black beans - who else loves them?
 

I love the taste of black beans, plus they are a good source of fiber. I open a can and rinse the beans in a colander. Then I refrigerate them. I put them in salads, in cottage cheese, top them over brown rice.

I also put them into a whole wheat tortilla and I spread some hummus on it and I add some thinly sliced red onions.

Any other suggestions for black beans?

I totally love them too.

I like to cook them up and make them like refried beans, with lime juice.

Yup! Black bean brownies! Made them for the first time this weekend. I tweaked the recipes from allrecipes to suit my needs but here is the original. By the time I tweaked it, I had black bean muffin tops and "cookies" .. But it was good. Didn't taste like black beans. Crazy, I know!

Oh yea -- instead of the cocoa powder, I just used diet hot chocolate 25 calorie packets.. Anyway - here it is..

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Ingredients
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs (I didn't use eggs, I substituted a half of banana and 1/2 cup unsweetned applesauce)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil ( I didn't use any)
1/4 cup cocoa powder ( I used 3 packets of hot chocolate)
1 pinch salt (nope)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar (I used a few packets of equal)
1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional) (I didn't have any on hand)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional) (nope)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.

Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, sugar, and instant coffee in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

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Nutritional Information

Black Bean Brownies
Servings Per Recipe: 16

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 126

Total Fat: 5.3g
Cholesterol: 40mg
Sodium: 144mg
Total Carbs: 18.1g
Dietary Fiber: 2.6g
Protein: 3.3g

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As you can see, I tweaked the heck out of the recipe, but at the time, I just wanted to try something different and to just see if it really didn't have the black bean taste. I will make them again and keep tweaking until I have the perfect low-cal, gluten free brownies for me!

However, with the ORIGINAL recipe I posted came with great reviews....and really the calories aren't too bad either.

I love to mix them in with scrambled eggs, along with chili powder, bell peppers (I use the frozen mix of peppers and onions) and top with salsa and avocado. SOOOOO filling.

I also like to use them in salads. And I will do nachos with them occasionally, along with baked chips and chicken.

And I love, love, LOVE black bean soup. But every time I've tried to make it I feel like it's better when I buy it out, so that's what I do. :)

I eat lots of black beans, black eyed peas and chickpeas.

One of my favorite ways is to eat mixed with steamed greens and hot sauce.

I make "burrito bowls" with them - no tortilla, just start with black beans and then hot chili beans, a bit of spanish rice cooked up, salsa, some kernel corn, diced fresh onion and tomatoes and lettuce - in whatever order suits you. I heat up the hot stuff first :) before adding the diced onion, etc.

black beans
 

All of your tips, suggestions and recipes for black beans were terrific! Thanks everyone!

Here is a recipe I like:

http://www.food.com/recipe/baja-blac...and-rice-55768

I LOVE black beans and have been subsisting on beans for weeks now that I started counting calories. Black beans, pinto beans, white beans, chick peas, all are great.

My favorite thing to do with black beans is make a "fake" Tostada.

I take 1 whole wheat tortilla or wrap (many healthy varieties and brands out there) and I put it under the broiler till it is very crispy like a chip.

I spread fat free or 99% fat free refried black beans (or pinto beans) on it, then I top with a meat or protein like chicken, veggie soy protein sausage or whole black beans (or pinto beans). I then measure out small amount of low fat cheese and I toast more in oven to warm up beans and melt cheese.

Sprinkle on cilantro and other toppings you like, like finely chopped onion, any other veggies you love, measure out fat free sour cream, dollop on salsa, hot sauce etc and pick up the whole thing and eat it. It is so good and super filling!

When I am in a rush for lunch in the morning I make a Tortilla roll up with the same whole wheat tortillas and spread on fat free refried bean mixture. Warm in microwave at work and dip in measured out fat free sour cream and salsa.

