How To: Cook Dry Beans

Several months ago I started paying more attention to the labels on the canned goods I was buying. After hearing all sorts of bad things about ingredients like BPA and Carageenan I decided I needed to know more about what I was putting into my body.

Beans, which are generally considered a healthy food, had some shocking ingredients! I was amazed at the amount of added sugar and salt in just one can of beans. Maybe I was naive, but I’d always figured beans were just, well, beans. I was wrong!

Considering my options, I knew buying the organic, all natural, BPA free canned beans wasn’t an option for me. They are quite expensive and difficult to come by where I live.

So, I started investigating dry beans. They seemed to be cheap, and the only thing in the bag was beans. Every grocery store I shop at also has an ample selection of dried beans.

I started researching how to use dry beans in cooking and was shocked at how little information I found. In recipe ingredient lists beans are almost always measured by the can. I found a few recipes that referenced using your own cooked beans, but nothing much about actually cooking them. I tried following the package directions from a bag of black beans, but the beans were just too hard. I continued researching, picking up tidbits of information here and there, experimenting with different methods along the way, and finally came up with a consistent method for cooking beans. None of this is something special that I have come up with, rather, a compilation of information I have gleaned from many sources, all of which has been tested in my kitchen!

Aside from what I already mentioned (cost, food additives), I have not noticed a big difference in switching from canned to cooked beans. Beans that I have cooked seem to be a bit smaller than their canned counterparts. Many people talk about how amazing freshly cooked beans taste, compared to ones from a can. To be honest, I haven’t noticed a big difference, but I tend to add beans to dishes that already have a lot of flavor, like tacos and chili. If you are used to canned beans you may find home cooked beans need a bit of salt.

I’ve used this cooking method for a whole variety of beans with success. Cooking your own beans takes some planning, but the hands on effort is next to nothing. Much of the process happens while you sleep! After an initial soak there’s a cooking option for using the stove top or a slow cooker.

 

Step 1:

Open the bag of beans and sort them. What does sorting mean? Simply, take out anything that isn’t a bean. Occasionally you’ll find a small stone, a bean of a different variety, or just a misshapen bean. Just throw these away (or compost them). You will find beans that look a bit dirty but don’t discard these. Part of the cooking process involves rinsing, so you don’t need to worry about ingesting the dirt. As you sort the beans, place all the good beans in a large bowl that you have a lid for.

Step 2:

Take the bowl of sort beans and fill it with water. You’ll need to add enough water to completely cover the beans, plus a few extra inches. Put the cover on the bowl of soaking beans and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Step 3:

After the beans have soaked overnight you’ll want to rinse them. Just dump the entire contents of the bowl into a large strainer. Run water over the beans until the liquid coming out of the bottom is clear.

Step 4: Stove Top Option

Add the rinsed beans to a large pot and fill this with water. Similar to the soaking, you’ll need enough water to cover the beans plus a few extra inches on top of the beans. Bring the pot to a boil, and then reduce the heat so that it stays at a simmer. Watch during the cooking to make sure the water doesn’t run low. If you see beans sticking out above the water, just add more. You’ll probably notice some foam forming, you can use a spoon to scoop this out, if desired. Let cook until the beans are tender. I test by poking with a fork and seeing how easily it goes in, or with a taste test. Cook time is 1 to 2 hours, depending on the bean variety.

Step 4: Slow Cooker/Crock Pot Option

Add the rinsed beans to a slow cooked and fill the slow cooker with water. Similar to the soaking, you’ll need enough water to cover the beans plus a few extra inches on top of the beans. Turn the crock pot to high heat. As the beans cook, watch to make sure the water doesn’t run low. If you see beans sticking out above the water, just add more. You’ll probably notice some foam forming, you can use a spoon to scoop this out, if desired. Let cook until the beans are tender. I test by poking with a fork and seeing how easily it goes in, or with a taste test. Cook time is 1 to 2 hours, depending on the bean variety.

Using/Storing Cooked Beans

Once your beans are cooked, you can use them as you would any canned beans! Use about 2 cups of your cooked beans in place of one 15 oz can of beans. Cooked beans that you aren’t going to use within a few days can be frozen.

