Prepping and Cooking the "Musical Fruit"

I promised some people that I would share my recipes that I flaunted to tempt them to buy a few pounds of some bulk, organic navy beans, black turtle beans and raw, shelled sunflower seeds in our last food co-op order.  I'm hoping to lure them to buy some pinto beans next month!  So, I'll start with the beans.  First of all, it is easier to use canned organic beans -- just open the can, drain & VOILA' -- you have beans to use right now.

However, it can be expensive and the storage of lots of canned food takes up valuable cabinet and pantry space. Plus then, you need to consider the disposal of the cans -- filling up your trash can and then a landfill somewhere or ... recycling. But then, you have to rinse & store the empty cans until you can take them to be recycled.
 

Remember -- the order should be:

1. Reduce -- don't use products that have all kinds of elaborate packaging if you can possibly avoid it.

2) Reuse -- if you HAVE to use products in packaging, then at least try to reuse the packaging -- like glass jars or plastic containers, etc.

& THEN

3) Recycle -- recycle is always the last & least desirable option, but better than just tossing in the trash and filling up a landfill.

So, I try to purchase things that have the least amount of packaging and negative environment impact -- thus bulk organic items.  Most times, buying in bulk is the least expensive way to go, since you are not paying for all kinds of fancy packaging that causes environmental damage in the production and then gets tossed and causes environmental damage by filling up a landfill.  

Using dried beans can be a challenge for those with busy schedules, but if you plan ahead, it really doesn't take much time, and there are things that you can do to minimize the energy expenditure required to cook beans.  While the beans are soaking, you can attend to other things you need to get done, or if soaking overnight, you can sleep!

Here are 3 methods for soaking dried beans (note: lentils & split peas do not need to be soaked before cooking) for use in a recipe that might call for canned beans.  On all of them, thoroughly rinse off the beans first and pick out any little rocks or debris that might be mixed in.  A rule of thumb is, the larger the bean, the more time that is needed for soaking & cooking -- soaking helps to cut down on the cooking time.

A)  Cover 1# beans with 3 quarts cold water and soak 12-18 hours in refrigerator or other cool place. Add 2 teaspoons salt to the soaking water. Bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer over low heat until skins begin to crack. Drain, saving the liquid.

I don't do this for my bean prepping -- no special reason other than I have always used a slightly different method for "prepping" the beans and I don't like to reuse the soaking water, nor do I bother taking up refrigerator space.

B) Quick soak method: For every pound of beans (about 2 cups), add 6-8 cups water in a large pot.  Bring to rapid boil; boil for 2 minutes or so. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1+ hours. Drain soak water and rinse beans. They will still need to be cooked. I often resort to this method.  You can do this prep in the morning before you leave for work and then at lunch, you can put the ingredients together for however you plan to use them and set them up in a slow cooker, but set on high.  You should have dinner ready for that night when you get home from work.

3) Overnight soak method: Same as quick soak, except, don't bring to a boil. Let stand overnight or at least 6-8 or more hours. If you soak for too long, like more than 18 hours, you do run the risk that the beans will begin to ferment. Again drain the soak water and rinse the beans. When I am really on top of my planning game, this is the method that I like to use best.  Supposedly this method makes them more digestible so less intestinal gas is usually produced after you eat them. 

I tend to not save the liquid (like the first method suggests) because By tossing (or using it to water plants) the soaking liquid, which has become sort of foamy, especially in the quick soak method, you minimize the "gas" effect of beans. The rinsing is also important and, long slow cooking also aids in the prevention of the "musical fruit" effect that eating beans is so famous for.

