We love beans. Not everyone loves beans . . I get it . . but I don’t understand it, probably in the same way most people don’t understand why I don’t like chocolate. We do eat a lot of beans and even though they are high in carbs, when we’re dieting, we find that a reasonable portion every few days does not knock us out of ketosis. They are complex carbs and they have lots of fiber and other nutritional benefits so, in my opinion, it’s not like drinking a Dr. Pepper. 🙂
Each of these tubs will hold about 70 pounds of beans and we have several tubs.
There are several colors of lentils, split peas, kidney beans, small red beans, mayocoba (yellow) beans, great northern beans, navy beans, black eyed peas, pinto beans and black beans, though mostly I buy those in 50 pound bags at Sam’s Club. There are also several packages of 15 or 16 bean soup mixes in our tubs.
Recipes we love are 15 Bean Soup, White Bean/Chicken Chili;
- 15 Bean Soup (which we’re having today)
- White Bean/Chicken Chili
- Borracho Beans
- Refried Beans
- Red Beans/Sausage/Rice
- Homemade Baked Beans
- Lentil Soup
If you’re wanting to try more beans in your diet, there are a lot of recipes at The Bean Institute’s recipe section.
One thing I thought was funny, and just proves that there’s so much I don’t know and so much I will never know – I grew up in southwest Louisiana and beans were a staple. I’m not sure if it was because we were kinda poor or if it’s just part of the culture but we loved beans and at them often. Of course, red beans, sausage and rice is definitely a Louisiana dish that’s served often. As far as I know, mom always used kidney beans and I always used kidney beans to make red beans and rice. In fact, Camellia Brand beans are the beans I used for years and even the recipe on their website calls for red kidney beans. When Vince and I got married, I made red beans, sausage and rice often and finally one day, he told me he didn’t like it because the skins on the beans were tough. I still don’t see it but I switched to using pinto beans which he liked better.
A while back, I was reading about different beans when I was thinking about what kind of beans I might plant, I realized that “small red beans” are different from “red beans”, which are usually kidney beans. I bought a bag of small red beans to try with our next batch of red beans, sausage and rice. Vince liked them! No tough skins. I never knew about small red beans til that time. Last night I was watching a video about beans and the guy mentioned the small red beans and talked about them, as well as other beans. I started thinking . . maybe I’m not (but maybe I am) the only person who never knew there was a difference in red beans vs. red kidney beans so I thought I’d share . . just in case.
Theresa Taylor says
I married my husband who is from Missouri and he loves his beans . When we were first married I did not like beans except Scandinavian split bean soup. thirty years later we have beans at least once a week in some form.
Judy Laquidara says
So, maybe it’s not a Louisiana thing but maybe just that some of us grew up eating beans and more beans!
Donna says
There’s a story I heard all my life, more often when I was in Louisiana. They say it started around New Orleans. Monday was wash day and while the men worked the ladies had to get supper and the laundry, so Red Beans and rice was the answer because they’d make a large pot that they’d cook all day, and rarely needed tending. Sausage was always a part of it but different people used different sausages. My step mother who was from S La said she did that growing up. We almost always have red beans and rice + sausage on Mondays. We use Camellia beans and small red beans off and on. I’m sure there are other origin stories, I find it fascinating – same food, different stories.
Rebecca in SoCal says
I was going to reply that I had heard, from Louisianans, that a certain day meant red beans and rice. I’m glad Donna gave a better, more authentic explanation.
When I first made RB&R, the recipe called for small red beans. I was surprised to find a bag labelled just that! (I thought there might be a choice of red beans which happened to be small). 🙂
My husband loves beans. A lot. I have used my Instant Pot as much for beans as for everything else! The other day he went to buy pintos, but brought home “pink beans,” something I had not heard of. Now to go check out that bean site and see how many varieties they use.
Joyce says
I have never really liked beans, and my father used to joke that I wasn’t really his daughter, because I would not eat beans! LOL. I still don’t like very many beans, and I definitely have never liked his favorite, ham hocks and beans. Yuck! (I would rather eat chocolate.) 🙂
Susan Nixon says
I like beans, personally, and 15-bean soup is one of my favorites, with a ham bone in it. Plants of whatever kind are the ONLY things that have fiber in them. Okay, animals which eat plants will have very minimal amounts, but not enough to keep us healthy. If we process things too much, we lose or damage the fiber so that it can’t do it’s job, too.
Claudia says
I grew up in Texas and there was always a pot of pinto beans with ham hocks in our refrigerator. My dad loved them. We ate them with hot sauce or pickle relish, with a side of cornbread. Love them. Married a man from Louisiana. I learned to like red beans and rice and he learned to like pintos.