I plan to write another post with more of the specifics about using canned beans in recipes. For the time being, this should be enough to get you started on the path to replacing you canned beans with home cooked beans. If you have any questions about how to do this, please leave me comment for me to answer, or shoot me an email, facebook message, etc.

I hope you give this a try, and see for yourself how easy it is to cook your own beans at home! Keep an eye out next week for a new gluten free, vegetarian recipe you can use freshly cooked beans for!

How To: Make Banana Sweetened Oatmeal (+ tons of flavor variations)

Oatmeal is a wonderful breakfast. It’s hearty, filling, healthy, and can take on so many flavors!

If you’ve read any of my “What I Ate Last Week” posts, you’ve probably noticed I eat a lot of oatmeal. I shared our favorite baked oatmeal recipe recently, but I often make oatmeal on the stove top, too. I’m always coming up with a new flavor variation or topping to try, but the basic ingredients and cooking method are always the same.

The three basic ingredients are oats, liquid, and banana. When you choose your oats make sure you find gluten free oats! Oats, in and of themselves, are naturally gluten free. However, most oats go through so much of the manufacturing process with wheat that they may contain up to 200ppm of wheat! The difference with gluten free oats is that they are manufactured using dedicated gluten free equipment throughout the whole process, from field to packaging. There are several varieties of gluten free oats out there to choose from. So far, every brand I have tried has been great. For this recipe, you’ll want to use regular, old fashioned oats. You can use the quick cooking variety, but you’ll end up with a mushier bowl of oatmeal.

The liquid you choose to cook the oatmeal in is entirely up to you. My standard is half water/half almond milk. Water is great for a more savory oatmeal, but milk adds a creaminess that fits a sweet oatmeal well. There are lots of types of milk available at grocery stores, and every variety I have tried in oatmeal has worked. Personally, I always use almond milk because dairy doesn’t sit well with my husband. Now, if you want to get crazy with the liquid there are a few more options: A bit of coffee, tea, chocolate milk, etc. Just keep the total ratio of liquid to oats 2:1.

The last major ingredient is the banana. The more ripe the banana, the better. Riper bananas taste sweeter and are easier to mash. Those ripe bananas that are on clearance at the grocery store are perfect for mashing and putting in oatmeal! Just make sure whatever bananas you use are getting brown.

These directions give you the option to make a plain oatmeal or a chocolate oatmeal. Either is good, and fit with different toppings and other flavors. If you make chocolate oatmeal you’ll need a tablespoon of cocoa powder. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re not used to sugar free baking this may taste strange to you. Add a sweetener (there are a few listed below) if you want one stronger than just banana.

Left: Chocolate Oatmeal
Right: Regular Oatmeal with peanut butter

Now, onto the cooking method. First, mash the banana. I slice it into a bowl first.

Then, using a fork, I mash it. If the banana is fairly ripe it will mash easily. A trick for using less-ripe bananas is to slice them and microwave for about 30 seconds. The microwaved banana will be softer and easier to mash, but not quite as sweet as a riper banana.

In a small sauce pan combine the oats and liquid.

Turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil. If you want to make chocolate oatmeal, watch the pot closely. I’ve found the best time to add cocoa powder is when the liquid in the pot just begins to simmer. It looks like this – see those bubbles along the edge on the pan? That’s what you’re looking for.

If you’re making chocolate oatmeal, stir in the cocoa powder when you see these tiny bubbles forming along the edges of the pan.

Stir in about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa powder per 1/2 cup of oatmeal. Stir it in quickly, trying to get any lumps of cocoa powder out. It should dissolve fairly quickly.

Once the cocoa powder is stirred in the pot probably will be boiling!

When the oatmeal is at a boil turn the heat down to medium. If the milk gets frothy and foamy and starts to boil over just stir, and it should go down. Keep stirring every couple of minutes just to keep the cooking oats from sticking. How often you need to stir will depend on the type of pan you are using. Nonstick pans will likely require less stirring. You’ll notice the liquid slowly absorb into the oats. I like to stir in the mashed banana when the liquid is about half absorbed.

