Brown beans are a great alternative to meat with their high protein, vitamins and minerals.
Brown beans, also known as pinto beans, are the most common bean in North America. They are often eaten whole or refried which makes them a great filling for burritos.
Eating beans is a good source of fiber along with protein and are low in fat.
A cup of pinto beans are 245 calories, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 15 grams of fiber, 15 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat, 407 mg of sodium.
Beans have 28% of the RDA for Thiamine, 20% of the RDA for Iron, 21% of the RDA for Magnesium, 20% of the RDA for Phosphorus and 16% of the RDA for Potassium.
Beans are a filling alternative to eating meat.
Dry beans will keep indefinitely as long as you store them in a cool dry place. The longer you keep them their nutritive value and flavor will decrease over time.
It takes a long time to cook beans, and you should soak the beans first to shorten the cooking time. It isn’t necessary to soak them, but the benefits of soaking them remove 5 to 10 percent of the gas-producing sugars that cause flatulence.
Some people fix a pot of beans with some cornbread and that was a meal. Here, I am sharing my pinto bean recipe. It is simple to make and doesn’t require a lot of preparation.
Ingredients
1 lb bag of pinto beans
6 cups chicken broth (water)
1 ham hock or other meat
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper to taste
Beans out of a bag need sorting through for rocks or other debris that could come up. Basically, you look through the beans and pick out anything that doesn’t look like a bean. Then you wash them well. If you want them to cook fast, presoak them first.
Beans can be cooked in a Crockpot so they don’t need to be presoaked with method. Once sorted and cleaned put 6 cups of water or chicken broth in the Crockpot.
Add the beans, then cut up the onion, mince the garlic and add to the Crockpot. Add in the ham hock or whatever meat you season the brown beans with.
Smoked turkey can be used as a healthier alternative.
Season the beans with salt and pepper. Let the beans cook several hours on low inside the Crockpot; about 4 to 6 hours.
While the beans are cooking, you can make some hot buttered cornbread to serve alongside the beans. The great thing about crockpot’s are that they free you from having to constantly watch your food.
You add the ingredients and go watch TV, read or go for a walk. Besides garlic, you can also try adding cumin, oregano or basil to flavor the beans.
When the beans are ready grab a bowl full and enjoy the warm cornbread.
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