I’m no professional when it comes to cooking dried beans. I think I’ve only really cooked them two times before yesterday and haven’t been completely successful either time. I was not about to give up on it though. Dry beans are so economical, they aren’t packed in sodium-filled liquids like the canned kind, and they just taste so fresh when you cook them yourself. I’ll be honest though, I DO use canned beans too. I rinse them off under cold running water to get rid of about half of the sodium.

My dad bought these beans for me called Adzuki beans. He had heard about them from Dr. Oz who says they are a nutritional powerhouse (most beans are really). They are packed with protein, fiber, and many other vitamins and nutrients, and are relatively low in calories. I thought I would give them a shot tonight especially since my family was coming over for dinner.

Third time is the charm in my bean-cooking trials. Here’s how it went down.

1. First, soak the beans in a pot of hot water for 2 hours.

2. Next, drain the beans, then add fresh water to the pot (I believe the directions were 4 cups of water to 1 cup beans but I just made sure the beans were covered with 2-3 inches of water). Place cover on pot. Bring to boil.

3. Once water has reached a boil, reduce to simmer and tilt the lid slightly so that air can escape. Let simmer for two hours.

4. Drain and rinse beans and go wild!

I decided to make the beans into a beans and rice dish last night because I thought it would be a nice side dish to the kabobs I was making for dinner. I sautéed a little onion, garlic, and green pepper, then added the beans. I then added in some chicken stock, cumin, a dash of Mrs. Dash’s Southwest Chipotle seasoning, a little salt and pepper, and let it simmer until the stock was absorbed. I then added a half of a can of crushed tomatoes, let it heat through, gave it a stir and served alongside brown rice.

On the kabobs: yellow zucchini, onion, mushroom, green pepper, pineapple, and chicken breast, marinated in teriyaki sauce.

Dinner was a hit!

This photo is kind of bright but I had to post it because it is so funny to me. Mom and dad had brought Abbie over and Moose was getting jealous because everyone was holding (11 lb) Abbie and not him. Okay, he probably wasn’t really jealous but still Kevin wanted him to feel included in the love. So this is what happened.

Meanwhile, Miss Queen Abbie was sitting on her throne observing it all. It was pretty funny!

I am off to work. I am going to get my run in after work today. I’ll let you know how it goes. Have a good day everyone.