Keep cooking and stirring until the oatmeal is the consistency you’re looking for. Some people like less liquid, some people like more! Once it’s done, just transfer the oatmeal to a bowl to eat.

Finished oatmeal – the consistency I like.

Now, the best part, flavoring oatmeal. Here’s a long list of suggestions for flavorings, toppings, and oatmeal add-ins.

• Extracts: Add 1/2 tsp of any extract flavor you’d like, mint, vanilla, coconut, etc. This is a really easy way to add some flavor to a bowl of oats. Just stir it in towards the end of the cooking.
• Nuts & Nut Butters: Nuts are great for flavor and add some crunch to a normally soft bowl of oatmeal. Nut butters add some creaminess and flavor to oatmeal, and some sweetness, depending on the type you choose. Nuts are a great way to add some protein to your breakfast, too! Stir into the oatmeal right when it’s done cooking or just use as a topping!
• Gound Flax: If you are trying to eat more fiber add about a tablespoon of flax to your oatmeal while it is cooking.
• Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, etc are another easy way to transform a boring bowl of oatmeal into something bursting with flavor. Start with 1/4 – 1/2 tsp per serving of oats and add more as needed.
• Chips: Chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, mint chips, etc. Add them on top of your bowl of oats or stir them into your finished bowl of oatmeal to melt.
• Shredded Coconut: Sweetened or unsweetened, either way it adds taste and texture.
• Fruits: Berries, apple, pineapple, sliced banana, the list goes on and on!
• Flavored Liquids: Use steeped tea or coffee for some of the liquid you cook the oats in for flavor infused oatmeal (just be sure to keep a 2:1 liquid to oats ratio).
• Sweets: I tend to avoid sugar, but some crushed candies, graham crackers, marshmallows, candy bar bits would all make a yummy, sweet oatmeal for a treat.
• Other sweeteners: Sugar, honey, agave, maple syrup all add sweetness to the oatmeal, each with a bit of a different flavor.
• Other mashed fruit/vegetable: I’ve subbed mashed banana for applesauce, mashed sweet potato, or pumpkin successfully.

Chocolate Oatmeal with Coconut and Almond Butter

Some of the fun of oatmeal is making unique flavors each morning! Here are some recipes to different flavored oatmeals I’ve made. Try one of these or use the ideas above to make up your own!

Almond Joy Oatmeal

Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal

Cinnamon Vanilla Oatmeal

Pumpkin Oatmeal

How To: Make Banana Sweetened Oatmeal

This makes 1 serving of oatmeal, but is an easy recipe to make a double, triple, quadruple, batch.

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 c gluten free oats
• 1 c liquid (I use 1/2 c milk and 1/2 c water)
• 1 banana, mashed.
• 1 Tbs cocoa powder (optional, for chocolate oatmeal)
• any add-ins listed above

Directions

1. Combine the oats and liquid in a small sauce pan.
2. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. If you are making chocolate oatmeal, stir in the cocoa powder just before the oatmeal comes to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to medium, and stir to avoid any boiling over.
4. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed and the oats reach your desired consistency.
5. Serve with any of the adds in listed above.

How To: Use & Store Fresh Ginger

I’ve had the pictures for this post for a couple of months now. I’ve even scheduled it (and then put something else in it’s place) a few times. Ginger is a common ingredient in stir fries, which I tend to make at least once a week.  Since ginger is an important ingredient to me so I like to always have some on hand, but I keep wondering if anyone else really cares that much about it.

Ultimately, I’ve (obviously) decided to post it. The thing with ginger is that it can go bad quickly and it’s not necessarily the kind of thing you can (or want to) just use up quickly before it goes bad. Since I have a couple recipes calling for ginger on this blog, and will surely have more in the future, I wanted to make sure all of you know how to store it so you’re not stuck with rotting ginger. Yuck!

By freezing ginger in small pieces you will keep it fresher longer and you will get the prep work done all at once. This method is no big culinary secret, but I think it’s something every cook who uses ginger should be aware of. It will really save you time when making meals and you’ll never waste money of rotting ginger again!

