Beans 'n' Cornbread

My late father's favorite meal was beans and cornbread.  He was just a little fellow during the Great Depression and that was common fare for his family.  Anytime you asked him what he wanted for dinner, he responded, "Beans and cornbread!"

Today I cooked my first ever batch of pinto beans from scratch.  It was astoundingly easy and it left me feeling silly that I've never done it before.

I tend to cook a week's worth of food on Sundays so that I don't have to spend hours in the kitchen during the busy work week.  Today I made beans, baked brown rice, Mexican cornbread, homemade cheese pizza (to be topped when we have it) and a vegetable quiche.  Good eats with no nasty chemicals and very easy on the grocery budget.

Let's talk about beans.  This solution isn't for everyone but I've decided to become a vegetarian for many reasons.  First of all, meat may not be in plentiful supply if and when the SHTF.  It definitely won't be if I have to be depended upon to kill it and butcher it.  I wouldn't say that I don't have it in me - I'm a Just Do It kind of girl, but I don't want to do it.  Supplying meat for the world is far harder on the environment than supplying the needs of a vegetarian diet.  Storing a whole bunch of meat makes me far more dependent on electricity than does storing pound after pound of dried beans.  And finally, cutting meat out of my budget has freed up a lot of money for preps.

Today's project was learning to cook the darn things from scratch.  You can store many more servings of beans in the form of dried bean than canned.

step one:

I measured out 1 cup of beans and 2 cups of water.  I picked through the beans, tossing some that were withered and funny-looking. I soaked the beans for about 7 hours.

step two:

Once the beans had soaked, I rinsed them and picked out any yucky ones that I had missed earlier. I drained them and then put them in a large stockpot with 4 cups of water, some sea salt and some all-purpose seasoning mix (with no MSG).

step three:

I put the lid on, brought the pot to a boil and then turned it down to simmer for an hour and a half.  I stirred it a couple of times to be sure nothing was sticking, and to also check that enough water was in the pot.  Each time I stirred it, I could see the bean water becoming thicker and darker.

finally!!!!

After an hour and a half, I had delicious, tender pinto beans that cost a fraction of the price of canned ones.

Tonight's dinner could have been supper on the homestead!  We had beans, cornbread and rice, along with some baby carrots (okay, except for the carrots, but Rome wasn't built in a day!)

I think it's very important to become accustomed to cooking basics like this.  That way, if I ever have to improvise by using a solar oven, a camping stove or a fire pit, I'll have the basics down pat.  This will help me make the necessary changes to use the tools at my disposal to make a familiar, nourishing meal.

This meal's for you, Daddy!