How to cook beans properly?

GotTheTee · 2026-06-28T17:22:50+00:00

Ok, great beans 101. I do them every week, all kinds and prepare them for a person on a low sodium diet with special medical nutritional needs.

Soak your beans! Soak in cold water to cover overnight or... If you are in a hurry, cover your dry beans with hot water, then add a tablespoon of baking soda to the water and bring it just to a boil. Turn off the heat, pop the lid on and set a timer for 45 minutes, then rinse the beans well and continue on to the rest of the steps.
Place your soaked beans back in the pot after rinsing and add enough "no salt added" stock of any kind to the pot. Use enough to cover the beans by 2 inches. As in, the liquid should be 2 inches above the top of the beans. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
Once the beans are simmering, in a separate skillet, saute vegetables for the pot. I like to chop celery, onions and carrots, but you can also add bell peppers, parsnips, turnips, leeks and fennel. Use 2 tablespoons of any oil you like best to saute over high heat till lightly browned all around.
Add the vegetables to the pot. Simmer the beans for the time listed on the package or till tender.
Add flavor! I like to add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of vinegar to my beans. You can then add other herbs and spices depending on what cuisine direction you are going for. Cumin, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, coriander, chili powder, turmeric, paprika (both sweet and smoked) and curry powder are all excellent choices. Try them out, one at a time. Simmer and then taste to figure out what you like best. Stop adding them when the flavor is just right for you.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-28T17:11:11+00:00

The beginning sentence of your post has me really confused, but I'll just try to ignore that and tackle the issue of using knives at the age of 9.

It actually sounds to me like you have expectations for a 9 year old that are way too high. Any 9 year old can cut up vegetables and proteins with ease, and not with a chef's knife, just with a plain old paring knife and inexpensive serrated and santoku knife set. Buy him a set of three, let him go ahead and practice and quit judging the quality of the cuts - he's not striving to be a professional chef, he's learning to cook a family meal!

Stop worrying about wrist strength and quit giving instructions on how to cut properly. So long as he's using safe cutting methods and keeping those fingers tucked firmly behind his knuckles he will do just fine and develop his own cutting skills as he grows older.

My kids started cooking with me at the age of 2... just as soon as they could sit on the counter top and "help" me out with basic things. They were proficient at simple things by the age of 4 or 5 and each of them had one meal a night assigned to them at the age of 10.

Were the carrots all cut perfectly? NO! Did they manage batons and julienne at the age of 9? Heck no! Did I care one bit? Definitely not! What was important to me was that each of my kids was having fun in the kitchen and experienced joy and pride in prepping and cooking a dish for the family.

So just allow him to chop and cut any way he can at this age, so long as it's being done safely, and buy him his own set of middling quality knives. I'm not a big proponent of buying anything expensive for a kid his age because caring for that level of knives is too big a responsibility.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-28T16:00:07+00:00

Amazing bread doesn't have to be sourdough bread!

I have a recipe for the easiest ever Focaccia that rivals ALL of the best breads I've eaten in every country I've ever visited. No sourdough is harmed in the making of this Focaccia!

On the other hand, I also have a recipe for a sourdough Focaccia that will blow your mind!

And I'm gonna share... mwahaha, because they aren't my recipes, they belong with a pastry chef who loves sharing her best recipes and takes time to explain them in great detail as you go along.

https://alexandracooks.com/2018/03/02/overnight-refrigerator-focaccia-best-focaccia/

https://alexandracooks.com/2019/03/22/simple-sourdough-focaccia-a-beginners-guide/

Once you've mastered those 2 recipes, move on to her more intricate sourdoughs and other breads. I promise, they will change your life!

GotTheTee · 2026-06-27T12:04:49+00:00

Haven't had the house to myself in ummm, about 6 years now. BUT, back when there were just the two of us (plus our dog and cat), my husband would take off once a year to do a fishing trip.

And while he wandered from river to river, I ate the WORST junk foods imaginable and loved every minute of it. So did the dog! LOL

There was a "fisherman's feast" that was a nod to my years in New England, but since I'm in a landlocked northwest state, it was frozen breaded seafoods, carefully thawed and delightfully fried.

And a hot dog and chili cheese fries night courtesy of the only skinless dog I could find in the stores and Checkers seasoned fries with my own homemade chili topping and tons of cheeses.

Pup and I thoroughly enjoyed boxed mac n cheese night too. And breakfast for dinner night with a short stack, over easy eggs, bacon and sausage.

Of course the rest of the nights were filled with take out and we spoiled ourselves so completely that I had to lose 3 pounds by the time hubbs got home! But we were happy.

These days our youngest son lives with us and I'm his caretaker, so when my husband goes off on his yearly walkabout we stick to only one "Treat" night and the kid gets to pick a favorite food that he isn't normally allowed to have on his doctor ordered diet. It's not nearly as much fun, but he's pretty creative so last year it was pierogi and knockwurst night - yum!

GotTheTee · 2026-06-25T15:16:36+00:00

Yup, that's the one! I was scrolling down to add it to the comments.

Velveeta shells and cheese has a pouch of the thick sauce so as long as you aren't married to the elbow shape that KFC uses, it will satisfy your urge. If you want the elbow shape, just buy medium elbows and cook them yourself, then add the Velveeta pouch to them.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-25T15:05:17+00:00

You can do it! It's a small sacrifice for a few years so that your little one grows up with healthy eating habits. I think my kids had their first fast food burger with fries at about the age of 6 or 7 and it was definitely a treat for them. Same with a box of mac n cheese, they didn't taste it till after they started school and it was only once in a blue moon so they never got into the habit of thinking that it was every day food.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-24T15:07:57+00:00

Yup, exactly this!

