What to Do With Dried Beans: An Ask the Audience

Dear Home-Ec 101,

I'm hoping you will have a couple of ideas – we stocked up on a bunch of pantry things before going car-free, and I now have a surplus of every kind of dried bean, and no clue what to do with them. I'm hoping to find a few good main dish recipes, especially slow cooker ones, so I don't end up making just beans and rice over and over.

Any suggestions, especially where the beans are the main focus, would be very helpful!

Signed,
Soaking in South Bend

Heather says:

Beans and rice, rice and beans. . .

The thing with rice and beans is that there many, many variations on the same two main ingredients. Don't be afraid to experiment with different types. You'll find there's quite a difference in flavor from navy beans and rice and Hoppin' John. I need to get it together and finally add red beans and rice to the site, as well as black beans. I'm not saying I'd like to go with a week of nothing but rice and bean dishes, but if the rice and beans were varied enough we could have a rice and bean rotation once a week for quite a while before I'd tire of the idea.

That said also consider:

Lentil Burgers - you can substitute an equal amount of cooked beans in this recipe, just omit the stock.

Kidney Bean Burgers – this isn't a recipe, more of an idea of how to make them.

Black Bean Burrito Filling - They also work in tacos, enchiladas -here a recipe for enchilada sauce-, and of course oven chimichangas.

And of course, you can't leave out my all-time-favorite refried beans. The kids call them squishy beans and they are made with astounding regularity around here. They love bean burritos for lunch.

Home-Eccers, I would love for you to share, via link in the comments, your favorite recipes that use dried beans.

Submit your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

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