Beans, beans the magical fruit......

Magic indeed.  and they really are good for your heart!

Great Northern Beans with Sausage and Kale

You may be reluctant to eat beans because of their propensity to cause well ...flatulence. It seems that beans contain a sugar called oligosaccharide that we as humans cannot digest. Because it isn't broken down during digestion and is passed through the body, it causes gastric discomfort before it is expelled. We can reduce effect this by rinsing and changing the water that the beans are soaked in several times before cooking or by using rinsed (to reduce salt) canned beans. Now that you know how to reduce the gas that beans may produce, there is no excuse not to try them.
After talking with John, one of my now vegan friends, I decided to give beans a try. I added a little meat this time, because we like to eat it. Feel free to leave it out if you don't.

What you will need:

1 pound great northern beans

6 cups of water

2-3 sausages raw or precooked; you can substitute bacon, ham or smoked meats  

fresh kale (I used a big bunch from the farmers' market)

2 large onions chopped

chopped mushrooms (I used shiitaki)

a few cloves of garlic  minced  or garlic powder

olive oil

Beans
Prepare beans by soaking them for at least 8 hours, changing  the water several times while soaking, rinse well before cooking. Add the rinsed and drained beans, 6 cups of water  along with 1 of the chopped onions, one or 2 of the mushrooms and a little garlic in a dutch oven or soup pot. If you are using sausage or other meats, add them now. Cover and simmer gently over low heat for 2-3 hours or until beans have reached the desired tenderness.


Kale
Wash kale and trim ends,  chop. You may find it easier to stack the leaves and roll  them up to chop them. I usually cook the stems too, but you can remove them and save them to use in your soup stocks.


Heat oil in pan and add onions, mushrooms and garlic, cook over medium heat until onions are translucent. Add washed kale and toss together, cover and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes  or until the kale is tender. You might add a little water to help them steam.


Serving
In a serving dish, layer bean and kale mixtures in layers or just mix together like I did. That is the way the Beeblettes like it. Serve with a garden salad. 

YUMMY!

Slow Roasted Tomatoes (little bites of heaven)

Remember the other day  when I told you about my mommy moment and buying too many tomatoes?

This is the second idea in the overabundance of tomato saga. These tomatoes are so indescribably delicious! So much so, that you will have difficulty keeping them uneaten until using them in your favorite tomato recipe.

 The slow roasted tomato recipe is  very simple. 

Wash and slice Roma tomatoes in half lengthwise and arrange on a baking sheet. I don't bother to remove the stems or the seeds, but you may of course do that.

Brush generously with olive oil ( you can flavor the oil with garlic and herbs if you choose)

Bake in a preheated oven at 200° F/ 93° C  for 3-4 hours. I like to use a lower temperature for a longer period of time instead of a higher temperature for a shorter time. I think the tomato flavor intensifies better when slow roasted. This is what oven roasted tomatoes look like after an hour.

After roasting they will be considerably smaller yet still juicy and very flavorful. resist the urge to eat them all . Let cool and use in your favorite recipe. The olive oil can be used too. Use it  to make tonight's  salad dressing

YUMMY

Quick Tomato Salsa and other tomato ideas

Quick Tomato Salsa Photo ©Bebe Naidoo 2011

I had a " mommy moment" last Wednesday. I stopped into my local Mexican produce store to buy whole wheat burrito wrappers and thought to myself that I should also buy tomatoes too. They had a big bag of them at a great price so I snapped them up without thinking. When I got home and looked in the refrigerator, I found the vegetable bin filled with roma tomatoes  from last Saturday's  farmers market trip.

That do you do when faced with too many tomatoes?

• Roast  halved tomatoes drizzled with olive oil in a low temp oven overnight.
• Dry them in a dehydrator
• Can them. Use your favorite recipe, mine comes from the Ball Blue book
• Sauce them. Chop them and cook them down with onions and garlic and Italian herbs 
• Salad them. Slice or dice  with cucumber and onions
• Salsa them! Like I did...  

Rough chop tomatoes (seeds, skin and all) along with onions and garlic and cook  in a little olive oil in a  non stick frying pan over medium heat  until everything has cooked down into a bit of a mush. Add a splash of vinegar and some chopped cilantro. Want it hot? add some chopped chili peppers or a squirt or two of Sriracha sauce or  your favorite hot sauce. There really are no measurements just cook it down and taste it, add the things that you like until it tastes good to you . YUM