Dry Bean Conversion and Chili Recipe

     Beans Beans the musical food storage staple! Ok Its been a while for recipes, and what better food storage staple to use than beans?  Beans have a long and glorious heritage, and so does one of our most common foods made from beans- chili. 

     The star of the south, beans can be used in multiple ways, from soups and stews, mashed and fried (or refried as it were) and even as flour! Click HERE for an excellent article on using beans and some little know ways to sneak them into foods without the family noticing.

     One of the things that always gets me though, is how many dry beans equals a can of beans, and vice versa when it comes to recipes. So I'll let you in on a little secret chart I keep written in my recipe book whenever I forget. Also remember that this is for the average bean sizes. There are of course the Limas and then the tiny little beans that you can find as well such as black beans or the smaller red beans. You would probably have to work out your own conversions with these oddball sizes. But for the average joe bean (no not coffee beans) this will work well:

1# dried beans = 2 cups (uncooked)

1# dried beans = 5.5 - 6.5 cups cooked

1 cup dried beans = 3 cups cooked

One 16oz can = 2 cups (with the liquid) or 1.5 cups drained

3 cups cooked beans = 6 servings

1/6-1/8 cup dried beans = 1 serving

     The chili recipe we use is (surprise!) from food.com and listed as a Wendy's copycat recipe. Even for those that haven't tried Wendy's chili (which anymore doesn't taste as good as it used to) this is just perfect. I have since tweaked the recipe as the one on food.com is a bit hotter than Wendy's usually makes it. But otherwise it is exactly the same (and I worked there for three years when I was younger, so I know). Here is my tweaked version:

1# hamburger fried and drained

1 can (15oz) tomato sauce

1 can kidney beans with liquid

1 can pinto beans with liquid

{Note: with our handy dandy conversion chart this equal s 1/2 cup each of kidney and pintos prepared in the usual manner}

1/2 c. chopped onions

2 cans rotel tomatoes (or you can used diced tomatoes and add in 1/2 c. diced green chillies)

1/4 c. diced celery

1-3 t. cumin 

1 T. chili powder (or to taste)

3/4 t. pepper

1 t. salt

1-1.5 c.  water

     Throw all together in a slow cooker or dutch oven for 3+ hours, stirring occasionally. If your from the west serve it with fry bread, if you're from the south serve it with corn bread, if you're from the north eat it with rice, if you're from the east, eat it on a hot dog.

     When I make the chili anymore I cut way back on the chili powder if I use the Rotel tomatoes (my son doesn't like a lot of spice), probably about 1 t. Those Rotels can be pretty spicy on their own. I also use more cumin (yay for cumin!) than most people so I use a whole tablespoon (hint 3t. = 1 T.). 

     This chili also cans up really nice as it is easy to double (or more) the recipe (just process for the same time as hamburger). This is also a good recipe to use with dried foods! I have on occasion thrown this together using nothing but the ground beef and the dried vegetables and water. Turns out just the same. Now with my canned hamburger I can have chili whenever I want. AWESOME!

Enjoy!

--Jamie