Tennessee Gun

Tag: beans

  • Country Beans

    Country Beans

    Book Review: Country Beans
    Buy at Amazon

    I picked up Country Beans just to buy something is a really cool store I visited in East Tennessee. I am sure glad I did. This book is the same book I used to make the Tofu and bean milk, as well as the bean flour I used to bake the bread, which opened the door to the acorn flour I used to make the bannock.

    This book covers lots of material – from how to reduce gas, how to speed up the bean cooking process, and how to turn beans into a variety of other things. Who knew you could use beans in desserts?

    If you are a long time reader of Dave’s Homestead, then you know I believe the basics of any food storage program needs to be wheat and beans – But bread and beans can get old quick.

    This book is a great tool to prevent appetite exhaustion by giving you MULTIPLE ways to cook beans.

    I have gotten a lot of projects based upon this book, and the concepts lead me to discover several more.

  • Quick Wholesome Foods

    Quick Wholesome Foods

    Book Review: Quick Wholesome Foods
    Click this picture for the on-demand video
    Book Review: Quick Wholesome Foods
    Buy at Amazon

    Quick Wholesome Foods is a complete how-to 65 minute DVD with innovative techniques that will take the guess work out of preparing healthy, basic delicious foods that the whole family will love in only minutes!

    See step by step easy to follow techniques to make low-fat great tasting meals.

    Five 15-minute mini classes on Bread, Gluten, Wheat, Beans and 3-minute cheeses made from Powdered Milk, even old powdered milk.

    Excellent for home, church or neighborhood groups. We ve made it easy for you to use your basic stored foods.

    FREE 28 page recipe booklet included

    Alternatively, Amazon video has this online as a rent or buy Amazon video if you do not want to own an actual Quick Wholesome Foods DVD.  Click the top picture to order the video, and the picture below just to rent or buy it as an Amazon video.

  • Gear Review: Valley Food Storage White Bean Chili

    Gear Review: Valley Food Storage White Bean Chili

     

    Valley Food Storage White Bean Chili
    Buy at Amazon

    Valley food storage is a great company.  They have a very high quality product as well the ability to buy storage foods À la carte or as part of a program.

    You can buy their good tasting food storage foods (suitable for everyday eating also) in set ups like one week or one month increments.

    There one month package is under $130 dollars which is at the lower end (but not the lowest) price of a comparison of the main food storage suppliers.

    What sets Valley Food Storage apart is that they make healthier options are non-gmo, and have no artificial preservatives, fillers, or hydrogenated oils.

    Besides the healthier options, Valley Food Storage tastes good.

    When I made the white bean chili it compared very favorably with home made chili that I make on probably a weekly basis.

    I would, and at the price, can afford to eat this companies food on a regular basis instead of just having a pantry of food I was not used to eating.

    This is pretty important because a common saying in the prepper world is “store what you eat and eat what you store.”  I know I believe that, and I say it often.

    However, life intervenes and that is not always easy to do.  Valley food storage does make that a little easier.

  • Kitchen DIY: Beans as Butter

    Kitchen DIY: Beans as Butter

    Kitchen DIY: Beans as Butter
    Buy at Amazon

    There are lots of reasons to use beans as butter substitutes in recipes.

    The first one is that it is cheap!

    A pound of beans is less than a quarter but a pound of butter is over three dollars. Beans are also full of protein, fat free, and with more fiber they make you feel more full with less calories.

    They don’t add a bean taste to food, and make a moist cake.

    Now, if you aren’t ready to go full bean, mix it half and half with your butter in recipes and make the switch gradually.

    I think trying a little is better than not trying at all.

    Here are some tips for using beans as a replacement for butter and oil

    1. If your recipe calls for oil, use a bean puree. (cooked beans with enough water to whirl in your blender.) If you simply dump a can of beans (juice and all) in a blender and puree you have it.
    2. If your recipe calls for butter, you are going to use cooked, drained beans.
    3. For substituting beans for both butter and/or oil you are going to use a 1 to 1 ratio.
    4. Match beans to color: white cake use white beans, Chocolate with black beans, It doesn’t affect the taste, but if you use black beans with white cake you will see little spots.
    5. Add the beans however your recipe says to use the butter and/or oil. For example, if your recipe says to cream the butter with the sugar-you’re going to cream the beans with the sugar.
    6. If you are using beans in something like brownies or cookies that are supposed to be chewy, the beans will not make it chewy-it will be cake like. This means if you want the chewiness use half oil/butter and half beans.
  • Recipe Bean Bark

    Recipe Bean Bark

     

    Recipe Bean Bark
    Buy at Amazon

    Bean Bark is a food storage method that is economical as well as easy and versatile.

    It lends credibility to my idea that if prepping does not make life easier, you are doing it wrong.

    The bean bark we will show you how to make can be used to make or to add protein and fiber to

    • Stews
    • Soups
    • Spreads
    • Chips

    Making it is simple

    • Dump an entire can (liquid and all) of vegetarian baked beans through a blender until creamy.
    • Don’t use bean products containing bacon or pork because fatty meats will spoil and cause a rancid taste.
    • Pour the blended beans on dehydrator trays covered with parchment paper and spread thinly with a spatula.
    • 28 ounces of blended beans takes up three 15 x 15 Excalibur Dehydrator trays.
    • Dry at 135° for eight hours. The bean bark will dry like mud… full of cracks.
    • About halfway through the dehydrating time, cover the bark with a sheet of parchment and an upside down tray, flip and remove the first tray and paper that is now on top. This will allow even dehydrating in less time.

    Yield: 28 ounces of beans will bark down to three cups weighing seven ounces. Variations: Bark other types of canned beans such as black beans, red beans, and kidney beans. Follow the steps above.

    Once you have the bark, break it into pieces and store in an airtight container.

    Here are some recipes for using Bean Bark

    Bark Stew

    Ingredients:

    • 1/2 cup Bean Bark
    • ½ cup Instant Brown Rice
    • ¼ cup Dehydrated Mixed Vegetables (carrots, corn, peas, and green beans)
    • ¼ Dehydrated Ground Beef
    • 1 cup water
    • Combine all ingredients with water in pot, cover, and light stove.
    • Bring to a boil and cook for an additional minute or two.
    • Remove from stove and transfer pot to insulating cozy for another five or ten minutes.
    • Stir before eating and the bark will dissolve into gravy.

    Bean Bark Spread

    Ingredients:

    • 1/2 cup Bean Bark
    • 1/3 cup water
    • Combine Bark with water in pot, light stove.
    • When water starts to get hot, begin stirring until the mixture gets pasty.
    • Three or four minutes of heating should do the trick.
    • Be prepared to lift the pot off the stove with a pot gripper to prevent burning.
    • Spread on pita bread or use as a dip for freeze-dried vegetable chips.