Okay -- now the beans do need to be cooked, to get them to the point that canned beans are at for immediate use. You can put the beans in a large pot with another 3 quarts (or you can use less - 6-8 cups) of salted/unsalted water and just simmer away until the beans are fork tender. You can add a tablespoon of oil, which helps minimize the foaming, plus reducing the heat so that the water is just simmering also helps prevent the skins from bursting. It usually takes about 11/2-2 hours. You can also use a crock-pot or slow cooker to do this as well and it uses less energy, but takes more time.  In the past, when I used to own a pressure cooker, I used a pressure cooker too -- this also saves energy because it cuts down considerably on the cooking time -- 1 hour of regular cooking time is reduced to about 5 minutes in a pressure cooker.  When I am making baked beans, I add the "baked bean" recipe items and then cook the beans until soft -- I think that this helps to infuse the flavors into the beans and I prefer using a crock-pot.

Once the beans are cooked -- you can freeze until you are ready to use them. Almost all cooked beans freeze well, except lentils. You can use them right away in any recipe or you can refrigerate for a couple of days or you can preserve them and can them in glass jars. I have never done this, but I know people who have.  I have never canned anything that was low acid like beans -- so make sure you know what you are doing if you do this, in order to insure that your beans will be safe to eat later.  I don't do it, because it requires a canner, pressure cooker and it defeats the purpose of not using up all of my cabinet/pantry space with canned goods.  You need to have a good place to store canned goods -- most of us don't have canning cellars in our homes anymore.

Storing dried beans is easy.  You can always keep them in the freezer and they keep almost indefinitely that way -- or you can store them in glass jars.  As long as the jars keep moisture out and the environment stays fairly cool and they don't sit in a sunny spot, you can store dry beans up to at least 2 years.  Once they get too old, they take longer and longer to cook and to soften.

Beans are an extremely nutritious source of protein -- you do need to have grains too in order to complete the protein in beans, but you don't have to eat at the same meal -- just eat both sometime during the day.  Beans are high in fiber and are a very low calorie and tasty way to add some variety in your diet..  By using the methods I pointed out above, plus eating them more often, the unpleasant musical effect becomes non-existent -- so eat your beans!

Dried Bean Guide
Use this guide to gauge how much dried beans to cook:
1/3 cup dry beans = 1 cup cooked beans
1/2 cup dry beans = 1 1/2 cup cooked beans
2/3 cup dry beans = 2 cups cooked beans
1 cup dry beans = 3 cups cooked beans
2 cups (1 pound) dry beans = 6 cups cooked beans

Sunflower Oatmeal Bread

This recipe is definitely a hearty, wholesome, tasty bread.  When I bake bread -- which is all of the time, this is the bread I almost always bake.  It is so good when it is freshly warm & sliced and buttered with real organic butter...Or dunked into a bowl of homemade soup -- any kind -- lentil soup, split pea soup, vegetable soup, minestrone -- on a cold winter day or evening sitting in front of a fire, you will think you are in heaven! Toast it for breakfast in the morning and top it with fresh organic peanut butter or try spreading it with honey butter.  This bread also makes a tasty nutritious sandwich that sticks to your ribs.

When I am using my bread machine (good ole, R2D2 -- one of the original Sears Kenmore bread machines -- now discontinued. My bread machine is at least 15 years old and just won't die!). I only make 1 loaf (1 loaf is a good 2-21/2 pound loaf and really fills the machine when rising -- 2 loaves would over-flow). I do not bake bread in the bread machine. I did it when I first got my bread machine and my kids were in school.  I could set it up in the morning and program it to bake, so that there was a fresh loaf of bread waiting for them to eat as a nutritious after school snack.  The quality of the crust is infinitely better if you shape, rise and bake it in a regular bread baking pan in a regular oven.

If I am making more than 1 loaf, then I use my KitchenAid Professional 600 mixer with a dough hook.  You cannot completely leave this unattended, but mixing and kneading in the mixer with a dough hook, seems to take less time than mixing & kneading completely by hand.

If I am stressed and in need of taking some time for therapeutic rejuvenation, then I mix and knead the bread by hand and I can make 1 or more loaves this way

I have read that the best quality bread (in this order) is: 1) bread mixed & kneaded in a bread machine and then baked in a regular oven; 2) bread mixed and kneaded in a mixer with a dough hook; 3) mixed and kneaded by hand.

