As we have been following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) protocol, one thing that we have noticed is that we are never full.  We do not get the full feeling that grains and starchy carbs give you.  Instead, we get tired of eating.  Meats, especially, have this effect. You eat until you just don’t want any more.  Even then, you do not have that satisfied feeling.

As a result, the kids especially seem to want to eat all the time.  An hour after breakfast, they are asking for a snack.  Then they watch the clock like a hawk and about 11:30, the question, “What’s for lunch?” begin.  Soon after the lunch dishes are done, they are ready for another snack.  As the parent, it seems like all my children want to do is eat.

Granted a few of them are obviously going through a growth spurt, which typically means that they eat like a horse.  Believe me, they are.  Lane has posed the question, “What are we going to do when the two younger children grow up a little more?”  The thought makes us shudder as we have seen our grocery bill on a constant rising pattern.

He is looking forward to the days when we can add potatoes and rice to our diet.  We still have a long way before I can even begin thinking of that.  One of the last foods that you add on the SCD protocol are dried beans.  Black beans, Navy beans, Lima beans, Lentils, Kidney beans, and split peas are your legal options; however, they have to be prepared in a specific way.

First, you must soak the beans in water for at least eight hours.  Then you drain the beans and rinse them.  Now they are ready to be prepared to your liking.  It is not a dish that you can prepare without planning.

My daughter’s favorite beans are black beans so this weekend I prepared a big pot of them.  After soaking and rinsing the beans, I browned some pork neck bones in a large pot in olive oil, garlic, diced onion, and black pepper.  When they were nicely browned, I added the beans with enough water to cover them.  I allowed the water to come to a boil and then turned down the heat to a simmer.  They cooked covered for a few hours until they were very tender.  Then I seasoned the beans to my liking with salt and more black pepper.

They were a hit!  My children ate seconds and one ate thirds.  It was such a big pot of beans that we still had about five cups of cooked beans left over.

Being a Texan, I love Tex-Mex food.  I have not really been able to enjoy a good Tex-Mex dish because it usually relies heavily on corn products and pinto beans.  So I decided to prepare the closest dinner I could to a Tex-Mex feast yesterday.  We grilled chicken breasts.  I sauteed onions and bell peppers in butter and olive oil.  We had grated cheddar cheese and guacamole.  And the side that sent this dinner soaring over the outfield fence for a home run was refried black beans.

I removed all the pork neck bones from the left over beans.  I drained all but two cups of broth.  Then using my hand-held blender, I made a coarse puree.  I added 1 tsp of garlic powder and a 1/2 tsp of salt to the beans stirring the mixture well.

In a deep skillet, I heated up 4 Tbsp of butter.  When it melted, I added my bean puree.  I stirred occasionally to heat through.  The longer it cooked, the more the mixture thickened.  When the rest of our food was ready, it was a more thick than the beans at a Mexican restaurant, but less thick than the canned kind.  I really liked the consistency.

Oh, how I have missed a good ‘ol Tex-Mex dinner!  My husband has always said that he hates black beans.  Well, he sure ate the refried kind and liked them.  Besides how good this dinner tasted, I also noticed that my children did not ask for a snack that afternoon.  I was still full at dinnertime and chose not to eat anything for the rest of the day.

Adding a variety of beans into our diet will sure give us more versatility.  From soups to sides, I am looking forward to all the options that will present themselves in our menu.  As an added bonus, I hope to see a reduction in the amount we spend at the grocery store.  Hopefully, we will not suffer the consequences of the saying, “Beans, beans, the wonderful fruit…”

Tags: black beans, high grocery bill, refried bean recipe, SCD, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Tex-Mex food

This entry was posted on Monday, October 24th, 2011 at 11:05 am and is filed under Food Allergies, Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.