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.

French Turnip Soup and Salmon Pinwhat?

I came across Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches at the recent library sale. Every autumn the local library has a huge sale to reduce the books that rarely get checked out, and to allow the community to clean their shelves of books and load back up again for the long Michigan winter.

As soon as I entered the large annex, I headed straight to the cooking area and carefully picked out "the good stuff." This was one of the good books - though there were plenty of gourmet microwave books to be had if you were so gullible. Not me.

The French Turnip Soup on page 12 caught my attention, perhaps because it also included slices of white bread. I never buy white bread anymore. Ever.

Looking through the book, I also found some intriguing sandwich recipes, and settled on the Salmon Pinwheels on page 80. They looked beautiful and somewhat daunting. And they also called for white bread, which Ivan inspected.

The soup was really easy to prepare, though I have to say, once in the liquid, the bread transformed into something icky. Take a look at this:

Mmmmmmm gelatinous white bread.

At the same time I worked on Salmon Pinwheels. I just wanted to see if I could make them look nice. And, besides with all the butter involved, I was sure it would be worth it.

I used a rolling pin to flatten the bread, slather on the flavored butter, and top with smoked salmon. Then I rolled the whole thing up cigar style. And quickly understood why the recipe called for a large, uncut loaf of white bread: length would make a difference here.

I soldiered on and buttered the outside and rolled the whole thing around in chopped parsley. And had myself an aesthetic failure:

I made regular sandwiches with the remainder of the flattened bread, and served along with the turnip soup.

The parsley-covered roll was odd, kind of tickly to eat. Not a fan. But the regular sandwiches were yummy. I wish there was more flavor to them, like a mayonnaise or curry. The soup is fabulous, and you don't notice the funky white bread at all; if I'd used a good quality French white bread, this would be even better.

Both recipes adapted from Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches.

Salmon Pinwheels (or Not)
2 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons parsley, finely minced
1 scallion, finely diced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a shake or so of cayenne pepper

Mix the butter and 1 tablespoon of the parsley with the scallion and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

If you want to attempt a cigar-shaped log, flatten the bread with a rolling pin. If you want a regular sandwich, don't bother. Either way, slather one side with smoked salmon and top with another piece of bread.

For the sandwich log, roll the bread kind of like a jelly roll. Then butter the outside and roll the whole thing around in parsley. The recipe in the book suggests that you wrap this in plastic wrap and chill two hours, then cut into small pinwheels. Too fussy for me!

You will have extra butter and smoked salmon left over, and will have to find some way to use it all up. I'm thinking a morning omelette or evening frittata might be the way to go.

French Turnip Soup
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound white turnips, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
5 cups stock - chicken or vegetable
4 slices white bread, crusts removed
4 oz green peas
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch nutmeg

Heat butter in large saucepan. Add turnips and onion, and cook 10 minutes or more until they begin to soften. Add stock and butter and simmer 25 minutes or until the turnups are soft to the fork. Puree. Add peas, season with salt and pepper and add nutmeg.

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!

Food, Friendship & Math

In addition to enjoying cooking, I also love to read - hence my ever-expanding collection of cookbooks. But how do you "collect" an e-book? 

I recently did some traveling for business, and took along a paperback and an e-book. I liked reading from both. The paperback was Perdido Street Station, and -let me tell you- you don't want to cook anything from the steampunk book unless it's for Halloween. (It's a good read, certainly, but not a cookbook.)

The e-book was The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel with recipes by Melissa Clark, and was published in 2009.

It's a breezy read, mostly composed of a series of emails (current times) and letters (from childhood) written between two "friendemies" who were once best of friends. 

Recipes were created specifically for the book and reflect story lines a la "Breakup with Boyfriend Wine and Dine;" that's not an actual recipe title from the book, but you get the idea. 

The Recipe Club is clever, but not pithy: I read from e-cover to cover in less than a day. I didn't care for the stereotypical good girl/bad girl contrast, nor the way everything works out perfect (too perfect) in the end. 

Regardless, this is the kind of marshmallow fluff of a book I like to snack on, a sort of literary comfort food. 

My favorite recipe title has to be the "Mighty Math Muffins." I'm math-challenged, but after reading this recipe, I'm wondering if it's simply an aversion to math class versus recipe calculations? Here's hoping you can solve the story problems in the recipe; the book gives answers.

Mighty Math Muffins

What's 3/4 cup of sugar times 2?

What's 1/2 of 1/2 cup of butter?
What's 1/6 of a dozen eggs?
What's 1/2 of 32 ounces of all purpose flour?
If a tablespoon has 3 teaspoons and you need 2 tablespoons minues 4 teaspoons, what do you need?
What's a teaspoon of salt minus 3/4?
Waht's 1/4 teaspoon of lemon zest times 4?
What's 1/4 of 16 ounces of milk?
How many cups of chopped cranberries do you need if you need 16 ounces?