I love mixing & especially kneading bread by hand -- it just totally adds to the spirituality of baking bread -- quite simply, it is therapeutic and relieves stress.  However, if you need to use your time more efficiently and multi-task, then I suggest you program your bread machine to mix only and to program in the kneading and rising times, add your ingredients and let it work, while you attend to other things.  Then when it is ready to shape and put into a pan, cover with a towel, and put it in a warm draft-free place to rise.

If you have a stove (cook-top/oven in 1 appliance), then you could put it on top of the stove, in the back and let it rise while you are pre-heating the oven for baking the bread.  I have double electric wall ovens, so I set one of the ovens for proofing and put my bread in there to rise - I set a timer for the rising time.  Then I set the second timer so I know when to begin pre-heating the second oven for baking the bread. When the bread is risen, I turn off the proofing oven and put the bread into my baking oven and re-set the timer for the baking time.  If I am really efficient and am cooking/baking other things -- I can bake 'whatever' in one oven, while I am proofing (rising) my bread and then when 'whatever' I am baking is done and if my bread is finished rising, I can place it in the "baking" oven. I just love having 2 wall ovens!

Bread that is hand mixed & kneaded still tastes wonderful -- and has that extra spiritual & sensual oomph added, that you can't quite put a finger on when you are eating it, but you know it is there. So, don't completely discount hand mixing and kneading your bread.  I first learned to make bread this way and have developed a feel for and a sense or intuition for my bread dough no matter how I mix/knead it because of this.

Get yourself a copy of "Laurel's Kitchen" by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders, and Bronwen Godfrey (has all kinds of wonderful vegetarian recipes). The section on bread baking is a good how-to bread baking guide, plus she adds in good information about and how to select ingredients. Laurel Robertson has a wonderful, earthmother, nutritious, sensual, and wholisitic approach to cooking.  I currently have a 1983 edition, because I gave my 1976 edition to my daughter, Jaimie.  When you get your copy, make sure you read the entire first chapter, Giving the Gift of Life -- both parts - Laurel's Kitchen and The Keeper of the Keys. I guess I am just an old hippy at heart!

Another good book to read and to help discover the spiritual essence of bread baking is "The Tassajara Bread Book" by Edward Espe Brown.  My copy is much older than the 2009 version listed here.  In fact I think my copy was probably a first edition version and is in paperback.  I no longer have it, since Jaimie also claimed it several years ago. This book almost takes a Buddhist zen-like approach, but it is very, very satisfying to make bread from recipes in this book.  I used this book when I had 4 little kids, living in Sagniaw, Mi and I was making at least 6 loaves of bread every Saturday.  This was before we went to live in Papua New Guinea, where my 5th child was born and I was still making bread on a regular basis.  This book is also where I learned the sponge method in bread baking.


Well, enough gab -- here's the recipe:
Sunflower Oatmeal Bread
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
11/2 cups organic whole wheat flour (I generally add about 1/4 cup+ ground flax seeds or flaxseed meal to make up the entire amount of the flour -- this adds fiber and extra nutrition)
1/2 cup old-fashioned organic rolled oats (oatmeal), uncooked
1/2 cup organic hulled sunflower seeds (can be raw or roasted)
2-3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar (I use either turbinado sugar or organic cane sugar)
3 tablespoons non-fat dry milk
3 Tablespoons butter
1/8 cup honey
1 cup + 3 tablespoons warm water
1 cup+ organic unbleached white flour
A. This is the order to add the ingredients if you are using a bread machine.  I generally add everything but the last cup of flour and turn on the bread machine to begin mixing.
B. When these first ingredients are thoroughly mixed, I then begin slowly adding the unbleached flour until the mixture forms a soft dough -- not sticky, but not too stiff either.  I then turn off the bread machine and then turn it back on and let the machine knead through a whole cycle.
C. I let the dough rise and then knead a bit more and then I remove it and knead it a bit. I shape it and put it into a greased bread pan.
D. I then let it rise about another 45-60 minutes -- until it has just about doubled and makes a nice rounded loaf of bread.
E. Then bake it in a 375 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.  You have to gauge this.  It will be pretty brown, but not burned.  You want it cooked all the way through without any doughy spots in the middle -- dense dough like this sometimes needs extra baking time.
F.You remove it from the oven and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.