So, here’s what you’ll need:

• Fresh ginger (also called ginger root)
• Vegetable peeler
• Cutting board
• Knife
• Glass jar, or other freezer safe container

The first thing to do it peel the skin off of the ginger with a vegetable peeler. It will come off easily. The hard part may be getting around some of the bumps and in the crevasses. My peeler has a nice tip on it that I can use to get into small spaces. If a section is going to be difficult to peel, just cut the ginger in such a way that makes it easy to peel. You’re going to be cutting it anyway, so it’s no problem if you have to make a few slices to get the peeling done.  You’ll see in this next picture that I had to cut one of my ginger pieces into three sections to get the whole thing peeled.

Now that the ginger is peeled, cut it up into small pieces. The general rule of thumb is 1 inch pieces. Personally, I like to cut mine into a variety of sizes so that I can choose one that is just the right size for what I am cooking.

Finally, put all of your peeled ginger pieces into a jar or other freezer safe container (for the longest time, I had ginger stored in an empty Nutella container). Stored in the freezer, the ginger will last a long time. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure how long it will last. Does anyone know? I have never had any ginger go bad when stored this way in the freezer!

When you’re ready to use your ginger take however much you need out of the jar in the freezer. I usually like to leave that piece out for a couple minutes to warm up before slicing or mincing it. Using a chef knife, the frozen ginger is very easy to slice thinly. You can use these ginger slices as is (we’ve used this for making tea – not sure if that is normal or not), or mince them for use in a sauce or stir fry.

There you have it: how to store ginger!

How To: Make GF Corn Tortillas (that are soft and pliable!)

Tortillas are just so darn useful. Tacos have always held a special place in my heart and stomach, but there are so many more uses for tortillas than just Mexican food. I know I’m not the only one out there who makes breakfast wraps and burritos! I love to take boring leftovers and re-purpose them as quesadillas (Once, we had 2 pounds of Korean BBQ Beef leftover from a party. I re-purposed that into some pretty weird popovers and some pretty good quesadillas).

And then there’s taquitos.  Crispy outside, creamy inside, full of whatever flavor you want. A perfect match for the corn tortilla. I guarantee you that I won’t be able to have this blog for too much longer without a taquito recipe appearing.

So why make your own tortillas when you can buy a bag of 100 at the grocery store for $3? Well, just try out homemade tortillas and I think you will realize why! Unlike the store bought corn tortillas, fresh tortillas bend and fold around your food without splitting and cracking. Homemade tortillas have a whopping three ingredients in them. The packaged versions aren’t awful, but definitely have some extra chemicals and preservatives in them. Making tortillas is also super simple!

The ingredients

The three simple ingredients you’ll need to homemade tortillas are corn flour (also called masa or masa harina), water, and salt. I bought my corn flour in a 5lb bag at the grocery store on the international foods aisle. I’ve also seen it at the Hispanic food market in town (but it is more expensive there).

I store my corn flour in an airtight container with the directions taped to it for quick and easy access.

The Tools

The traditional tools used for making tortillas are a tortilla press and warmer. However, these are also simple to improvise. The tortillas press evenly flattens the dough ball into the tortillas shape. The warmer keeps tortillas warm and soft until they are eaten. A heavy skillet can sub in for a tortillas press and any container with a lid that flat tortillas will fit in can be a tortillas warmer.

My tortillas press & tortillas warmer were among some of my favorite wedding gifts 🙂

The Process

First, mix your dough. I’ve included measurements below for five tortillas. Your bag of masa will probably have measurements and directions for making different amounts of tortillas. There’s no special procedure for mixing the dough, just dump your ingredients in the bowl and stir it up!

The mixed dough – it will be a bit crumbly.

Next, roll the dough into balls. Your dough may be a little crumbly, but the balls should stay together. These balls DO NOT need to be perfect – they are only going to get flattened, after all.

