December 4, 2021

WEEKLY MENU 12.05.21

The Weekly Menu 12.05.21 is full of warm & delicious comfort food now that fall appears to have skipped us almost entirely in favor of winter.

What is making the cut for the Weekly Menu 12.05.21? Lots of comfort. It has gotten and is staying cold around beautiful Erieland, although we haven’t had too much snow just yet. The lake temperature has dropped down to about 43 degrees. Another thirteen degrees means that the lake will start freezing, possibly slowing down the lake-effect issues we run into. But those last thirteen degrees can take a while. So everyone has snow-brushes in their cars and full tanks of gas, just in case.

My hands-down favorite comfort food this time of year is soup. We don’t eat it much during the summer, because, well, heat. I love all kinds of soups, but I have a special spot in my heart for soup with beans.

My Mom made an awesome Navy Bean Soup with Ham using the bone from Christmas Dinner and it was gloopy, wallpaper-pasty and utterly delicious. Not everyone like it, but I’d sprinkle a little bit of salt on top and go to town. Unfortunately, I have some trouble with beans. Often times (like last week with the Black Bean Soup) the beans cook and cook and still end up a little, well, crunchy.

What can I say? It’s a gift.

Bert will probably tell you that I’ve even been able to make frozen lima beans tough. And canned baked beans? Not my forte. Bert takes care of both with nary a problem in sight. I don’t get it, but I’m able to swing with it. WHY do beans not soften up? Seems there’s a bit of science there.

The most common reason for hard beans are old and poor quality beans. Apart from that, the types of beans, the cooking time, and using hard water can keep your beans hard after cooking. Another interesting reason is adding acidic ingredients.
“Why are my beans still hard after cooking and what to do about it” The Kitchen Table by White

Well, the beans are okay, age wise. And I actually pick through (albeit it hastily) when I put them in a bowl. Turns out that Erieland water, while absolutely delicious, is actually considered hard. Huh. The more you know.

Yes, this might be surprising to know, but it’s the truth. We often have hard water running on our taps. This affects the hardness of the seeds.
Hard water has calcium in it. Calcium prevents the beans from softening. This is the reason why your beans were still hard after cooking.
When they’re soaked in hard water, the calcium prevents the pectin conversion. So the beans remain hard even after cooking for a long time.
Chlorinated water also prevents the beans from softening. Try to use boiled water for soaking the beans if the water is chlorinated.
“Why are my beans still hard after cooking and what to do about it” The Kitchen Table by White

What to do?

Add Baking Soda
This is the number one solution to your bean problem. This solution is best for dishes that require acidic ingredients.
Because, let’s do some science here, acids prevent the beans from softening. And a basic substance like baking soda can help neutralize the acid in your dish. This allows the beans to soften up.
All you have to do is, add ¼ teaspoons of baking soda per pound of beans. This will help the beans to soften. If the beans were stored for a long time, you might need more baking soda.
Salted Water
Salted water helps if you’ve soaked your beans in hard water. What’s more, salt removes the minerals of hard water, which keeps beans hard.
For this step, you have to add a tablespoon of salt for every quart of water. Cover the beans and let them boil for 2 minutes. After that check, if the beans have softened or not.
“Why are my beans still hard after cooking and what to do about it” The Kitchen Table by White

I’m going to add baking soda going forward. And maybe even on Friday when we’re having Sausage Split Pea Soup. Split peas are much easier to cook – they don’t even require soaking. They’re similar to lentils and they cook really fast. But a teaspoon of baking soda shouldn’t be a problem, right? I’ll let you know how it goes.

Weekly Menu 12.05.21

We’re hauling out the crockpot three times during the week. (Affiliate links precede and follow. See Disclaimer Page for Details.) You might notice that we’re having Beef Stroganoff on Sunday. Just like last Sunday. But not truly – I really didn’t feel like cooking last week (Thanksgiving can really take it out of a girl, you know?) so Bert took us out to dinner. Of course we already had the (frozen) stew meat we’re using for this fabulous looking recipe, so it stayed on the menu.

But we changed out the sides – typically, egg noodles are the go-with, but nobody around here really likes them. D suggested some wide cut homemade noodles and offered to help, so we’re giving those a go. That sounds like a perfect Sunday afternoon with the football game on in the background, doesn’t it?

Our comfort food binge continues with Taco Casserole on Tuesday and the Baked Meatballs and skets on Wednesday. We’ll make some meatballs (although the frozen ones are pretty good, so…) and boil up a box of pasta. The cooked spaghetti goes in the bottom of a heavily sprayed casserole dish and is dotted liberally with (ahem) thawed meatballs. Then the whole shebang is smothered with mozzarella cheese and sprinkled with parm. Cook until bubbly.

That’s comforting.

Sausage Split Pea Soup pairs with easy-peasy crackers for a perfect Friday Night Happy Hour. And a Fish Fry rounds out the week. We are adding plenty of veggies and salads to even out the heavy. And we’ll eat responsibly. Mostly.

WEEKLY MENU 12.05.21

The Beef Stroganoff is still from Recipe Tin Eats. The informative post about the noodles is via Delightful-Delicious-Delovely. The dump-meal Chicken Teriyaki is from Yellow Bliss Road. Instead of using a beef chuck roast, we’re using a more economical pork loin with the Mississippi Pork Roast from The Country Cook. We’re pairing that with a new family fave – Frito Corn Salad from Restless Chipotle. The Cheesy Everything Crackers were found at Jo Eats.