Serve rice and black beans with a tortilla and hot sauce.
Legumes include beans, peas and lentils. The cost of a pound of dried legumes is between $1 and $2, as of 2011. A pound of dried legumes provides the basis for several meals, and they will keep in the pantry for several months. Stretch your budget by using legumes in the entree of the meal complemented by meats and vegetables.
Stews
Dried beans require an overnight soaking before adding to slow-cooking stews and other dishes. Kidney beans with their dark red color and mealy interior are a natural pairing with beef stews. Navy beans are smaller and milder and a good choice for chicken stews. If you're not sure the beans will be tender by the time the stew is finished, use canned beans. Another alternative is to start cooking the beans before the other ingredients. Round out the meal with freshly baked biscuits to sop up the stew gravy and a salad of pleasant-tasting bitter greens such as endive, escarole and arugula.
Chili
Only a chili purist from Texas would say that a chili shouldn't include legumes. Beans and lentils pick up the flavors they're cooked with, so when you bite into the beans you also taste the seasonings and meat. Create a vegetarian chili with lentils, celery, carrots, winter squash in a hearty tomato-based broth. Add lots of cumin, chili flakes and oregano, and you won't miss the meat. Stir frozen corn into the chili the last few minutes of cooking. Bake cornbread muffins to capture all the chili goodness.
Soup
Navy bean soup, split pea soup, black bean soup, and ham hock and bean soup all rely on beans as the major ingredient. When the beans are about an hour away from being done, add in the other ingredients. The exception is if you're using a ham bone or ham hock. In that case, add it in the beginning of the process so all the flavors of the ham transfers to the soup broth and the beans. Soup needs bread. Serve a hearty peasant bread such as pumpernickel or rye. Raw carrot and cucumber sticks with a yogurt-based ranch dip finish the meal.
Beans and Rice
Separately, each provides some protein; eat beans and rice together, and you get complete proteins. Try red beans, cooked with a ham bone, on top of white rice. The liquid of the beans flavors the rice. Mexican restaurants rely on refried beans and Mexican rice as side dishes. They also make a satisfying dinner all on their own. Sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers, dressed with lime or lemon juice, provide crunch to the velvety smoothness of the beans.
Tags: bean soup, beans with, cooked with, dried legumes, other ingredients, pound dried
