Beans for beginners

I was talking with a friend and fellow vegetarian the other day about some of our favorite recipes. I believe that beans are a wonderful staple for every one's diet but is even more true of vegetarians and vegans.

Beans are good for us, filling, and cheap. Dry beans are cheaper and more pure than what is canned. No don't get me wrong, I'm do eat canned food but when I feel something is better for me and cheaper I love it.

The biggest problem is most beans need to be soaked and have long cooking times. My solution? My trusty crock pot. I rinse the beans in cool water, dump them into the crock pot with enough water to cover them by a few inches. Cut the crock pot on low and walk away.

Beans can be added to nearly any dish to fill it out or make it more hardy. They also accept most flavorings really well, so experimentation is key.

I'm in love

So there has been someone special in my life for a few months now.

I'm in love with my bread machine. (Maybe addicted is a more accurate word - do you think there is a 12 step program somewhere?)

I am shocked at how simple it is to use and clean. It has saved lots of money and created a healthy eating style too. It is easier to avoid snack cakes filled with preservatives and more when you know you can have a piece warm homemade bread with butter and jam.

Homemade croutons are so easy and yummy with real bread too. Using the dough cycle for pastry dough, pizza dough and even veggie burgers is just wonderful.

I found a my machine at Wal-Mart for about $50. It also has a jam cycle which I am looking forward to using in the near future - I'll have to report back on that one.

If you really love bread, investing in a bread machine might be for you. It doesn't put of a lot of heat, especially compared to our oven so it is wonderful to use in the summer. And in the winter - well when isn't homemade bread good?

For Thanksgiving we used the bread to make homemade dressing. It was wonderful!

If you get a machine, don't be discouraged if some recipes don't turn out right. I've had a couple duds, but also many wonderful loaves.

Yummy goodness

So as the weather is a little cooler - even for Florida. And the AC is turned off so the oven starts to get more use. It is just hard to even consider turning that hot box on when it is over 80 degrees outside - and humid.

Today has been a cool day and a wonderful day to turn on the oven instead of turning on a heater to get the damp chill out. During the week I don't tend to cook much, but the weekends carry the chance to get lost in a bit of kitchen experimentation.

What was on the menu today? These muffins! The recipe is wonderful and they really aren't that bad for you. I made them last weekend and added some dried blueberries that I happened to have on hand. Really wonderful. This time I added some chocolate and coconut. Don't let the fact that it is vegan scare you off - I'm a vegetarian myself but I used regular butter instead of soy butter it mentions. The true plus is how sweet they are without a lot of sugar. The best tip to share is that these are better if you can bear to let them cool. The warm muffins are a little more bland and stick their muffin paper. Somehow they are 20 times better after they cool.

We also made a batch of corn muffins. Kind of sweet corn muffins, but they turned out well.

And since the oven was already on, I threw in a butternut squash to roast. Although, I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with it yet. Better to cook it while the oven was on for something else - than to have to turn it on just to roast the one squash.