Lunch – Plum Cooking.com

Cook The Best Dry Pinto Beans On The Stove

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 04:26:27 +0000

Dry Beans Save You Money

Every 15 or 16-ounce can of pinto beans equals about 1½ cups of cooked beans, drained.

2 cups of dry pinto beans = 1 pound of dry pinto beans.

1 pound of dry pinto beans = about six cups (or 4 cans) of cooked beans, drained.

The cost of 1 pound of dry pinto beans is roughly the same (or less) than that of a single can of cooked pinto beans.

Officially, dried pinto beans have a minimum shelf life of one to two years, according to the USDA. Unofficially, they keep pretty much forever. Dried beans are considered non-perishable

2 Ingredient Pinto Beans

All you really need are just two ingredients to cook pinto beans

Dry Pinto Beans

Water

Cooking pinto beans on the stove is easy to do, tastes so much better than canned beans from the store, and as a bonus, it’s cheaper as well.

There are literally hundreds of other ingredients you can add to this simple bean recipe to make your special dish but not only are they completely optional, but they also don’t have to be added right away.

Not only are beans easy to make, but they are also nutritious, filling, and incredibly versatile! They can be used as a side dish or added to other dinner recipes like burritos, tostadas, soups, stews, and so much more.

I have been making this very simple pinto bean recipe for years. Then once I have the beans cooked up and ready to go, I can use them later in other recipes. This way I have all the convenience of those canned beans from the supermarket but for a fraction of the cost.

Once you start getting into a routine of making and having pinto beans cooked up and ready to go, they will quickly become a staple around your kitchen.

Optional Seasonings

Of course, there are a number of seasonings you may want to routinely add to your basic pinto bean recipe, (especially if you plan to eat the pot of beans right away) the most obvious being salt.

Salt helps to bring out and enhance the natural flavors of just about any food but it is not necessary for this basic pinto bean recipe. They will cook up and store just fine without a single grain added. Then you can simply add salt according to your other recipes later.

But, You Could Add:

1 teaspoon of salt and then adjust as needed.

1/2 onion diced or minced

3 or 4 cloves of minced garlic

How To Cook Dry Pinto Beans

Start By Sorting Your Beans

The easiest way to sort your beans that I have ever found is to spread a towel across the countertop. A plain white tea towel is ideal for this but any towel will work.

Then spread your beans out into a single layer on the towel and pick out any rocks, shriveled up, or even split beans and discard them.

My simple rule is if it doesn’t look like the other 500 beans laying there, it’s out of there.

Rinse Your Beans

Pour your beans into a strainer or colander and rinse with cold water to remove any small unseen debris from the beans.

Soak your beans

Place your rinsed beans into a jar or bowl and cover them with at least two or three inches of water. Cover the jar and leave it on the counter in a cool place out of any direct sunlight for at least 8 hours. Overnight works great. If you prefer to soak them in your refrigerator you can but the soaking time will take longer.

Soaking your beans not only allows them to rehydrate, but soaking also helps them to cook more evenly and cuts down on the overall cooking time.

Discard The Soaking Water

Once your beans have been soaked overnight you will see that they have just about doubled in size. Pour them back into a strainer or colander and discard the water they soaked in. I usually give them a quick second rinse at this point.

To Cook Your Beans

Rinse your soaked pinto beans, place them into a large pot and cover them with add about 2 1/2 quarts of fresh clean water. (This is also the perfect time to add any of those additional seasonings if you’re just planning to eat them tonight.)

Bring the beans to a boil, reduce the heat to a medium-low simmer, cover and cook for 2 or 3 hours checking the water level and stirring occasionally.

After about 2 hours give them a quick taste. They should be tender with a soft smooth texture. If not, let them cook for another 30 to 60 minutes or until they’ve cooked through to the level you are looking for.

Storing Cooked Pinto Beans

Short Term Storage

Your cooked pinto beans will keep for about 4 days in the refrigerator. For best results let beans cool completely and use an airtight container.

Long Term Storage

Your cooked pinto beans will easily keep in the freezer for at least 4 to 6 months. For best results in the freezer use freezer-safe containers or freezer bags removing as much air as possible.