(Imperfect) Dough balls

Once your dough balls are done get out your tortilla press. Put a piece of plastic wrap over each side of the open press, and then put a dough ball right in the middle of the bottom plate of the press. Fold the top over and use the lever to firmly press the plates together. It just takes a second or two of pressing. When you lift the lever and top plate you’ll see that the dough ball is now flattened. If you’re a perfectionist, like me, you can shift the tortilla 90 degrees or 180 degrees and press again to help get a perfectly circular shape. You’ll see, though, that it will be pretty darn close to perfect the first time.

If you don’t have a frying pan, try just using your counter top and a large skillet. Place the a dough ball in between two pieces of plastic wrap, set the bottom of the skillet on top of the dough ball, and press down firmly with you palm flat on the inside of the skillet. You should still end up with a pretty round, flat, tortilla!

Once the dough is flattened it looks more like a tortilla.

After your dough balls are pressed, heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. When it’s warm, lay a tortilla in the pan. After 60 seconds, flip it.

This is what the tortilla will look like after it is flipped, just a little brown.

Let the tortilla cook another minute, and then take it out of the pan and put it in your tortilla warmer while you cook the other tortillas.

In the tortillas warmer, ready to eat!

Other notes

These tortillas are best used fresh. If you have leftovers, or want to make them in advance, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you are ready to use the tortillas, just microwave them for a few seconds. The heat will make them pliable again.

These tortillas will work for any baked dishes, like enchiladas or taquitos. Just to be clear, you still have to cook them in the skillet first, even if you are going to bake them!

Once you have some experience, you can expedite the tortilla making process by creating a sort of “assembly line”. While one tortillas is in the pan you can be rolling and pressing another dough ball. Personally, I always like to roll all of the dough balls before I move forward, just so I can make sure they are all uniformly sized.

How To: Make GF Corn Tortillas

Ingredients

• 3/4c corn flour/masa
• 1/3c + 3 Tbs water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cooking Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Roll dough into 5 equally sized balls
3. Press each ball with a tortilla press (or use your counter top and heavy frying pan) to flatten the dough balls.
4. Cook each tortilla in a skillet over medium-high heat for 1 minute on each side.
5. Keep your cooked tortillas in a tortilla warmer until all are cooked, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

How To: Make Gluten Free Crepes

Making homemade crepes is not hard! It does take some unique techniques, but with a little practice you’ll have no problem making your own crepes. Here’s are some directions, photos and tips to help you get started. My long-winded photo directions are first, followed by a much quicker set of directions in list format.

Mix you batter

Before you even mix up your batter, you’ll need a recipe. The crepes in these pictures are a batch of buckwheat crepes (which I plan on posting the recipe to later on). If you are looking for a crepe recipe, try my hazelnut crepes. I know from experience they will work using these techniques.

I’ve mixed crepe batter in a number of ways.  For my first years of crepe making I used my parents bajillion year old blender. Er, it was probably more like 20 years old,  but it looked super old to me. It was brown and faded white. The blender was not aesthetically pleasing, but it did the job perfectly. In fact, since the blender jar had a lip for pouring, it was great for both the mixing  portion and the pouring portion. Yay for recipes with minimal dish washing!

Since I currently don’t have a blender I alternate between using my food processor (for larger batches of crepes) and my immersion blender (for smaller batches of crepes). Both do the mixing perfectly. The downside is the pouring. I use a pyrex glass measuring cup or an empty coffee creamer container.

 

Preheat the pan

My cooking spray, spatula, and heating pan.

 

You will want to cook the crepes in a non stick skillet. Spray the pan with olive oil or cooking oil and heat it to medium -high heat. While the pan is heating, get out a spatula to flip your crepes and an empty plate to put them on. You will be ready to start cooking crepes when you can feel the heat on your hand when it is about a foot above the pan.

A note about heat: You may notice from the picture that I cook on an old, electric range. It gets the job done, but it is definitely not in tip-top condition. The burners are uneven and there is variation in the temperature. If your stovetop is in better condition than mine (and I hope it is!) then you may have to adjust the heat level. Getting the heat level right for your equipment is part of the learning process, though, so don’t be afraid to adjust if the first few crepes don’t turn out perfectly!

