Beans were a staple in my house growing up. Â I make them often, and my family has a bean night where the bulk of the protein comes from beans instead of meat. Â The best part about beans, you can make a head and freeze. I made two batches of pintos that came out perfect, and have a crock pot of red beans going that will cook over night. I often make meals in bulk and freeze them so I can just pull them out and finish cooking them as needed. Â I know I am totally off topic from the usual here, but food is important to me too. Â I love to eat, don’t you?
My Freezer Cooking Plan For Today
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- 20 chicken and bean burritos
- 20 beef and bean burritos
- Bean casserole x 2
- Chicken Chili x 3
- Red beans and Rice x 2
- Enough pintos left over for snacking on. Â We eat it like hummus, with crackers, veggies, chips, even as sandwich spread to go alone with some kind of meat and cheese, or just veggies.
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Someone had actually asked me for my Bean Casserole recipe.  I would like to say that this is not my recipe, it was my grandmother’s.  She had a large family and especially during World War 2 had to stretch their food budget to feed 9 kids.  She also made the infamous baloney salad, but I will share that another time.  I made a quart last week that is already gone now.  I can’t keep up with the demand it seems. 🙂
I will post a photo of the bean casserole after I put mine together. Waiting for my red beans to cool a bit before I do it. I also store mine in the freezer in bags until ready to use.
Bean Casserole Recipe
I will post the 6 serving recipe. Â I will be doubling this myself later when I actually make it.
1/2 Â lb ground beef or other ground meat
4 slices of bacon, cut into pieces
garlic to your taste (we like a lot of garlic so I never measure this out)
1/2 cup of chopped onions
In a skillet, start frying up the bacon and ground beef. Â Mix in your onions and garlic and sautee it all together. Â Drain the fat, and put aside.
In a large bowl, mix the following together:
15 oz red beans (you can use canned or precooked)
15 oz pintos (you can use canned or precooked)
15 oz Black Eyed Peas (you can use canned, precooked, even frozen)
You can also use your choice of beans, this is just how we have always made it. Â I have added white beans to it also. Â If you add extra beans, increase the amount of wet ingredients to make it saucy.
Combined into the beans:
1/2 cup of ketchup
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon of mustard (do it to your taste that is fine, so add more or less, depends on what you like.)
2 tablespoons of vinegar (you can use what ever you have on hand… white, cider, etc)
Add the meat mixture and stir together.
Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Now if you are going to freeze this, stop here.  Cover it up well using your favorite freezing method.  When you want to bake it and use it, pull it out and defrost it, then follow the eat now instructions. 🙂
Eat it now instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, bake for 40 mins until hot and the sauce is bubbly.
I found this article about the benefits of rinsing beans before you eat them. Â I thought since we were full of beans today, I should share it with you. To Rinse or Not To Rinse Beans That Is The Question
Featured Bean Image by Johnny Stiletto (flickr)
Thank you for this post and for the rinse beans link! That was a lot of cooking and the casserole sounds really good! I will be trying those!
I hope you enjoy it! You can mix any types of beans you want to use, I have put lima beans in it before and it came out well. Any beans you have on hand can be used with good results. Thank you for your comment. 🙂
Yummy, you definately make alot of amaziung foods to freeze and cook when hungry