If I am using my KitchenAid mixer or mixing by hand, I use the following order:
G. In a small non-metal bowl, mix the yeast, the sugar and 3 tablespoons of the warm water together.  Do not use a metal spoon or it will react with the yeast.  Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes until it gets all foamy.
H. In the meantime, mix the rest of the warm water the dried milk and add the butter (melted) and the honey together.
I. In a large mixing bowl, add the whole wheat flour/flaxseed meal, salt, oats & sunflower seeds together.  Then add the foamy yeast mixture and stir and then slowly add the rest of the warm liquid mixture (water, dried milk, melted butter & honey).
J. Then start stirring in the unbleached flour until it takes shape and continue to work in flour and knead it on a floured surface. Spend a lot of time kneading and working in the flour -- add more if needed, but try to be sparing with the flour.  Use it to keep the dough from sticking everywhere and eventually it will be a nice soft non-sticky dough.
K. When the dough is a nice soft, but not sticky dough, grease the bowl and put the dough in it and cover with either a towel or greased plastic wrap.  Set the bowl of dough in a warm spot and let the dough rise until doubled -- about an hour or so.
L. Punch it down and then knead it some more. Shape and put it into a greased bread pan.
Then follow steps D, E. & F from above.
You can double this recipe to make 2 loaves, but I do not recommend using the bread machine method.

As I stated before, I probably make this bread recipe more than any other recipe that I have.  Anytime anyone eats at my house and I serve this bread, I invariably get asked for the recipe.  Sharing bread recipes is tricky, however, because, unless someone is familiar with making bread -- even from a mix in the bread machine, making bread is not like any other kind of baking or cooking -- but for me, it is probably the most rewarding and satisfying thing to make. Gifts of bread are truly gifts from the heart! Enjoy!

Rhubarb Meringue Pie

I have lived here in Southwest Georgia (Americus) for about 18 years now.  I love it down here, but there are a few things that I do miss from my upbringing in the Midwest -- Illinois to be exact.  I miss peonies and lilacs and rhubarb.  Rhubarb just doesn't seem to grow down here, but I can't figure out why, unless it is the dense, red clay soil.  I did some reading about growing it and even though others I know have failed, I am going to try!  I get my stash of rhubarb in any way that I can -- I order it frozen from my food co-op -- organic rhubarb from Oregon (Stahlbush Island Farms).  I have found it at the Dekalb International Farmer's market in Atlanta -- kind of pricey, especially when I know that it grows like a weed.  Lastly, my friend who grew up in Wisconsin gets it mailed to her by her parents who are still in Wisconsin and Michelle has been known to share. My mother used to make all kinds of dessert type things with rhubarb -- some kind of a rhubarb stew, rhubarb crisp, and several types of rhubarb pie.

Many years ago, my late Aunt Lorene, my godmother, gave me a book crammed full of old index cards of old family recipes -- some of them hers, some of them are my Grandma Heisner's, some are my mom's and my many aunts and some other very important women cooks in my growing up years. I was very much intrigued by this book full of "heirloom" recipes and knew that it took quite a bit of thought and effort on my aunt's part to compile it for me -- the recipes in it are sort of a family history and just reading the recipes invokes all kinds of old memories -- complete with aromatic cooking smells!  Each of the 3X5 index cards have recipes that are handwritten on them -- many of them are in the handwriting of whoever was known for the recipe. It wasn't until recently that I really looked through it, because I was looking for a recipe that I had -- but lost and hoped it was in the book that my aunt put together for me.  It was. I was astounded by what I found and maybe I should put some kind of cookbook & family history together.