A Few Ideas For Using Cooked Pinto Beans

Refried Beans

Add to Burritos

Taco Salads

Beans and Franks

Ham and Beans

Use as a side dish

Add To Salads

Add to Soups

Chili

More Side Dish Ideas

Farmers Markets In My Area

Great Classic Chicken Salad Recipe

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 17:05:37 +0000

Classic Chicken Salad Recipe

On A Croissant

Quick and simple

This recipe may seem basic but is both delicious and easy to make. If you make it ahead and keep it in the refrigerator it is great anytime for sandwiches, quick appetizers, salads, and more.

More Lunch Ideas

Meat Markets In My Area

Easy Homemade Pizza Dough From Biscuit Mix

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 12:43:48 +0000

Homemade Pizza Dough

Forget the delivery! As long as you have some of your homemade Bisquick-style baking mix you can pull this easy pizza dough together in just minutes. Perfect for beginners or those who simply want a no-muss no-fuss way to make a pizza crust.

No time to cook? Looking for great pizza in your neighborhood

Easy homemade pizza dough means, easy homemade pizza! No-muss, no-fuss! Just delicious pizza without breaking the family budget.

Dinner Recipes

Dining Out Tonight

Easy No Yeast Pizza Dough

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 22:15:46 +0000

No Yeast Pizza Dough

Pizza By Definition – According to Merriam-Webster

Turn your family kitchen into a Pizzeria for the night

Looking for something to go with that pizza?

Why not check out these great side recipes

Easy Homemade Chili

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 21:20:19 +0000

Nothing Beats A Bowl Of Homemade Chili

On A Chilly Winter Day

Simple to put together, and in just about no time at all. The toughest part is not eating any while you smell this wonderful aroma of chili cooking

Chili By Definition – According to Merriam-Webster

Looking for something to go with that chili? Why not check out these great biscuit recipes on Plum Cookin’

Best Homemade Biscuits Almost From Scratch

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 03:17:13 +0000

Someone’s Baking Homemade Biscuits

One of my all-time favorites with breakfast in the morning is good, old-fashioned homemade biscuits. Especially buttermilk biscuits.

It could be homemade biscuits for biscuits and gravy. It could be homemade biscuits for a breakfast sandwich, such as sausage, egg, and cheese. Maybe it’s a plate full of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a fresh hot homemade biscuit on the side with butter and honey or perhaps old-fashioned homemade strawberry jam.

No matter how you like your breakfast, it’s just plain hard to beat the smell of fresh warm homemade biscuits coming straight out of the oven in the morning.

People don’t make biscuits from scratch much these days because they either don’t think they have the time, don’t think they have the skills, or have just never learned how, and they’re intimidated by the whole process.

The truth is, that biscuit making can be very simple or very complicated. It’s up to you just how much work you want to put into making homemade biscuits.

But It Says “Just Like Homemade” On The Can

Nowadays, most people peel back the paper label to bust open one of those refrigerated cans of biscuit dough and pop them in the oven because that’s all they think they have time to do. Sadly, I’ve yet to find a canned biscuit that comes remotely close to homemade biscuits, let alone a buttermilk biscuit.

Other alternatives include the pre-made, cooked or uncooked biscuits you can find in the freezer section at your local supermarket, and yes, they tend to be closer to the real thing than those canned biscuits. The trouble is, for anyone who has ever tasted real homemade biscuits, that canned or frozen version is just not going to do the trick.

If you seriously don’t have the time or desire to make homemade biscuits from scratch every time you want to have biscuits. Without question, there are a few excellent mixes out there for homemade biscuits. If you’re going to go that route and buy a pre-made mix, here are a few brands we’ve found on Amazon that get the Plum Cookin’ recommendation.

Southern Biscuit Formula L Biscuit Mix
Weisenberger – Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuit Mix

Better Still – Make Your Mix Yourself

If you’re going to use a mix, why not have all the convenience without the cost, preservatives, or unpronounceable ingredients of a store-bought mix? All you need is a reusable, airtight container and half a dozen ingredients you probably already have in your pantry to make a shelf-stable mix of your own.

My Easy Homemade Biscuit and Baking Mix Recipe

What Type of Milk Should I Use

You can make any of the various homemade biscuits listed here using just about any variety of milk, ranging from powdered non-fat to heavy liquid cream. My favorite by far, however, is made with fresh cultured buttermilk.

