Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Red Kidney Beans

We are trying a few new things here in our home. Mainly, saving money. I have been trying to do this for the last few years. I just really haven't been doing all of the things together.

In my hometown, we used a lot of coupons. I followed the ads religiously and price matched with coupons. I scoured the Internet for numerous sources to print coupons and we really did save quite a bit of cash.

In Missouri, we really made an effort to eat more home cooked meals and eat out a lot less. But, we didn't save as much because we went away from planning our meals and couponing.

Now, I have been trying to make things at home, from scratch. Not just food, but other things too. Which is why I made B deodorant.

I just need to bring it all together. Then, we can save tons of cash!

Anyways, what does this have to do with red kidney beans? Well, I have been trying to shrink down our pantry for awhile. We have a tiny apartment (456 Sq feet) so, we really don't have a lot of space for things we only use occasionally. I need to whittle down our pantry to make way for things we eat regularly. We use the kidney beans in one recipe, we had 4 cans... Catching my drift? So, I scoured the Internet for a while and I found this recipe. Now,  I made it slightly different. The family loved it, it was cheap, filling and easy to make. Here is the recipe with my additions:

Pasta with Red Kidney Beans

2 (14.5 oz) cans stewed tomatoes
2 (15.5 oz) cans dark red kidney beans
2 cups water
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 to 1/4 cup sugar
Salt to taste
2 cups elbow noodles

1. Put tomatoes, beans and water in a large saucepan. Do not drain the tomatoes or beans. Add parsley, garlic, pepper and thyme. Heat to a boil. Taste it. If it tastes tangy, add 1/8 cup of sugar. Stir, and taste again. If still too tangy, add more sugar. Not more than 1/4 cup total. Taste again before adding salt. Add salt.
2. Once it is boiling, add noodles, cover with lid and turn off burner. Stir a few times until noodles are tender.
3. Serve with cheese sprinkled on top.

Now, I added the sugar because it was very tangy and tart. You may not always need to add it. The key to cooking is taste, add a little bit of something and taste. You don't want to always taste something before you heat it, the flavors aren't melded together yet. Honestly, I didn't follow the above recipe completely, everything is in there, but I didn't measure except the water and noodles. This is partly because I couldn't find a measuring spoon and mostly because once you add too much to something, it's hard to get it back. I know my family's tastes and I cook according.

Good luck and happy tasting!

XOXO
Jes

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