Best 3-Bean Chili

In our quest to incorporate more beans into our diets we have branched out and looked for some different recipes for chili. This is one of our favorites. Our little four year old says, "Mom, this is lishous." I think that definitely describes it. We especially love the addition of Cinnamon.

1 to 2 pounds lean ground beef
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
2 (16 oz.) cans Dark Red Kidney Beans
2 (16 oz.) cans Pinto Beans
2 (16 oz.) cans Black Beans
1 (14.5 oz.) can Diced Tomatoes
1 & 1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Salt
1/2 tsp. Ground Pepper
1/2 tsp. Cumin
Cinnamon, to taste - I usually put in 1 tsp.
Sour Cream

Brown ground beef in a heavy dutch oven or soup pot. Add chili powder and mix well. Add onion and pepper to meat and cook for 2 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Stir in remaining ingredients except for sour cream. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Top with sour cream.  This recipe comes from  www.recipes.bushbeans.com.

Of course, it is always cheaper to use dry beans over canned beans. If you use canned beans, don't drain them. If you use dry beans that you cook in a pressure cooker or stock pot make sure and use some or all of your cooking liquid in your chili. The liquid in the beans makes a nice thick and rich gravy in your chili.  For an even thicker chili you can add 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste. This recipe would also be a great vegan recipe, just leave out the ground beef.  For tips on cooking dry beans: http://www.ourprovidentlife.blogspot.com/2012/02/bean-cookin-101.html

All Purpose Cleaner

For a Great All-Purpose Cleaner

Combine equal parts White Vinegar and Water.

White Vinegar kills most mold, bacteria and germs due to its level of acidity.

It is also non-toxic and environmentally friendly. It works great on glass, leaving no streaks. The only thing you can’t use it on is marble and most of us won’t have that problem.

Now some of you are thinking, "Do I really want my house smelling like a bunch of pickles?" Don't worry the vinegar scent quickly fades. In fact, white vinegar is a very good deodorizer. It neutralizes those odors that you really don't want lurking around your home.

Still not wanting the vinegar smell? Try this:

Heat 1 Cup of White Vinegar in the microwave. 

Steep 1 lemon scented teabag in the hot vinegar, leave it overnight. For 32 oz. of cleaner, add 1 more cup vinegar and 2 cups water to the vinegar tea. I tried this with a peppermint teabag because that is all I had. I couldn't smell the peppermint very strongly, but the vinegar smell was not nearly as strong as before. In fact, you can hardly smell it at all. You could also scent this cleaner with your favorite essential oils or try infusing the vinegar with pine needles, lavender, etc. I keep a spray bottle of this all-purpose cleaner below my kitchen sink. It also makes a great fruit wash. Whenever I wash apples I just give them a spritz of this. The vinegar helps to remove any unwanted chemicals.

To find out more great uses for white vinegar go to www.vinegartips.com .

Seed Potatoes: Where to buy them?

Q - What is the difference between a seed potato and a regular potato?
A - The answer is there is no difference... sort of, sometimes seed potatoes have been treated and are not edible.  Usually the seed seller will disclose any issue. Some sell a sampler pack... to try and to plant.

A sprouting Viking Red a great heat tolerant red potato

Q - Can I just plant potatoes from the grocery store?
A - Not typically, they are usually treated with a chemical to prevent sprouting, they may eventually sprout but may not produce any potatoes.  I have heard that if they have been treated this way and they do sprout, if planted they will not develop tubers.  I can't verify this but I plan to experiment next time we have some sprouted grocery store potatoes in the pantry.
Q - What about "organic potatoes" from the grocery store?
A - You would think they would be good to plant but I have heard first hand accounts with mixed reviews about their viability.  Some of the issue may have to do with how they were stored and if the potatoes are new this years' crop.  Potatoes have to rest along with either high heat to cold to be viable as seed.  It is worth a shot but I wouldn't trust my whole crop to them.
Q - Where did you get your potatoes for your potato bins?

Cut into pieces (least two eyes each) set out to callous over.

A - I purchased them from potatogarden.com they have a huge variety of seed potatoes, I mean it they have countless varieties.  I also purchased from them because I can get them months early than other seed sellers.  Because I am in Zone 7b I need to plant mine far before most places ship their potatoes.
Q - Would you buy from them again?
A - Yes, they were very good to work with and I have been very satisfied with their seed potatoes.  Though next year I will order from their Long Season choices for the Potato Bins, because they will have a much large yield.
Q - Where else can I get seed potatoes?
A - I have been looking around locally for other options, I have found them at the big box stores and the farm stores like Atwoods, Tractor Supply and Calranch.  Most of what they all stocked were mid season varieties which don't work as well for Potato Bins. 
Q - Who had the best price?
A - Atwoods had the best price by far, only $0.69lb. Most of the other farm stores were about $1lb. The only draw back is they only had about 6-8 varieties.  The ones at the big box stores were decently priced also but their selection was also limited.
Q - What will you do next year for your seed potatoes?
A - I will buy some specialty ones(like the purple ones) from potatogarden.com and get the regular ones (reds, yukon golds etc.) from the farm store.

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Potato Bin - Grow 100lbs in 4 square feet?

Fist of many layers to the bins.

The claim is that you can grow over 100 lbs of potatoes in just 4 square feet.  You might have seen this on the internet.  Basically you plant potatoes and add soil and bin rails as the potatoes grow.  The concept is that most potatoes will continue to develop tubers if you bury the bottom portion of the plant as it grows, much like hilling your potatoes but rather than inches you are adding 3-4 feet up.  This works best with mid to long season potatoes as they are more likely to continue forming tubers.