Or I just measure out serving size of whole black beans into a tupperware, pour salsa on top and bring a whole wheat tortilla to work to scoop up beans and salsa. Super simple but I love these flavors, beans, salsa and tortillas, over and over.

i LOVE black beans too. i often do the refried. sautee a chopped clove of garlic and a 1/4 cup of chopped onion, then add the entire can of beans and mush to your liking.

also, i really enjoy a steaming bowl of BB soup.
sautee garlic and onion (green pepper/pablano if you like). Season with 1T of cumin and a little salt n pepper. Using 2 or 3 cans of beans, puree half of the bean mix in the blender. add all the beans into the pot with a cup of salsa (also to your liking - you can always add more). and cook on low until combined. i know this seems like a really general recipe without real quantities, but it's really hard to goof up. at times i also add corn and/or brown rice. you can easily garnish with green onions, cilantro, and plain yogurt. this is a very filling meal. :)

i also like to do BB patties, eaten as a burger substitute. plenty of recipes easily found on the net and extremely easy to put together too. I've used the BB burger recipe topped with some mashed potatoes for a veggie shepards pie.

How moist are chickpeas supposed to be on the inside? I tried cooking my bag of dried chickpeas (according to cookbook directions) and I wasn't sure if I did it right, because the other beans I've eaten before, like kidney beans, were very moist-tasting on the inside, but the chickpeas were almost a little dry, a little crumbly, not all that moist on the inside. I soaked them for 12 hours and then cooked them for 2.5 hours so I'm not sure if I did anything wrong or that's just how they are. If so, I'm moving on to other beans! I like my beans squishy on the inside. :D

Hmm not sure how I'd describe chickpeas. They are a firmer bean but so are kidney beans. Were they soft? It could've been that you had old beans.

This kind of describes my own experience with them: http://thepauperedchef.com/2010/11/t...an-canned.html. Maybe I should try my next bag with baking soda. :o

I even tried making a little hummus and the things just wouldn't blend well and it came out very gritty (which made me add a bit more oil than I should have to make it blend a bit better). They were just very gritty, almost crumbly, like more like the texture of a very soft nut. Instead of the inside of the chickpea tasting like a thick paste, it was much much firmer and less moist. It was slightly dry but not SUPER dry. I guess because I've never had plain chickpeas before cooked properly, I don't have a good yardstick for comparison.

I'm guessing they were old beans, you can get unpredictable results with old beans. Basically it takes a lot of cooking to get them to the right texture. Baking soda might help.

How can you tell if a bag of beans is old or not? They weren't past the expiration date yet (2012 it said) and they didn't look wrinkly or anything, but this would be a good skill to have for the supermarket!

Well if the expiration date was 2012 then maybe not old. Honestly, I don't have a lot of luck with bagged beans unless I buy them at a Latino market. Generally I buy them from the bulk bean section of various markets such as Whole Foods.

Gotcha. Our Whole Foods is about half an hour away and I still don't have my license, but maybe one day that will be an option for me. Being 21, I really have no excuse to not be driving yet I suppose. Thanks for the help.

I didn't get my license until I was 23 :)

If you have other stores that sell bulk beans/grains, I'd also check them out. We have a few but all of them are local chains.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Black Beans. I would eat them everyday. lol!
My personal favorite way to eat them is topped with fat free cheese and salsa. Plain is good too!

I love black beans, they are my favorite bean ever.

I buy them in a bag and boil them. I like to keep them in the house at all times because you can add them to SO much or make a soup from them.

Hi everyone - newbie here, but I LOVE BLACK BEANS and use them in chili instead of kidney beans! I also love to make black bean salsa with chipotle! Delish. Any sort of bean is a blessing! I work as a personal chef for an elderly man who is trying to lose more than 100lbs (we lost 36, last year - but gained it all back since Labor Day - alcohol!) We're doing a high protein, low carb diet (Atkins, with a little South Beach going on), and with 75lbs to lose myself, I'm joining in, this time. My mind wasn't in the right place, last year. So, I'm delighted to find this thread. We "foodies" have a more difficult time than most getting rid of the poundage, though my downfall is seldom my own cooking! I bake, for instance, and never have any trouble not eating a slice of cake or a bowl of whatever splendid dessert I've concocted. I have impulse control issues - it's the pint of HaagenDaz, the occasional bag of Cape Cod potato chips (big one) and yesterday's inexplicable foray into MacDonalds for an order of FRENCH FRIES (that were not even that good but I ate them anyway) - that gets me! How DO you reason yourself out of that sort of sabotage? I lost five pounds since New Year's Eve! WHY would I do such a thing? After all the years of gaining and losing weight (252lbs right now - have been as low as 165 lbs, this within six weeks of having twins thirty years ago). I should be about 185lbs (am 5'11") - and am truly going to keep working on it. Today's another day, right, and I've come far enough to know that just because I blow it one day doesn't mean I have to the next. One day at a time, indeed!

