I grew up in a bean-simple household. There were Pinto Beans, Green Beans, Lima Beans, and … that was it. Mom was a bit of an experimental cooker, and we were exposed to a lot of interesting food combinations, but not a lot of different types of beans. Might have had something to do with her raising several “only children” and all of us with … varied food interests.

When I moved to Florida, I resisted trying two new things until I was in a comfortable place to try them: Sushi and non-pinto/green/lima beans. Sushi I tried from a Kosher caterer, black beans at a good local Spanish/Mexican restaurant, garbanzos at home and as hummus. A couple of Italian soups with navy/white beans, too. Yum.

My reticence has a history other than Not Having beans. Having beans. When my grandmother died, I spent some time after her death helping deal with all of the details and household activities. This included figuring out how to re-serve three- and five- and seven-bean salads and casseroles the next day and the day after that and even more days after that in new and interesting ways. Because frankly, I thought they were awful. Horrible. I’d never had the stuff, and never acquired the taste. Everyone (who had brought it over, as well) was used to the X-bean concoctions; they were amused by my antics and liked my attempts at variety. She has lots of friends and family. That was a lot of bean casserole.

But beans rock. I’ve been playing with cooking them in my crock pot; something about the feeling of having dinner (or part of dinner) cooking all day while I slave over a hot word processor providing the money that pays for the electricity used cooking those beans. Pintos, garbanzos, and later this week, navy, I hope.

But a recent episode of the food show Unwrapped reminded me about black-eyed peas. I’ve never had them except maybe once to try at a Luby’s. Anyone have a non-pork dried-pea recipe? Or know of a brand that makes them without pork and a dish to put them in/way to cook them? It looks like a good bean and I’d like to get off on the right legume with it. I’ll try canned to start, but prefer dried to spring into. Canned foods just don’t mix well with my constitution, I think; some family members with metal and other allergies reported a bit of an improvement in their symptoms once they moved away from that last bastion of modern food preservation. And according to Unwrapped, Ranch brand Black-eyed peas are cooked in the can for six hours. Eeek. That’s a long time cooking in metal if you aren’t a fan of foods processed that way.

Be that as it may, we’re still using some canned beans at home. Running out the hurricane supply closet (only three months till we stock it again!), experimenting. A recent experiment had me throwing a few things at the stove (almost cooking) and coming up with a yummy vegi-strone soup. Some northern beans, peas, kernel corn, kidney beans, and a bit of chopped up cooked potato. Some frozen, some canned. Brought to a boil in a pan of water, then added minestrone-style noodles for 8 min, along with a can of condensed tomato soup. Done. (Next time I’ll add a bit of Mrs Dash Tomato, Basil, Garlic.) And while it cooked, I popped some Jiffy corn bread in the oven. Perfect quickish meal for a cold night.

Between that and roasted chick peas, I don’t have a lot of ideas for beans, or thoughts on growing my bean-ablity. If you have other beans to sprout about, please, send ‘em my way. Might as well learn all this stuff while I’m crocking about anyway.