Most of the pie recipes are my mother's -- my mom was well-known for her pies and for her flaky pie crust (the secret to her pie crust was lard). I also make my own pie crust.  I have, in the past, used store bought pie crust, for quick convenience -- it's the filling that's important, right?  WRONG! Store-bought pie crust can't even begin to compete with homemade pie crust and the flavorful flaky result complements and enhances the flavor of the filling -- if you have to get away with something store-bought, buy canned fruit pie filling! I literally learned this lesson in high school! (This is a story for another blog post!)

 My mom had a way and a feel for making fabulous pies and most of the time, she never had a recipe in front of her. Well, my friend from Wisconsin gave me some rhubarb that her parents mailed to her and I knew that I had to make a rhubarb pie using one of my mother's famous recipes -- Rhubarb Meringue Pie.  Here it is:

Rhubarb Meringue Pie, by Pearl Heisner

1 unbaked pie crust (will talk to you more about this later -- using my never-fail recipe)

Filling:

3 cups rhubarb, diced

3 egg yolks (put the whites in the refrigerator until needed for the meringue)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour, but unbleached flour is fine too)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Meringue:

3 egg whites (Did you know that you can freeze egg whites?  Whenever a recipe calls for egg yolks, but not whites, I put the whites in little plastic containers and freeze them -- usually 3 to a container.  I pull them out later and thaw them and use them for meringues or angel food cake or even to brush on bread before it is baked -- btw, the same also holds true for yolks --I freeze them in the same way)

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/3 cup sugar

Pie Crust:

(This makes enough for a 9-inch double crust pie -- for this pie, you can use half and freeze the other half to use the next time you need 1 unbaked pie crust -- or double the above recipe and make 2 pies)

2 1/2 cups good quality unbleached flour (you could replace 1/2 cup or so with whole wheat pastry flour)

2 tablespoons sugar (may omit this)

1 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons lard (or you could use vegetable shortening), cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled (I used my frozen home-rendered lard)

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into 1/4 inch pieces, chilled (again, I used frozen)

1 small slightly beaten egg

1 teaspoon vinegar (I used cider vinegar)

2 to 4 tablespoons ice water

 To make the crust - 

1. Process the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Scatter the lard over the top and process until mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. This is the first time I ever used my new food processor to make pie crust!

2. Mix together the slightly beaten egg & vinegar and gradually pour into the flour mixture. Process this mixture, then adding a little at a time, tablespoon by tablespoon, the ice water. When it really sticks together as a dough, transfer to a bowl, using a stiff rubber spatula to scrape it out.  If you need to add a bit more water, do so, while pressing the dough together with the spatula.  This is a sensitive time.  You don't want to add too much water so that the dough is too sticky, nor do you want too little water, so that the dough is too crumbly to roll out.  If you need to add a bit more flour, now is a good time to add a bit, if the dough is too sticky.

3. Divide the dough into two even pieces and flatten each into a 4" disk.  Wrap the disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.  If you only plan to use 1 disk, freeze the one that you will not use.  I would put the plastic wrapped disk into a zip-loc bag to further insure against freezer damage. If you don't have an hour, the disk to be refrigerated can also be slipped into the freezer while you prepare the filling for the pie.

4. When you are ready to roll out the dough, let the dough soften slightly at room temperature, before rolling it out and fitting it into a pie plate.

To Make Ahead:

The dough can be refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 months.  Let the frozen dough thaw on the countertop until malleable before rolling.

To make the filling:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Spoon the rhubarb into the pie shell and spread it out evenly throughout the shell.

Beat the egg yolks until thick, then beat in the lemon juice.  Gradually beat in the 1 1/4 cup sugar, then fold in the flour, salt & nutmeg.  Pour over the rhubarb in the pie shell. Bake in the 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.  I used a glass pie plate, so I left mine in for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake 15 minutes longer,

Meanwhile, make the meringue:

Beat the chilled egg whites and cream of tartar until it forms soft peaks.  Add 1/3 cup sugar and beat until stiff.  Remove the pie from the oven (after the second 15 minutes) and spoon the meringue over the pie.  Bake 15 minutes longer or until the meringue is lightly browned.

Cool the pie on a wire rack -- and then EAT!

YUMMY!