Yeah, but Would You WANT To...?
Jan. 25th, 2021 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse 'Yeah, but would you want to...?" has always been the question I have asked myself about the general prepper/apocalypse planning advice that says: "You can live on rice and beans forever! Plus, they're easy to store!"
Like a good liberal prepper, I did, in fact, stock up on dried beans even though my family currently eats almost ZERO meals that involve ANY kind of bean beyond those you would throw in to make a good chili. Rice I already had a lot of around, though I did buy more when it came time to lay in stores. The rice, I've been using steadily and have, in point of fact, had to replenish a number of times.
The dried beans? They're still just sitting there.
So I am determined to use these apocalypse beans up. I feel, in some way, that my using up the apocalypse beans will herald an end to the pandemic... or, at least my willingness to not feel like I have to have some kind of white knuckle fear that it may NEVER end. (Don't tell me how wrong I am, okay? I need any shred of hope I can cling to.)
This is a long way of getting to the fact that yesterday I cooked up a mess 'o beans that was (and still is, as I am having it for lunch) DELICIOUS.
This recipe is not for vegans or vegetarians, however, as it is the classic ham hock and bean pot. The cool thing, however, was because I was going to simmer this pot in the oven for four to five hours, I didn't even bother soaking the beans overnight. I just threw a half a bag of pinto beans in with the soup stock and ham hock, onions, and bay leaves, and walked away. Obviously, this is not quite apocalypse fare as in a lot of doomsday scenarios (as opposed to the one we're living) since, if you are hunkered down in your bunker, you can't just go out and get a ham hock. Ours was left over from a Honeybaked Ham that we bought for Christmas Eve dinner that I threw in the freezer. I mean, this did a lot for cleaning out my freezer? And, I am surprised how delicious it is. (To make it slightly MORE hearty, I also threw in some brown rice that I had also over stocked for the apocalypse.)
If you are a meat eater, I highly recommend. Though I suspect you could do something similar with vegetable stock, beans, onions, and rice? Feel free to chime in, if you have a good recipe--because I am bound and DETERMINED to eat up all these beans!!
Like a good liberal prepper, I did, in fact, stock up on dried beans even though my family currently eats almost ZERO meals that involve ANY kind of bean beyond those you would throw in to make a good chili. Rice I already had a lot of around, though I did buy more when it came time to lay in stores. The rice, I've been using steadily and have, in point of fact, had to replenish a number of times.
The dried beans? They're still just sitting there.
So I am determined to use these apocalypse beans up. I feel, in some way, that my using up the apocalypse beans will herald an end to the pandemic... or, at least my willingness to not feel like I have to have some kind of white knuckle fear that it may NEVER end. (Don't tell me how wrong I am, okay? I need any shred of hope I can cling to.)
This is a long way of getting to the fact that yesterday I cooked up a mess 'o beans that was (and still is, as I am having it for lunch) DELICIOUS.
This recipe is not for vegans or vegetarians, however, as it is the classic ham hock and bean pot. The cool thing, however, was because I was going to simmer this pot in the oven for four to five hours, I didn't even bother soaking the beans overnight. I just threw a half a bag of pinto beans in with the soup stock and ham hock, onions, and bay leaves, and walked away. Obviously, this is not quite apocalypse fare as in a lot of doomsday scenarios (as opposed to the one we're living) since, if you are hunkered down in your bunker, you can't just go out and get a ham hock. Ours was left over from a Honeybaked Ham that we bought for Christmas Eve dinner that I threw in the freezer. I mean, this did a lot for cleaning out my freezer? And, I am surprised how delicious it is. (To make it slightly MORE hearty, I also threw in some brown rice that I had also over stocked for the apocalypse.)
If you are a meat eater, I highly recommend. Though I suspect you could do something similar with vegetable stock, beans, onions, and rice? Feel free to chime in, if you have a good recipe--because I am bound and DETERMINED to eat up all these beans!!
no subject
Date: 2021-01-25 07:08 pm (UTC)Speaking of co-op days, I vaguely recall that the go-to fix for making vegetarian soup taste like something other than hot water with rewarmed vegetables in it was brewers yeast, which I assume you can still buy at co-ops. Does anybody still cook with brewers yeast?
no subject
Date: 2021-01-25 11:12 pm (UTC)But it's really much easier to use a commercially made broth paste that has yeast in it. I use Better Than Bouillion No Chicken or, if that is not available, Vegetable, Base. It comes in little glass jars and is quite strong, so it can last quite a while.
Nutritional yeast is nice if you are trying to make a vegan cheese sauce or a pot pie gravy, but I personally don't find it works very well in soups. It may just be that I don't have the knack of it.
The bean dishes that I make generally call for either a little Liquid Smoke or some toasted sesame oil to make up for the lack of smoked meat flavor. There are also a lot of really delicious vegetarian mock sausage products available, and some of them even stand up to long cooking.
P.
P.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-26 05:04 pm (UTC)Liquid Smoke is an interesting idea! I should have that around since I failed my other vegan friend (besides you, Pamela,) and added Worcestershire sauce not realizing is made of tiny fishes. :-(