Brown Rice and Beans Cooked "Together but Separate"

Serving suggestion: layer shredded chicken, rice and then beans.

I love making beans in my pressure cooker.  It doesn't take long and I don't have to pre-soak the beans at all.  I also love using my pressure cooker as a rice cooker.  Now I have learned that I can do both at the same time but still have the ability to serve them separately. I doubled the amounts listed in this wonderful recipe and used the Cuisinart Pressure Cooker I have:

 Ingredients
2 cups dry pinto beans ($2.76 Amazon Prime Subscribe and Save)
6 cups water
2 cups brown rice  ($1.76 Amazon Prime Subscribe and Save)
4 cups water or make  broth adding 4 tsp chicken bouillon ($0.64 Amazon Prime) 
seasonings or salt as desired

Estimated Cost: $5.16 enough for two meals for a family of 4 = $2.58 meal
My Actual Out of Pocket Cost: $0.00 using items from my storage

Place 2 cups of sorted dry pinto beans in the bottom of the electric pressure cooker. Then place a small trivet in with the beans and pour 6 cups of water over the beans and trivet.

Use a small stainless steel mixing bowl (6 cup capacity) and set it on top of the trivet. Then put 2 cups of brown rice and pour 4 cups of desired liquid along with desired seasonings into the bowl. (I like to use mostly vegetable, chicken or beef broth and about 1/2 cup of vegetable puree like beets, broccoli, carrots etc and season with a couple teaspoons of Mrs Wages salsa seasoning mix the rice tastes great and you don't notice the veggies).

Put the lid on the pressure cooker and set on high pressure for 35 minutes. (or follow your pressure cooker instructions for the type of beans you are using).
When the timer goes off, DO NOT OPEN THE LID. Use natural pressure release which means to let it sit until the steam and pressure release themselves.  If the beans are not quite as tender as you like, then set the cooker on "browning" and allow them to simmer a little longer

"Magic" Cornbread

Here is how pink the batter looks

See how it changes after baking?
These first two pictures were made with yellow split peas ground into flour

This last picture is of the cornbread made with pinto bean flour. 

I call this magic because the beets in this batter is very pink but then it changes color as it bakes and if you don't like beets, here is a tasty way to enjoy the nutrients without noticing the beet taste at all:) The real magic is in the ingredients which combine to make a complete protein.  I grind my own flours.

2 Cups Cornmeal (I use fresh ground popcorn kernals)
2 Cups pinto bean flour (or a combination of 1/2 cup yellow split pea flour and 1 1/2 cups Great Northern Bean flour) 
1/2 cup beet puree (fresh is best when I have them.  They don't even have to be cooked before blending. Or use canned fancy beets--not the  pickled kind--and blended them up with a little water in the blender)
2 Tablespoons baking powder (or use 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda and 3 teaspoons of cream of tartar)
1 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
 2 cups milk
1/2 cup olive oil

• Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another.
• Mix wet and dry together and put into two well oiled 8"x 8" round pans
• bake in preheated 425 F oven for about 20 minutes
• Let cool a few minutes before cutting into wedges or it will be really crumbly.

Fruit and Veggie Rolls

Step One:
3 1/2 Cups warm water (try to have it at about 110°F)
1/4 Cup honey
1 Cup olive oil
6 Tablespoons yeast

Place above four ingredients into a very large mixing bowl and allow to sit and rest for 15 minutes to allow the yeast to start working.( If your yeast is bad, then it will not bubble up and you will need to start over.)

Step Two:
In a smaller bowl combine:

2 eggs
2 cups of fruit and/or veggie pulp. (I used pulp left after juicing some potatoes,carrots, grapefruit, and pineapple in my high efficiency juicer).

Then add to yeast mixture.

Step Three
In a third large mixing bowl combine:
5 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour
1/2 Cup yellow split pea flour
3 1/2 Cups Great Northern White Bean flour
1 Tablespoon of salt (optional: I actually just sprinkled a little garlic salt parsley blend on mine as I shaped the rolls)

Step Four
Shape into rolls and place on a cookie sheet.
Allow to rise until double.

Bake at 350 F until golden brown

Full Protein Zuchini and Beet Bread

I just discovered a very yummy and healthy way to add more beans and brown rice to my family's diet! I just used a recipe for zuchini bread ( I used one from "Our Best Bites by Sara Wells and Kate Jones) and then altered the recipe:

1) Instead of white flour, I used 1/2 cup ground white northern bean flour (I have my own grinder I used and just ground up a bag of the dried beans) and for the rest of the called for amount of flour I substituted brown rice flour (also just a regular bag of brown rice ground up in my electric grinder.

2) I used 1/3 cup of blended beet purree (I cooked the beets in the microwave and then cut them and blended them in the blender with a little water) as part of the amount of zuchinni.

I also used all white sugar since I didn't have brown sugar to add as the recipe called for.

My family all loved this bread and because it is made from the brown rice and bean flour, it is also a complete protein bread. Not to mention the beets and zuchini. A great snack to give to my toddler and feel good about.

Note: I got the idea to use vegetable puree from Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook. Check it out for some great recipes for using other veggies in a fun way.

Homemade Crock-pot Beans or Refried Beans

I LOVE these beans. And they are so easy. 1)wash and sort about three cups of pinto beans ( for a large pot of beans. Then half can be frozen or used for other things like in the serving suggestions below)

2) If you can, soak them all day with a tsp of baking soda(or overnight, I soak them during the day and then cook overnight)

3) Rinse the beans and drain off all the water

4) Put the beans in a crock pot and cover with water (about halfway up a large crock pot) with some chicken bouillon 2-3 tsps, 4 cloves garlic peeled and smashed (or garlic powder), and a handful of dehydrated onion (or minced onion or best chopped fresh onion)

5) Cook on low overnight. (never add tomatoes while cooking or the beans won't cook) If still not finished in the morning turn on high and cook four more hours it depends on how hot your crock pot gets.

Serving suggestions.

-These are great as is served "as is" with some cheese and sour cream.

- You can add your favorite chili ingredients.

- Make refried beans: Drain the liquid out of the beans, mash them and add some cumin and chili powder (1-2 tsp each) and can also add in some tomatoes or tomato sauce just be careful not to make them too runny if you want to use them for burritos.

Taco Pie

1)Make up some biscuit dough. spray casserole pan with Pam or oil it down. Spread the biscuit dough on the bottom and bake at 450 for about 12 minutes.
2)Flavor some ground beef or a can of canned beef or some chicken with homemade taco seasoning and heat through (or cook if using raw meat).
3) heat up a can of refried beans or use my great homemade recipe made ahead and add a little taco seasoning in if you want or some tomato sauce. Just don't make them too runny.
4) When the biscuit crust is golden brown, take it out of the oven and spread refried beans on top, then the seasoned meat on top of that. Then add some shredded chees on top and heat in the oven until hot and cheese is melted.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, olives, crushed corn chips and salsa

Make Canned Chili So Much Better

I don't like canned chili very much so when I don't have time to make homemade, I like to "re-make" the canned chili. It is so much tastier that way.

-2 cans chili
-1 can tomatoes (diced or whole, same size can as chili you use)
-1 can corn (creamed corn is yummy too)
-1/2 -1 Cup sour cream, plain greek yogurt or 2-4 Tbs of ranch dressing

Heat it all up together. This is really good! It is even better with cornbread or corn chips.