Monday, January 18, 2010

Beans bring Sunshine!

Okay, so, hopefully after today I won't lose any followers (BIG WINK!)

Anyone who know me,
knows that I am an adventurous spirit
and I love to venture out and try new things.

One of the biggest fascinations I have had is thinking back to simpler times and how our forefathers survived and cooked without many of the modern conveniences that most of us can't live without.

I'm grateful I have a husband who is 100% supportive of my adventurous endeavors and most of the time he is coming up with adventurous things for us to try as well.

Even though
most of the time I appreciate all of the modern conveniences in my life, I do enjoy honing my primitive skills as well...thus the reason for my post today.

Tracy got an interesting gift from his parents
for his birthday last year. They got him an antique (made circa 1920) keystone meat grinder. They purchased it at the old Graff Mercantile in Hurricane, Utah while visiting relatives there.

This may surprise some of you but ground meat hasn't always been available conveniently wrapped on a styro-foam tray at the grocery store . We've had fun watching old reruns of Little House on the Prairie lately. Who knows, maybe the real Caroline Ingalls had a keystone grinder like ours...purchased from none other than the Oleson's Mercantile!
******************************

At Christmas time we got a great deal on some chicken breasts. We got 44 pounds of chicken breasts for $56.00. I spent a little over an hour cutting them apart and packaging them up to put in our freezer. Even though it was more work then I intended on, it gives me peace of mind to have some quality meat in our freezer.

SO, I called Tracy a few weeks ago and said
"Guess what I just did?
"
He said he had no clue. I told him I just got done cleaning our meat grinder because I had just ground some fresh chicken for our Sunshine Bean Casserole we were having that night.
He was surprised at my industriousness
!
I think I am going to enjoy doing this
in the future to make our ground beef stretch. People use ground turkey all of the time, so why not ground chicken?

I have to say the Sunshine Bean Casserole was absolutely delicious and you couldn't really tell the difference. I found this recipe my first year of marriage and that was the name of it
"Sunshine Bean Casserole"
.
I thought it was such a happy sounding name, so that is what I continue to call it.

Sunshine Bean Casserole

Soak
1/2 cup of each bean (Lima beans, Red beans, Garbanzo beans) (you will have 1-1/2 cups total beans) in water overnight.
Drain off water and refill pan with clean water.
Cook until tender.


(If your family is not fond of Garbanzo beans, I would just do 3/4 cups Lima beans and 3/4 cup Red beans--as long as you have 1-1/2 cups of dry beans you are fine with whatever choice you choose---VERY versatile recipe).

1 pound ground turkey or beef
1 large onion chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ Tablespoon mustard
2/3 cup catsup
1 teaspoon cumin
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
(salt and pepper to taste).

Put
cooked and drained beans in casserole dish.
Mix lightly, set aside.
Cook ground turkey/beef, onion and garlic til meat is lightly browned.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Mix with beans.
Cover and bake for 1-1/2 hours in a 325 degree oven.
(Mixture can also be cooked in crock pot on low for 3 to 4 hours).


Great served with
French Bread or Sweet Corn Bread
Enjoy!

How Frugal is this meal?
ground chicken--$1.50
dried beans--.51
onion/garlic--.25
catsup, sugar, vinegar--.50
spices/mustard--.15
...............................................
Total--$2.91
(We fed 4 people 2 dinners and
2
people 1 lunch for this price)

8 comments:

CB said...

FIRST!!! Cause it's cool n stuff! Hee her

CB said...

We love beans (well except for the "magical fruit" part - snort! My boys sing that everytime!) so this looks yummy!
I like that you can use any type of bean.

That old grinder is pretty dang cool! I have a feeling you are going to get alot of use out of it. It totally is weird to think that meat didn't always come packaged the way we are used to.

Btw I made your meat gravy over cauliflower the other night. It wad a hit except I cooked the cauliflower and the mashed it down before putting the meat gravy on top. My boys did not even catch on that it was cauliflower - can you say hilarious !!! Ha I loved it!!

Have a great day Kimmie and thanks again for sharing your good recipes and inspiration with all of us.

Connie said...

What a great idea! You ARE adventurous! I love it! What a great idea to grind up your chicken breasts, which, btw, is a great price! Good for you! The casserole looks good. I made your appleasauce muffins and they were so yummy! I shared the recipe with our Relief Society on Sunday. Hope that's OK.
Have a great day.

Ann Marie said...

Lose followers.. Psh..

You are amazing! It's funny.. I have had 2 or 3 of those meat grinders.. and sold all but one. Now I know I can use it if I need to!! Mine is just for decor now!

When we watch little house.. I always look for the cool stuff they used. :)

~ Again.. the ladies in your ward are lucky to get lots of good and healthy recipes from you!

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Looks like ANOTHER delicious Kimmie recipe!
Looking forward to trying this one. I have so many beans in storage and am looking for innovative ways to use 'em up.
My mother has a meat grinder like that and still uses it. She grinds her bread crumbs in it every Thanksgiving for her dressing.

Love the picture of the meal. I'm having to wipe up the drool from the laptop, it looks really good.

Small House said...

You are industrious! And I like the fact that this recipe can sit in the crock pot! I love coming home, and dinner is ready to go, in my little crock pot in the corner!

I have something like that for fruit! I like the meat one. My husband doesn't like roast (I know...can you believe it?). I wonder if this could be used for a roast, and make patties with it? Just thinking.

As always, love all your ideas!
Have a great day.
Sandra

Brittany H said...

Kimmie Can you PLEASE write a cookbook already.

wileyfamilyof5 said...

I totally agree with you. I always try to teach my children things that my grandparents taught me. I was also going to tell you we have a friend who made a solar oven out of cardboad boxes and tin foil. Baked bread and it was great. I will be trying your recipe soon.

Mel