Young potato plant

We are trying it this year.  We have three bins, one 2 foot x 2 foot and two 2'x3'.  Actually they are 27 inches to give a full 4 square feet inside.  The larger ones have an inside dimension of 24" x 32"

We planted one pound of seed potatoes in each.  We planted Yukon Gold, Purple Majesty and Viking Red.  The Yukon golds will probably not produce much as they are an early season potato and stop producing quickly.


I have salvaged a lot of scrap 2x6's from the burn piles at construction sites (with permission).  A few screws and I have my bin layers.  I will detail our progress with these bins as this early season continues. We plan to use straw/hay in place of soil/compost.  We don't have an excess of soil or compost on hand so a couple bales of hay will work great.  I also feel that 4 feet of soil may become compacted and constrain growth.  Using the hay will also make our harvest very easy.  The hay is great added to the compost pile after the season, if I can find some old moldy hay will work and often can be picked up for free.

Starting to sprout after greening.

Freshly cut, set out for 24 hrs to callous.

Steps to a Potato Bin:

1. About 3 weeks before we planted them we "greened" our potatoes by leaving them out in the light in the warmth of our house.  This encourages good sturdy sprouting eyes.
2. We cut our potatoes leaving at least 2 eyes per piece.
3. Leave your cut pieces out over a day or so to develop a scab over the recent cuts
4. We started with some well prepared soil
5. Plant the pieces 4 inches below the soil (eyes up) about 6 inches apart
6. Place first layer of the bin around the          planted seed potatoes I used 2x6 boards cut to 27 inches each.
7. Keep the soil moist (not wet)  
8. Plants will take 2-4 weeks to emerge depending on soil temperatures.
9. As the plants reach 6-8 inches add soil, compost or straw around all but top 3 inches of plant.
10. Continue adding soil and new rails to the crib as the plants grow.
11. Keep adequately watered, they can get a little dry as the bin grows.
12. When the plant dies back and has set for 2 weeks or so remove rails and harvest your potatoes

We will keep you updated as our potato experiment continues and we will weigh out our harvest at the end.... lets see if we can pull off 100 pounds...  

Our plants are coming up time to add some more rails to the bins....

 

 

Editorial UPDATE: Find out how well it worked....Harvest Update HERE

 

 

Basic Pot of Beans

Below is a recipe that can be used as the base for a lot of bean dishes.  It is just the basics, by adding some simple additional elements you can turn this into a lot of things see below.  This recipe works with any bean, the pictures below are using pinto beans.


Basic Pot of Beans
Pressure Cook Beans for 30 Minutes at 12lbs

1 lb    -  dry beans (any type) rinsed and sorted for small stones.
2 Qt.  -  of water (it tastes far better if you use stock or even add some bullion cubes)
2 Tbs.-  Bacon oil (bacon drippings) or Olive oil
1       -  Med.Onion chopped
2       -  Cloves Garlic (I like a lot of garlic I used 4-5)
1       -  Bay Leaf  
2 tsp  -  Salt
Taste -  Black pepper

Everything is in the pot ready to go.

Rinse and sort for stones and twigs

I made this in a 4 Quart pressure cooker.  Rinse your beans, sort for any small stones.  Place in pressure cooker,  pour 1/2 of water over beans.  Add Bacon Oil, onion, garlic and spices.  Top with remaining water, be sure not to fill above the "Max Fill" Line.  Lock down lid and put on high heat.  When the steam starts to escape from the pressure relief valve, turn your stove down to about medium and start your timer.  For safety always follow the manufacturers instructions for you pressure cooker.  After timer goes off, remove from heat an let sit till pressure had come down. 

How to serve:
Serve hot over rice
As a side dish.
Drain and add any recipe canned beans are called for (about 2 cups per can).
Refried, Mash and cook in hot skillet
I tend to add more salt to taste after cooking. 

Alterations
Add about any spice you like, making it Italian, or Mexican etc.
"Mexican" Add Cumin, maybe some Mexican oregano and top with fresh cilantro
You can reduce the water by 1/2 for a less soupy consistency (rice soaks up allot)
Add meat to the cooking process ie: bacon, ham hocks, or sausage...
Use as the base for a soup or stew

Use stock to replace some or all of the water

The finished product.

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A Great Deal

Check out this great deal that Jacob found at the store!  I was so proud! We always swing by the clearance section to see what they have.  Of course, these canning supplies were bought in the winter after the peak of canning season so they were very cheap. The best time to buy anything for drastically reduced prices is when the season for that item is over.  We do this often , but only buy those things we know we will use. I will definitely use this pectin up because I love strawberry freezer jam and so do the kids.  At regular price the pectin runs about $4.50 each and the pickle crisp is about the same. The small batch pectin would be about $1.00 at regular price so if we would have bought all of this at regular prices it would have cost approximately $75.00 and he got it for the swinging deal price of  $12.74. That is a 97% savings!  That is a great Deal!

Lunch Meat

Let's face it prepackaged lunch meats although tasty
and convenient are very expensive. I do buy them sometimes, but only if I catch a really good sale or I can find some for a reduced price. Check out this roast beef. I made a huge roast for Sunday dinner (which I bought for 50% off in the reduced meat section at the store) in the crock pot. It was really yummy and tender, but we could only eat about a third of it.  So we put it in the fridge and the next day I sliced it up and we had yummy roast beef sandwiches for the rest of the week. I sliced this with my bread knife and I was able to get it really thin.  The key to this is to slice it cold. Don't try and slice it while it is still warm. Stick the whole thing in the fridge overnight and then slice it. You will find that it slices much easier and you can get those nice thin slices that are just begging to be put between two slices of whole grain bread. Yum. You can do this with pork or ham to. If you take a little time you can save some money and still have a yummy deli style sandwich for lunch.