January Spending Freeze, Day 24: A two pound bag of black beans...

Sometimes I forget about beans.  They are, of course, an excellent source of protein and quite inexpensive.  Also, Robert really enjoys them!  There are some protein-rich foods he will not eat, but hummus, in particular, is a favorite--and so easy to prepare and serve.  So, the other day I decided to sort, rinse, quick-soak, and cook a whole two pound bag of dried black beans to make a couple of different things.  Sorry there are no pictures.

After the beans were cooked, I got out our Ninja blender and made two batches of this black bean hummus.  The whole family likes it, and will eat it with celery sticks, carrots, and tortilla chips.  This makes an easy snack or most of a lunch!  I made enough for lunch, some to go in the fridge, and two containers to put in the freezer.  This was incredibly cheap to make--much cheaper than store-bought hummus even at Aldi, and the kids like it just as well.

When I was done with that, I didn't even need to wash the Ninja out before making black bean and salsa soup with the rest of the beans.  Since I already had something else planned for dinner, I put this in the freezer for another night.  I hope the kids will like it.  If not, we will probably let them eat hummus instead.  That's the beauty of having hummus and veggies in the fridge--it's an easy alternative dinner choice that is healthier than PB&J, which is good because we don't keep bread in the house anyway.  I'm going to try to make time to cook dried beans and make hummus every month or so.