Beans.

I hear beans are supposed to be good for you. Cooked right, the rumor goes they can even taste good. I am still in the process of putting these theories to the test. A large chunk of my dry goods food storage came from my father-in- law. That sounds sweet doesn't it? My F-i-L gave me a bunch of wheat and beans.  Let's put that in perspective. My FiL died a year BEFORE I was even married. Before his son and I started dating. Next month I will have been happily married for 8 years. So over 9 years ago all this stuff was purchased and I inherited it. I honestly have no idea how old it is. I do appreciated we have a bunch of MREs ( Meals Ready to Eat) down there, awesome for throwing into a 72 hour kit. Beans that old take some special care to taste good. I am still working on that.

If you have never tried cooking with dry beans before heed this warning:Plan in advance.

Seriously. It is REALLY hard to have them taste good in a meal if you only thought about it an hour of so before it is time to serve them. I am working on trying to use them more often. They just aren't ..... convenient, ever. I want my family to be used to digesting beans. If for no other reason than if for some reason we couldn't buy groceries, the bean consumption is going to jump significantly. I don't want to shock their system. Plus there is always the bonus of - beans are cheaper than meat.

So this evening we had enchiladas. I took about 15 oz of kidney beans. I threw it in the food processor and my little assistants assisted me with throwing garlic and onions and mashing it beyond recognition. Then we mixed that in with the seasoned hamburger, onto the tortilla with some cheese on top and baked 'em. My kids don't like beans. They tell me all the time. You couldn't even tell they were there. It was awesome. The meat was a bit saucier and flavorful. I am so pleased with my little idea. I will be looking for other opportunities to do this.

No one ever said you had to KNOW you were eating beans to get the benefits.

I highly recommend taking some beans from your dry food storage and canning them. At least for me, the likelihood of being used is much higher.

There, those are my thoughts on beans. Aren't you glad I am willing to share my wisdom?