bea will bring beans. And if Bea decides to bring something else? People have been known to pout.


"Oh, I was really looking forward to Aunt Bea's beans."


"What? No beans from Bea? Darn."


So here they are. 


Step One
Pull out your trusty recipe card. The one you've had for forty years or more. Fondly remember the times you've made this recipe, and the adjustments made. Each time they're a little bit different. If you have to, squint to read the distinctive writing while lamenting the decline of cursive writing.

Recipe Card Front

Recipe Card Back

Step Two
Measure and sort the beans. 

Drag a good amount from the pile.

Quickly scan to see if there are any small stones. Also admire the beautiful rings.

Pull the clean beans into a waiting dish.

Step Three 
Soak the beans and rinse well. 

Rinse until water is clear.

Step Four
Boil the beans until soft. Just before adding the baking soda, mom leans over and quietly reveals a story about a family friend who claims that baking soda "Take the farts out." Later I learned that indeed, baking soda does help lower flatulence associated with beans. 

Beans before boiling.

Beans after boiling.

Step Five
Mix the beans with other ingredients. Taste to be sure they're tasty. Feel free to taste repeatedly. The beans are certainly edible at this point, but they're not baked. So hold yourself back from consuming too many beans at this stage because seriously, they're even better fresh from the oven.

Beans mixed and ready for baking.

Step Six
Bake. The beans come out of the oven bubbly. If you've gotten the recipe right, the baking pan will be blackened in some areas. And each time you make these, your family will fall in love all over again.

BEA'S BEANS 


2 pounds dry beans (4 cups)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup catsup
1 1/2 sticks butter
3 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup vinegar




Sort and wash beans in cold water. Cover with cold water, and soak overnight. Drain.
Place in large sauce pan. Cover with warm water and boil gently about one hour. After coming to first boil, add 1 teaspoon soda. Skim foam to remove any specks. Then boil gently until soft (not mushy.) Remove from heat. Drain off liquid and reserve. Put beans in dish used for oven baking. Stir and add reserved liquid to cover beans. Bake at 350 for an hour and a half. Reduce heat to 325. Bake 1/2 hour. 


Variations: Microwave bacon strips 4-6 until crisp. Crumble and mix into beans. Return to oven at 325. Mom has also used homemade catsup in place of the store bought. Feel free to vary the amounts to suit the tastes of your family.


Suggestions: This recipe makes a lot of beans - easily enough to share at a potluck or family gathering. I imagine you could halve the recipe. And I can guarantee that, if you put them in the fridge overnight, they'll taste just as good tomorrow.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Heaven, Bar Cookie Style

You know I have a thing for bar cookies, right?

This is an old recipe, found in a cookbook when I was a teenager. I've been making it ever since then. And, despite the fact that my younger sister gets grouchy when she doesn't get carded, it's been a very long time since I was a teenager, so I've made these for years. And I giggle a little if and when I do get carded.

Anyway, I had a craving for the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. I tried some chocolate brownies with peanut butter frosting last week, but the brownie part wasn't satisfying. The frosting was.  Even peanut butter M & M's didn't satisfy my craving.

It's also too early to beg for holiday Buckeye's from mom, so I decided to make the Peanut Butter Fingers. I mixed up the base ingredients of butter, sugar, egg, peanut butter, flour, oatmeal and baking soda.

And I used all white sugar, instead of a mixture of white and brown sugar; this changed the texture and taste slightly. I tasted several times to be sure it was acceptably peanut buttery, then patted into a 13x9 pan. And realized I'd forgotten the vanilla. Oh well, the base was still yummy.

As that was baking, I measured layer #2: dark chocolate chips. I tasted a few to be sure they were OK.

Layer #3 with these cookies is a peanut butter glaze made from powdered sugar, peanut butter, and milk. I didn't have milk, so substituted whipping cream (which I bought for a recipe I never made.) This made the mixture thicker, more like a frosting - it's usually a more runny glaze consistency.

While waiting for the cookie base to come out of the oven, I tasted the frosting repeatedly to ensure complete peanut buttery satisfaction.

The cookie base came out of the oven and I poured on the chocolate chips. And applied quality control standards to the frosting.

I spread the chocolate chips all over the cookie base. And tasted the frosting.

Then, I tasted the frosting and spread the frosting over the melted chocolate chips. I also licked the spatula as needed  to ensure quality control.

I had a little frosting left over, so made sure was still delicious. These are easy to make because you can get away with mixing the base in one bowl, and turn around and make the frosting in the same bowl a little later.