 

Pour and Swirl

So you have your batter and your spatula, you pan is heated. This next step is really the crux of making a successful crepe. You are going to hold the skillet in your right hand, and batter in your left hand. Lift the skillet off the burner. Pour enough batter into the pan so it is covering about 2/3 of the pan, and immediately swirl the pan around in a circle, just tilting it enough so that the batter spreads out to the edge of the pan. When you are done swirling set the pan back on the burner.

As you get the hang of this two things will happen. First, you will have a good idea of how much batter you need to pour to fill your pan. Second, you will start tilting the pan before you have poured all of the batter.

As you practice two things may happen: you might pour too much or two little batter. If you’ve added too much, I suggest just letting the crepe cooking. It may be a little thicker than your other crepes but it will still be soft and flexible like a crepe should be. If you’re gone the other direction and your batter doesn’t cover the pan your have two choices. You can add more batter to the empty spots or you can let the crepe cook as is, and end up with a mini-crepe, of sorts.

Here is the batter, just poured into the pan, before swirling:

Can you tell which direction my burner tilts? Unless your burner has the same problem you will have a nice circle of batter, not a goldfish shape!

Here is the batter, just after swirling:

There are two things to point out from this picture. First, the holes up towards the top left of the crepe. This happens when you’ve swirled the batter around the pan too slowly (or let it rest to, say, take a picture, before swirling it). The crepe cooks so quickly that sometimes, by time the batter travels all the way around the pan some of the crepe has cooked. This partially cooked batter won’t slide around the pan with the rest of the batter. The batter is forced to move around it, leaving a small hole. Annoying? Yes. Crepe tragedy? No. Your crepe will still taste great, and your fillings will not come pouring out of these small holes, either.

The second thing to point out is the edges of the crepe. Can you see how they are stick to the pan? Right after I pour and swirl, I set the skillet back on the burner and then use my spatula to poke these edges down. This makes it much easier to flip the crepe.

 

Push the edges of the crepe down the side of the pan with a spatula.

Flip

As you are scraping the edges of the crepe, watch for the crepe to start bubbling up. It’s time to flip the crepe when you see lots of bubbles all over the crepe. The edges may also be a bit brown.

These bubbles are bit difficult to see, but hopefully you get the idea.

The crepe should be easy to flip over. You have already loosened the edges with the scraping. Just slide your spatula underneath the crepe and life the whole thing up and off the pan. Then, flip it! I have a large faced spatula that is great for holding an entire crepe. If you are having trouble getting the crepe up, try holding onto the lifted edge with your hand to help stabilize while you lift up the rest of the crepe.

Once flipped, your crepe should look like something like this. If it appears undercooked, just flip it back over and let it cook a bit longer, no harm done!

A crepe, just after flipping.

 

Finishing

Honestly, I have no special tips for the last cooking step for the crepe. I leave it sit for a minute or two. At this point, there crepe is super easy to flip, so I check for doneness by lifting up and edge and peeking under or just flipping it over. Your crepe will not look the same on both sides. The second side will be browned, but in a “spotty” pattern.

The second side of the crepe, fully cooked.

 

And, you’re done! Sort of. . . 

You’ve finished one crepe! Congratulations! But now you have the rest of your batter to cook. Before you move on to your subsequent crepes, make any changes. Did the crepe burn? Turn the heat down a notch or two. Was it undercooked when you tried to flip it? Turn the heat up a bit. Did the crepe stick to the pan? Spray the skillet with more cooking spray. Once you’ve made your adjustments, pour the next crepe! The one thing I do suggest doing between each crepe is stirring the batter.

How to: Make Gluten Free Crepes

1. Mix your batter.
2. Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray or olive oil.
3. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Pour some crepe batter into the skillet, and swirl the entire skillet in a circle, until the batter is spread out evenly across the pan.
5. Push down any batter that is stuck along the edge of the pan.
6. When the crepe is bubbling, flip it over. This will happen quickly.
7. Let sit a minute or so, before removing. Check doneness by lifting up the bottom of the crepe and peeking under it to see if it has browned at all.
8. Stir your batter before pouring the next crepe.