Grease muffin tins. Then, when you have the math solutions, mix up the mysterious ingredients. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Herb Drying For Dummies - and You, Too

As the seasons change, the summer of my first CSA membership is slowing down. The farmer has been bringing bountiful harvest each and every week. This week, I received a huge bouquet of feathery fresh dill.

Fresh Dill Bouquet

I was stumped with what to do with all that dill. I couldn't possibly use it all fresh in less than a week. Imagine - dill pancakes, dill potatoes, dill coffee, dill ice cream, dill cookies.

I did use a little chopped dill on eggs one morning, and had used some on an entree as well. I could have frozen the dill, but I'd already frozen quite a bit earlier in the summer. I decided to dry the dill.

A quick search of Google revealed several recommended methods for drying fresh herbs - all quite easy. If you were in a crunch for time, for example, you might try microwaving the dill until dry. Seriously – a little dill between two sheets of paper towels, nuke away in short bursts, and you've got dried dill in under five minutes.

The oven-drying method is equally simple but takes longer. Heat the oven to about 180 and leave the door cracked open. Spread the herb on cooking sheets, and pop into the oven. Then forget about it for a half hour.

Three pans of dill drying in the oven

Come back, shake it around. Stir if you're so motivated. Leave it alone for another half hour. Or longer. My dill was probably depressed because I ignored it for so long.

Regardless, I occasionally stopped by, fussed with the drying dill and went on with other things.

Eventually the dill started to crumble to the touch.

Also, when dill is dried, you can lift it up easily - like lifting a cloud or somewhat felted wool. It all lifts up together...like this.

A "cloud" of dried dill

From there, I simply crumbled the dill to release it from the stems. I discarded the stems, and had a small mountain of dried dill. You can follow the same procedure for many herbs.

Mountain of Dried Dill

Which I have no idea what to do with. Freeze? Share?

I compared the freshly dried dill to "ancient" dill from my cupboard – stuff that I have no idea where it came from...or when. You probably have something like this in your cupboard, too. If it's in plastic, it's absorbed the smell of the plastic, and of other spices and herbs that stored nearby. Mine was kind of brown-green, and smelled like dried weeds.

"Ancient" dill from my cupboard

That's a lesson learned for me - herbs purchased at a grocery store do not retain freshness for long. It's important to replace them periodically.  Give them six months, then start smelling; depending on the herb, they can last up to two years. I have no idea how long I've had the weed-smelly dill.

This is what freshly dried dill looks like. 

Fresh dill (and that other stuff, too.)

It smells like dill. It is thoroughly green, and that speaks to how recently it was in the ground and growing on an organic farm. That other stuff in the cupboard? Get it out of your house - compost it, throw it out, I don't care. But promise me you won't use it again. 

Captivated by Cappelini Caprese

Caprese salads are typically composed of fresh tomato, buffalo mozzarella, julienned basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper. This recipe adds pasta into the mix, and is great for the lazy, hazy days of summer that we're in now.

This recipe comes from a magazine. I have no idea what magazine, though I'm sure I found the recipe sometime in the mid-90s, and have been preparing it every summer since then. It's so simple, and so celebrates the season that you'll add it to your summer repetoire in a heartbeat, too.

The pictures show a recent version of this salad that uses the last bits of cooked and cooled macaroni, red onion, and leftover chicken breast. The recipe is easily adapted in that way. Don't have parsley? Don't worry about it. I'm sure the salad will be delicious anyway you make it today. And - if there are any leftovers - it will be even better tomorrow.

Cappelini With Tomato

CAPPELINI WITH TOMATO
Serves four or more

12 oz cappelini, cooked, tossed with 2 T olive oil, and cooled to room temperature

4 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup scallion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz mozzarella, shredded - be sure to use FRESH mozzarella.
Salt and Pepper to taste
Walnuts (optional) for garnish

Combine the tomatoes, scallion, basil, galric, mozzarella, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and let stand, at room temperature, for at least thirty minutes. Toss with pasta and walnuts and serve.

This recipe is great for potlucks and picnics. On top of my worn out recipe card I wrote "A summer classic" - indeed.

Kohlrabi, Potatoes, Bok Choy

I gotta say, cooking from a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) share is a challenge for me. I feel like I've been thrown completely off my cookbook rhythm and still haven't found the beat yet. It's out there, somewhere...

Earlier this year I picked up a copy of Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables (subtitled: Seasonal Stories and Recipes from a Community Supported Farm - by Farmer John Peterson and Angelic Organics.) How's that for a mouthful?

