Pinto Bean Adventure.

[Bluehawg]

Another dry bean adventure successful! Made a batch that were outstanding. I've been trying to "re-invent" the whole dry bean thing to make them more palatable and appealing to my youngins cause they are cheap and groceries are expensive now. With 3 kids and an income that was just cut by 1000 bucks a month coupled with the wife being out of work for the past 3 years and not being able to find a "teaching" job (she is a certified teacher but our baby was born 3 years ago and she wanted to take a little time off to be with him and when she tried to go back to teaching there aren't any jobs available because of the economy... budget cut backs and teachers that would be retiring staying in the profession due to uncertainty.) we try to stretch every penny we have. It is sometimes hard to get the youngins to eat healthy and budget minded.

So, with that in mind I enlisted the help of my 9 year old son because kids are more likely to "enjoy" eating something they help prepare. I aslo found a use for those "Bar S" hot dog weiners that you can get around here sometimes for like 5 packs for a dollar...:becky:

1 lb of dry Pinto Beans...

Soaked the beans for about an hour or so then drained the soak water and rinsed them one more again.

Cut up:
1 medium onion (chopped but left in good size chunks)
5 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 stalks of celery (chopped)
1/2 bell peppper (chopped but left in good size chunks)
1/3 pound of SLICED BACON :) cut into decent size chunks
1 pkg of Bar S hot dogs cut into about 3/4 inch chunks

added:
1 tsp of Kosher Salt
1 tbsp of Tony Cacheres
1 tsp of Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp of Liquid Crab Boil
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 tsp of Black Pepper

enough water to cover everything... Set cooker on low and let it roll for about 6 hours or so until beans are tender and to the consistency desired.

These dang Bar S weinies in Pintos is fine.

that is all.

[Bluehawg]

The hotdog weinies was my son's idea... I thought, what the heck could it hurt??? If it will get the kids to try to the beans, so be it.

It worked. Tasted great... and I WILL be doing it again next time.

:)

I just love it when accidents or experiments turn out well. It is definitely worth a repeat.

[wildflower]

what does the 1/2 tsp of Liquid Crab Boil do for it??????

[Bluehawg]

what does the 1/2 tsp of Liquid Crab Boil do for it??????
Make em good. I sometimes add it to beans when I cook em, especially when I'm making red beans and rice. It gives it a little bit of bite but not quite enough to cause it to be inedible by those not liking hot/spicy foods. I add it to soup sometimes (in my bowl and not the whole pot), in the water when I am boiling corn or taters. I usually add quite a bit to my water when I'm boiling chittlins to add a kick to it.

Another neat trick using the LCB is you can make your own imatation crab meat. Bream (that's what we call em around here but I think they are known as sunfish or something everywhere else), bass (largemouth), or white perch make the best. I scale the fish and leave skin on, dehead and gut em. Rinse em off and set aside on counter. Get water hot/boiling and add a good bit of crab boil to it with a hit or two of salt. Boil the fish for about 10 minutes or so at a hard/rolling boil.

Turn heat off and allow to "steep" until you can handle it safely. Take em out of the water and place on a plate. I usually use two forks and pull the meat from the bones. It will flake off pretty good and stay intact. As you flake the meat, discard the skin. Once you've done all that you will have a nice pile of "fake" crab.

that is all.

[Hoss]

Works making MOCK shrimp out of catfish too! Do the same thing but cut the catfish in bitesize nuggets,boil til just done.Use the crab boil FULL strength.Tastes Just like boiled shrimp.:clap2: Great post.Thanks for sharing. FYI.I saw a post on another forum where they stuck uncooked spaghetti noodles through cut up hot dawgs and boiled em then drained em,.Added a little mater/sketti sauce,said the kids went BONKERS over them.Dawgsketti???

[jestridge]

There nothing wrong with beans been eating them all my life , sometime that was the only food on the table. I still eat beans at least twice a week

[mbshop]

i've always loved beans and dogs. yer recipe looks great.

[bluetang]

I like beans and dogs too, yours be sounding real good!