If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, you can make sour milk in a pinch by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk and letting it curdle for about ten minutes. The resulting biscuit won’t be quite the same as a fluffy, homemade buttermilk biscuit, but in a pinch, what can I say? It works.

Drop Biscuits

If you look on the back of many biscuit mixes, you’ll find various recipes, one being drop biscuits.

Now, if you’re looking for something simple, it just doesn’t get much easier than drop biscuits from your pre-made, homemade biscuit and baking mix. Making biscuits this way is so easy there’s no reason to limit them to breakfast either. Drop biscuits are an easy and delicious addition to just about any meal or snack. I’ve even used them to make my topping for that quick peach cobbler I was craving at the last minute.

Drop biscuits are a slightly thinner, sticky mix of dough that you scoop out by the spoonful and drop onto a lightly greased or non-stick pan.

To make 8 to 12 Drop Biscuits from your homemade baking mix, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Then, in a large bowl, add 2 1/2 cups of your homemade biscuit mix and 3/4 to 1 cup of buttermilk, and stir just until combined. You can use any milk you like, but buttermilk will give you the best flavor.

If the batter is very dry, add a little more milk until you have the consistency of an incredibly thick batter. Do not over-mix though the batter will be lumpy.

Using a cookie scoop or a spoon, scoop out large dollops of dough (about a quarter cup in size) and drop them onto a non-stick baking pan. If you use a cast iron pan or any pan that tends to stick, you may want to, lightly grease the pan. Parchment paper works well also.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter if desired.

You can make drop biscuits in your oven or a pan on your stovetop. I’ve also baked up a batch of these tasty homemade biscuits in the morning using a cast-iron skillet over a campfire.

Cathead Biscuits

Another biscuit you can make, my Aunt Joanie in Alabama used to call Cathead Biscuits. These homemade biscuits get their name because the biscuit generally bakes up to be about the size of, you guessed it, a cat’s head.

Cathead biscuits are made with a thicker and less sticky dough than drop biscuits and are generally shaped by pinching off a piece of dough and rolling it in your floured hand to shape it, rather than using a biscuit cutter.

To make 8 Cathead Biscuits from your homemade baking mix, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Then, in a large bowl, add 2 1/2 cups of your homemade biscuit mix and 3/4 to 1 cup of buttermilk, and stir until the dough forms a ball. If the batter is sticky, don’t be afraid to add a little more baking mix but don’t over-mix.

To form the Cathead Biscuits, flour your hands and pinch off a large piece of dough. Give the dough a good roll in your hands to create your biscuit and place it onto a greased or non-stick baking pan.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush the tops of the homemade biscuits with melted butter if desired.

Rolled Biscuits

If you’ve never made Rolled Buttermilk Biscuits before, you’ve been missing out on some of the lightest, fluffiest homemade biscuits ever. Admittedly, a perfect Rolled Buttermilk Biscuit may take a little practice, but there’s nothing wrong with a few delicious mistakes along the way.

To make 12 to 15 Rolled Buttermilk Biscuits from your homemade mix, you’re going to need 4 1/2 cups of your homemade biscuit mix and 1 1/2 to 2 cups of buttermilk. Bring together the homemade mix with the buttermilk and flour your clean work surface with some extra biscuit mix.

Placing your mixed dough onto the floured work surface, pat the dough out by hand to form a large rectangular shape, about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. If you use a rolling pin for this, be gentle, it’s easy to overwork your dough when using a rolling pin. I find it much easier to just pat mine out by hand.

Fold one end of the rectangle halfway over the middle, and then bring the other half over the top. Rotate your dough 90 degrees and pat the dough out to a 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding process, rotate the dough again, pat the dough out again, repeating the whole process a third time.

Gently pat the dough out into a large rectangle about 3/4 of an inch thick a fourth time and use a large biscuit cutter to cut your biscuits. Cut the biscuits from the dough as closely as you can to get as many biscuits as you can out of a single piece of dough. Gently pat out any extra dough and continue to cut and shape biscuits until all the dough is gone.

Place your biscuits onto a non-stick or lightly greased baking dish. You can also line a pan with parchment paper if you prefer. For tall, fluffy biscuits, make sure the biscuits are touching each other in the pan.

Place the biscuits into a 425-degree oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden brown. When you pull the pan from the oven, you can immediately brush the tops of the homemade biscuits with melted butter if desired.