Just be sure that you test repeatedly throughout the baking process to ensure they're as good as I think they are!

Peanut Butter Fingers

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
2-4 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan and set aside; I have also made these cookies successfully in a jelly roll pan. The 13x9 pan makes the base thicker, while with the jelly roll pan the base will be thinner.

Cream together the butter and sugars, along with the egg, peanut butter, and baking soda. Then mix in the flour and oatmeal. The mixture should be fairly stiff. Pat into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.

While the base is baking, make and repeatedly taste test the frosting by combining the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup peanut butter, and milk until smooth.

When the base comes out of the oven, pour chocolate chips over. Let stand until the chips are melted and spread over the base. Wait just a bit longer and drizzle with peanut butter glaze. Devour.

Sweet & Sour Turkey: A Family Tradition

I have waxed poetic about this recipe more than once because, frankly, it's one of those never-fail, long-lasting recipes that I don't know if I could live without. 


Mom got the recipe from a friend of hers, and made it for us sometime back in the 1970s. It passed the "will kids it it" test, and has been a staple in the family ever since. I dare you to not like this. 


It's called Sweet and Sour Turkey, but I usually make it with chicken. In fact, I went out and bought a supermarket rotisserie chicken just for this, although I've also made it with leftover Sunday roast chicken, too. Not recently mind, you, but it has happened in the past.


This is what it looks like:

Sauce ingredients

Stir-frying in progress

Sauce cooked and thickened

Sweet & Sour Turkey Over Rice

And this is how you make 7-8 servings:


FOR THE SAUCE
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup turkey stock
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegard
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup catsup
Combine these and cook and stir until thick and clear. Set aside.


FOR THE STIR-FRY
2 T vegetable oil
3/4 cup pineapple chunks, drained
3/4 cup carrots, sliced diagonally
3/4 cup green pepper, chopped
4 cups turkey, cooked, cubed
Stir fry carrots in oil for 1 minute. Add pepper, fruit, turkey, and cook until heated through. Add sauce. Stir and heat for a few minutes. Serve over hot rice. 


Here are some notes from Mom over the years:

• Make with chicken instead of turkey (use chicken stock, too.)
• Use mandarin oranges, apples, sweet baby gherkin pickles.
• Use the microwave to make the sauce.
• Use 2 cups meat, which makes enough for two dinner servings and a little left over for lunch.
• Use whatever you want for carrots and pineapple, about a cup each.
• Substitute chili sauce (mom makes her own) for the catsup.

I substituted red pepper for green, and added sliced zucchini plus chopped baby corn...and some celery, too: I prefer more vegetables than meat in stir-fry meals. The recipe freezes well, though you'll be lucky if there are any leftovers to freeze. 


Now go get the ingredients and prepare it very soon. You will love it, and you will thank me for it over and over and over. Thoroughly enjoy!

Chunky Junky Monkey, What's Your Game?

From The Recipe Vault is an ongoing, completely irregular feature of CookBook Fetish. I'll pull out a recipe card, perhaps a favorite, perhaps something new, and see what happens. This particular recipe I collected on the internet some fourteen or fifteen years ago. I have no idea where it came from as the recipe card doesn't mention an origin.

This is a great use for bananas just about ready to go bad or go to the freezer (or go to the garbage disposal,) and is a little twist on typical banana bread. You know my phobia about bananas in banana form in recipes? That doesn't extend to the taste of bananas in a recipe, so I enjoy banana bread.

Like most quick bread recipes, this goes from bowl to oven to mouth in a little over an hour. Vary the ingredients to suit your tastes and cupboard supplies as needed.

Chunky Junky Banana Bread

1/3 cup butter, creamed
1 or 2 eggs, beaten
1 to 1 1/4 cup banana pulp, mashed thoroughly
1-2 t lime juice
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

I used dark chocolate chips and dried cherries instead of milk chocolate chips and apricots.

The only instructions I've written are 350, 1 hour, greased pan. After you've made a few quick breads, that's the only instruction needed. Ideally you'll cream together the liquids, then gently add in the dry ingredients. I usually throw it all together and slap it into a prepared pan, totally ignoring all that nonsense. I still haven't noticed a difference in my baking, though I suppose if I was at a fancy-schmancy professional kitchen it might make a difference. For me, nope.

This is a lovely, dense banana bread, sure to please your family and friends. Those writer friends I've mentioned before thoroughly enjoyed the bread, too.