For starters, I don't read about how delicious this or that garbage, high-calorie food is in a thread about black beans. Frankly, what I've quoted above feels like taunting.

Black beans are one of my favorite beans! I make my beans in the crock pot and freeze 1 - 2 cup portions so I can defrost them as needed. I usually keep black, pinto, and chickpeas on hand. I put them in chili or soup, on salad, in burritos or tacos, or black bean hummus.

Ooops, sorry - as a newcomer, I hadn't read anything in the guidelines that precludes discussing any kind of foods. If anything I wrote could be construed as "taunting", then I apologise. It was the furthest thing from my mind, I assure you - I was actually asking for help in understanding why I/we sabotage ourselves in so many ways, despite the best of intentions. Infact, it looks as if I did it again! Good luck to you.

No worries Lola, you didn't say anything wrong at all. We're all here to help each other after all. Welcome! :)

I've got to get in on this black bean thing, I LOVE soup and spicy things, so maybe I'll start there. I bought a bunch of different dried beans to try (for health AND cost!) but haven't really been sure what to do with them :*

Thanks for the support, Kitsey! Regarding beans - they're all fantastically good for us since fibre is key to moving off the weight! I like to make white chicken chili with black and white beans, scrumptious! And black bean hummous is delicious - I scoop it up on zucchini slices. I made a wonderful kale, mustard greens and collards soup with a jar of 15 assorted beans someone gave me for Christmas. Chicken broth based with lots of sauted onions and garlic to start it off. I have a client who loves assorted beans in brown rice (which we can't in the intial stages of most diets, but is a great thing for later on. Remember, beans+brown rice combine to make a perfect protein!) There are so many fantastic recipes available on the 'net, that "what to do with beans" should never be a mystery. The most important thing of all is to EAT them :)

I never thought of putting them in cottage cheese. Thank you for a new meal idea!! :) (P.S. I love black beans, and all beans for that matter!)

I like black beans the most. I think I heard that they are among the healthiest beans, too. I add them to casseroles, chilis, soups, salads, and salsa (corn, red onion, etc).

megwini, I've had weird results with dried chickpeas, too. It seems like you have to cook the heck out of them to get a similar texture to canned ones. I tend to go for canned chickpeas because of this.

:wel3fc:, LolaCrane! :)

Beans are the bomb. I adore them, my husband and I just had the conversation about beans the other day. Black beans are my favorite but I also love kidney beans, lima beans, garbanzo beans, black eyed peas (I know a pea), baked beans....I could go on. I could eat them everyday with couscous or quinoa there's enough of a variety of beans that they are all I need!

Me!!

Glad to know I'm not the only one. Ironically, I had the opposite problem today. Got some dried whole mung beans from the health food store and soaked them for 12 hours then cooked them for 30 minutes and they were SUPER mushy. :o I think I soaked them too long, as their skins were already splitting slightly after the soak. I wonder what would have been a better length of time. :dizzy:

Geez, chickpeas end up too hard, mung beans end up too soft.. I can't do anything right! :p

I cook chickpeas and black beans in a crockpot and check them periodically throughout the day. Usually on a Sunday :)

Tonight I had a stir fry with: Tofu, black beans, broccoli and whole wheat noodles, I put in a teaspoon of peanut butter, I use regular that's my splurge, but feel free to use fat free, then a splash of duck sauce with red chili flakes, very good, very filling.
I love black beans, too, growing up I didn't really eat beans, didn't like them, but now I love beans, but black are my favorite.

I have an amazing recipe for Black Bean and Vegetable soup. Amy's (brand) makes a really good can of that soup. That's where I got the idea from - wanted to make my OWN so I can reduce the sodium and freeze it.

Ummm...SweetScrumptious? You can't just say you have an amazing recipe and not share!!! Share pronto!! ;)

You guys have made me want to have black beans so I am going to try a recipe that I found for black bean vegetable soup on allrecipes. I hope it tastes as good as the picture looks:o

SHARE!!! I want that recipe!!! Share or I will turn :devil: on you!! haha