I’m linking up with Andrea today to share a recipe! I’ve blogged about this recipe HERE, but wanted to share ALL the amazing meals that can go with this simple crock pot bean recipe. I receive lots of emails and comments about how good these beans are.
Things I LOVE about these beans:
1. They’re easy to prep and make – the hardest part is soaking them overnight and cutting an onion 🙂
2. They have a lot of flavor!
3. They’re healthy! Beans are such a great way to fill up with few calories. Add rice and you have a complete protein.
4. My son NEVER refuses this recipe, so I always know he’ll like it and I feel good about feeding it to him.
You can click HERE to view the recipe. It’s pretty much just dumping beans, chicken stock, an onion, and seasonings in a crock pot for several hours. That liquid smoke is the KEY ingredient in my opinion. Don’t fret about exact measurements. You really can’t mess them up.
*It says to use 1 TBSP of each seasoning, but I actually tend to use about 3/4 of a TBSP and only about 1/2 TBSP of seasoning salt. I kind of just throw it in there 🙂
What I wanted to share today was how I use these beans for many different recipes. It makes a lot, so it’s a base for some other dinners throughout the week. Here are a few dinners we like to have the beans with:
1. BEANS AND CORNBREAD – Such a southern meal. This may be more of a lunch, but it’s filling. I like to top my beans with cheese and salsa. I make my cornbread, using a Jiffy box, and I add some creamed corn to it. It makes it moist.
2. QUESADILLAS AND BEANS – We like out quesadillas with chicken, cheese, and just a little sautéed onion inside. I like to pair the beans as a side dish with these, or you can add them straight into your quesadilla.
3. FAJITAS – This is probably my favorite way! I will sauté some leftover grilled chicken (or use fresh grilled chicken), with some onions and green peppers. Then stuff a tortilla with BEANS, chicken, peppers/onions, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Mmmm! Could add some rice too, but I’m usually too lazy to cook that up.
4. EASY RICE AND BEANS WRAP – I like to have this for lunch! I throw in some beans, rice, and cheese into a tortilla. Heat it all up (I heat beans beforehand if using leftover beans).
5. NACHOS – Lay out some tortilla chips (or tostadas), add beans and cheese (and anything else, like chicken/beef). Toast them in the oven until cheese is melted (or microwave even). Add the goods to it such as jalepenos, quacamole, sour cream, salsa, etc… *No pic, sorry.
6. CHICKEN ENCHILDAS – Great as a side dish to chicken enchiladas. I’ll have to share this recipe soon!
So there you have it. Make a pot of these BEANS and use them as leftovers for more great meals! These are more of a Ranch-style bean if you’re familiar with those. Sometimes, I’ll only add 3/4 of the chicken stock box (3/4 cups) and fill the rest with water (covering beans). Just to have a little less salty flavor, but that’s usually if I’ve used part of the box previously for another recipe. My mom likes a more bland/cleaner tasting bean, so I would tell her to use just water. Of course, I would not do that, but if that’s how you roll 🙂 Use a veggie broth to make this vegetarian!
Hope you like them! Any other good recipes these beans could be paired with? I’d love to hear!
look really yammy