Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Monday, May 19, 2014

Weekend Tidbits ~ Baked Beans with Bulgur

The weekend brought more rain and more cold weather.  We brought the tomato and pepper plants inside Saturday night (still in their flats).   And because the news forecaster mentioned temperatures as low as "freezing" we brought in my few porch pots.


"Are these good sheets your using?" exclaimed Hubby.

"Yep." I calmly answered.  "Unless you want to lose any of these 50-some plants to frost."

In between rain showers, work continued over the weekend - repairs, cleaning coops, yard work, garden work, and indoor chores (which included a complete cleaning of the refrigerator).  Of course Hubby made sure he was scarce for those jobs, but felt guilty when he had returned.  It took me 2 hours to clean the fridge alone (not even cleaning the freezer).  He must have felt very guilty, because he weeded my rose bed while I was inside making creamed corn for dinner.

With the extra rain, I took a teensy bit of  "chill time" to read over some recipes.    By teensy I mean miniscule.   Sunday we hit the garden, yard and flower beds hard.  I was so tired Sunday night, but I still put together chicken kabobs to grill around 7pm.  

Anyway, one recipe caught my eye - Baked beans with Bulgur.  I decided to make it without the salt pork (one kiddo does not like bacon), using vegetable stock, and sorghum vs.  regular molasses.   I also baked it in the crock pot vs. the oven (for 8 hours) I'm sharing the recipe.  

Baked Beans with Bulgur
(adapted from Home Grown Whole Grains, by Sara Pitzer)
1 cup dry navy beans 
1 cup bulgur
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup sorghum
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
3 cups stock (or water) 

Rinse and soak beans overnight in cold water (directions are on the package as well).  In the morning drain and rinse them.  Place them in a crock pot with remaining ingredients, and cook on low for 8 hours.  Note: I used 4 cups organic/non-gmo vegetable broth and 2 cups water.  It's just what I had on hand.  Also, I did have to stir this every so often, as the bulgur will stick to the crock pot sides.

The results?

  

The flavor was delicious.  You can definitely taste a different texture due to the half beans/half bulgur mixture.  I don't think everyone (who is used to simple baked beans) will like this, but my family loved it.  Hubby loved it even more, because he knew it was good for us.

I had a minor emergency trip to town this morning, so (with a delayed start) I stopped in for an update.  However, I am heading back out to the garden (after I put another load laundry out on the clothesline).  I forgot how painful gardening is to the body.

It's all good.
 


2 comments:

Kim said...

It is that time of the year and after the winter that we had our bodies are not prepared.

Liz said...

I wish this cold weather would just disappear! Those beans look great. I sure had an achy back after spending all day in the garden.