Gimme Bean, Beans, and More Beans for the Summer

Going into this important summer, I decided I wanted to prepare some food in advance to alleviate some stress on myself. I have a deep freezer in my kitchen and am planning on filling it with various items for those nights I come home from practice and am dead tired and don’t want to cook. Last weekend beans were on the agenda. They are one of the healthier foods you can eat.

Saturday night before I went to sleep I poured about seven bags of beans into a huge pot. I filled it with water and went to sleep. The ratio of beans to water was probably about one part beans and three parts water. I woke up Sunday morning and went downstairs to inspect the situation. To my utter surprise the pot was completely overflowing with beans. It was a bean eruption. I couldn’t believe it. I had more beans than I knew what to do with. I started to cook the beans and had three pots bubbling and steaming.

The concoction I planned on preparing included an assortment of kidney, white, black, refried and pinto beans. In addition to this I mixed in blanched kale, sauteed onions and mushrooms, diced tomatoes, some garlic and some carrot juice. When all was said and done I probably had upwards of 15-20 pounds of food. I literally couldn’t believe how much food I had. The entire ordeal took me six hours to complete. (The cooking was a workout in itself.) In all I filled 22 Tupperware containers.

I’m really happy I spent a day in the kitchen and have already reaped some benefit from all the work I did! This week, for example, I had a killer schedule–five mornings of practice, weights plus afternoons and Saturday morning. You don’t always feel like cooking on nights like tonight. My ready-to-eat beans are tasty, easy to make and full of protein. The kale is jam-packed with antioxidants and is said to help reduce inflamation. All that is pretty good when you’re totally stressing your body.

Accomplishing our dreams requires a lot of planning and preparation…and sometimes beans! This is just one little piece of my puzzle that is going to help me reach my goals!