John Peterson is an iconoclast, grounded -literally- in the history of farming in the Midwest. He was raised in farming, nearly lost his farm, and then raised the farm up to be a shining beacon in the CSA community. Currently, the Angelic Organics farm supplies more than 1200 shareholders in the Chicago area. This video gives you a sneak preview of the full documentary regarding John and his farm:

The cookbook is indispensable for any CSA member. It's chocked full of vegetables, herbs, recipes, stories, and more. This year I've received more kohlrabi than I have ever seen...in fact, I'd never tried kohlrabi before this summer. It's in the cabbage family, so think of that taste. First, start by nibbling the kohlrabi raw. Move on to Koleslaw.

I peeled then chunked the kohlrabi and placed in my food processor. I added in a few carrots for color. Then I pulsed the food processor a few times until I had a lovely slawy mix. I added a classic coleslaw dressing of mayonnaise, cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper, then stirred and tasted. Yummy!

Kohlrabi Koleslaw

Once you've mastered raw kohlrabi, head straight for mashed kohlrabi. Combine with potatoes for a fabulous alternative to mashed potatoes. Keep 2 to 1 ratio of kohlrabi to potatoes, and you'll do just fine. Be sure to boil separately, the combine with butter, milk, salt, and pepper. There's a delightful recipe on page 203 of Uncle John's Cookbook.

Mashed Kohlrabi and Potatoes

Bok Choy is one of those vegetables that stymies many. It's also a member of the cabbage family, and can be used like both like celery (the white stalks) and like leafy greens (the dark green part.) Uncle John's suggested sauteeing the choy with butter, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. I wasn't disappointed with the recipe on page 80.

Gingered Bok Choy

This is a cookbook for vegetable lovers everywhere. I find that I'm referring to it over and over again to figure out what to do with that vegetable I just learned about. I'll often try the vegetable raw, then experiment with cooking and see what transpires.

CSA cooking? It's an adventure!

KOHLRABI KOLESLAW with Klassic Kreamy Koleslaw Dressing

1 kohlrabi, roughly chopped (or more – you decide)

Whir the kohlrabi chunks in your food processor until it resembles your favorite Koleslaw size…sliced, shredded, or little bitty bites.

Klassic Creamy Koleslaw Dressing
(from Joy of Cooking)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup cider or rice vinegar
1-2 tablespoons sugar
Stir until well blended. Makes about 1 cup, which slathers the one kohlrabi; store for use on other unsuspecting kohlrabi’s. Pour over shredded Kohlrabi and mix it up.

Suggested Additions:
carrot, pineapple, fresh herbs, bacon, bell pepper, onion – the sky’s the limit!

Favorite Summer Salad

Everyone could use a no-stress, no mess summer salad. Mine is a variation of the ubiquitous three-bean salad that leaves ample room for spontaneous ingredient meandering based on what's on hand.

The base ingredient is three cans of beans. In this mixture I used kidney, black, and pinto beans but honestly, virtually any mixture of three beans would do the trick. If you're feeling daring - only use two, or throw all caution to the wind and try one kind of bean. Three different colored beans, however, have a little magic cooking moxie.

Magic Moxie Bean Mix

Next up is an assortment of farm fresh vegetables, and this is where your creativity and local availability really take shape. If you're at the farmer's market, pick up red and orange peppers, sweet corn, red onions, tomatoes, and broccoli. Here I used much of what was in this week's Swier Family Farm CSA box.

Another addition is the freshly chopped herb (or herbs) of your choice. In this salad, I used dill exclusively; the salad works equally well with only cilantro.

The finally, add some of your favorite dressing. I used the final drops from a bottled dressing, and it was just enough to coat the salad, but not enough to overpower the dill. I also added some freshly cracked black pepper, and stirred to combine. I plan to let it sit in the fridge overnight and share at a potluck tomorrow. By then the flavors will have had time to marinate and become all kinds of crazy yumminess.

Favorite Summer Salad

My favorite summer salad is healthy, easy, crowd-pleasing and incredibly forgiving to the cook. What's your favorite summer salad?

Favorite Summer Salad
3 cans cooked beans - black, pinto, kidney
1 cup green, red, yellow, or orange bell pepper
2 ears fresh corn, shucked
1 cup (?) chopped red onion (I didn't write down how much I used)
1 pint grape tomatoes, at least halved, chopped if you're up to it
2 tablespoons or more fresh dill, chopped
1/4 to 1/3 cup bottled dressing of your choice (or mix your own)
Salt and pepper to taste

Place everything into a large bowl and mix well. Feel free to experiment with all of the ingredients: in the photographed version, I used a little broccoli, too. I've also made this salad adding in a cup or so of cooked, cooled brown rice or quinoa.