BEANS!!!

I hate beans. I mean the starchy beans that have those skins on them that get stuck in my teeth. Like pinto, kidney, navy, and such. First of all those skins! They slide around and are hard to catch to chew and even then they get stuck between my teeth. Then, biting into a bean releases that starchy paste-y feeling on my tongue. UGH! Nothing about beans that I like.

But back in college I learned to like Mexican food, which of course has refried beans. No skins, no biting into a chunk of dry paste, and a nice hint of pork fat (one of my favorite foods!). And as long as they don’t have chunks, I learned to love the flavor of refried beans in Mexican food. And THEN Coco Loco opened up in Saginaw, and they serve the creamiest, smoothest, tastiest refried beans I have ever had. Coco Loco gives refried beans a sleek elegance that I’ve never experienced anywhere else. I dream about Coco Loco’s refried beans.

Then lately, for some reason, I’ve been wanting to try white beans. On some of the recipe videos I watch online after Pete goes to sleep I’ve seen certain of them described as creamy and nutty. Always a fan of both cream and nuts, it gave me a hankerin’ to try some. When I saw a dented can of cannellini beans at the Amish grocery for 35¢ I decided to buy it.

I researched different recipes to gain confidence, then today I put together one of my own. I browned chopped onions while in my Ninja I thoroughly – THOROUGHLY – creamed the drained/rinsed beans with garlic powder, salt, nutritional yeast (added protein for Pete), parsley, and olive oil. Then I scraped it into the pan with the onions and heated it through while stirring the whole time while checking for any chunks that had survived, or slimy skins.

The consistency was like mashed potatoes, after I thinned them down with olive oil. They easily formed into a mound on my plate, and had plenty of heft while I was stirring them in the pan. Very thick but very creamy!

My first bite I mainly just felt for anything objectionable. My second bite I knew this was EVERY BIT as good, though different of course, as Coco Loco’s refried beans, if not better. I absolutely inhaled them, and wished I’d made more! They were FANTASTIC!!! Pete loved them too, but he likes beans – all kinds of beans – anyway. I can’t wait to try other things with them, always thoroughly creamed of course, and plan to buy a lot more! This is so exciting, I can’t wait!!!

They didn’t last long enough for me to take a picture but I will be sure to photo-document my future bean experiments to share. Meanwhile, tomorrow I’ll be picking up another can of beans!