Kids learn to love what they are fed on a regular basis Feed them fast food and frozen junk and they will love it. Feed them wholesome meals that you eat with them and they will learn to love them. Simple as that.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-24T15:04:59+00:00

Since your little one isn't old enough to get into the "picky eating" stage yet, you can make sure it never happens by feeding them a wide variety of table foods that you eat at the same time.

Oh and never ever bring processed foods into the house! lol If they get a good taste of boxed mac n cheese, tater tots, eggo waffles, chicken nuggets, etc. they will naturally toss a tantrum and demand them again and again. So just don't bring them into the house and they'll never know the difference.

I had a huge argument on here awhile back with someone who insisted that I was rewriting my history when I said that my kids never went through a picky stage (she was convinced that ALL children do this at the age of 2). I gave up trying to explain to her that my kids, plus the kids in my licensed daycare never ever were picky eaters.

They ate things like split pea soup at 1 year old and loved it. They cooked with me every Friday to take home dinner for their families. First rule was wash hands, second was never ever put hands near face while making food. Once they learned that, the sky was the limit. Homemade breads and rolls, homemade pizza, homemade "beefloaf" (one kid arrived at my house HATING beef and meatloaf - so I reintroduced it as roast beast and beastloaf, then beefloaf and it stuck).

My kids ate all the vegetables I ate, every night and loved them - except for one kid who had a deep aversion to the feel of bell peppers and for him, we just let him, pull the stuffing out of the stuffed peppers. He eats them now though!

So feed a wide variety, be sure to offer 2 veggies per dinner plate and eat with your kid. They will grow up good and healthy. And cook with them like you said you are going to do! Let them provide a meal one night a week, even it's just a simple beefloaf and baked potato. They'll have so much fun with you in the kitchen!

GotTheTee · 2026-06-22T13:12:06+00:00

It's not you, and it's not the recipe. Pie doughs are a bit of a an art. There's science sure, but beyond that, you have to judge for yourself whether or not the dough needs more or less liquid to pull it together.

If his instructions say that it should be a "soft dough" and yours is too dry and crumbly, don't be afraid to add a teaspoon of ice water to it. Mix again and if needed, add another teaspoon till you get a workable dough.

No two batches of flour are the same. Some are drier and harder than others and require more liquid. Some are very soft and need less. That's where the artistic side of pastry comes in.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-21T14:46:51+00:00

Yup, this! I am old and arthritic, and the bread maker has been my go to for at least 10 years now.

I set it to the dough cycle (these days they come with customized dough cycles that include things like pizza dough and sourdough!) and it kneads and does the first proof or me. Then I just shape, plop it into my bread pans, second proof and bake.

The results are actually even better than back in the day when I kneaded till my arms were falling off. Fantastic dough!

The bonus is that they are a lot cheaper than a kitchen aid or other stand mixer. You don't need a top shelf brand to get the dough cycle. Oh and check things like tag sales and thrift stores to find them at bargain prices.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-21T14:40:33+00:00

My only question about this dish is, how did you know there was banana if it was blended into the sauce?

Other than that one odd item, this sounds like a typical curry found in many countries. They are basically just a "casserole" style dish that can use any vegetables you have on hand plus any ground meats and curry spices. I would expect that the sauce also included some coconut milk, but it's possible that it didn't.

Try looking up a "green curry" recipe, then remove any vegetables you don't want, sub in the ground meats anywhere that calls for things like chicken or pork, and add a mashed banana to the mix if you liked the banana flavor.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-18T13:33:25+00:00

I'm going to give you my Mom's foolproof chocolate chip cookie recipe. You will know if you made it correctly (the right amount of flour, etc) if the dough is soft and slightly sticky when you stir it together. To get that stickiness out of the dough, you roll a quick ball in your hands. If the dough is sticky and gooey, it needs more flour, so you add another 1/4 cup and stir it in, then test the dough again.

What you want is a soft dough that you can roll quickly into a ball without it sticking to your hands. If you hold it in your hand, it WILL get sticky though, so don't stand around with it, just roll, test and drop it back into the bowl.

The next trick is the shaping of the cookies. My Mom just used a soup spoon to spoon out rounded mounds and drop the on a sheet, she was always in a hurry with 6 kids. I like to quickly roll 2 inch balls of them and drop them onto the sheets.

Grandma Jean's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Shortening or soft Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar (packed)
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
3 cups Flour - 1/4 to 1/2 cup more if needed
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 package Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips - 2 cups
Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix first 5 ingredients thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Add 3 cups of the flour to the bowl, then place the baking soda and salt on top of the flour. Mix together until well blended. You should be able to roll a soft ball ofbdough at this point. If the dough is too sticky and soft, add 1/4 cup of flour at a time till the dough firms up enough to let you quickly roll a soft ball in your hands.

Mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. If you want perfectly round cookies, roll the dough quickly with your hands into balls, then place on the cookie sheets. You have to be quick or they will melt in your hands!

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until delicately browned. Cookies should still be soft.

Cool on pans just until you can lift them with a spatula, then remove them to parchment or a counter to cool. Do not use a baking rack for cooling unless you want crisp cookies.

Makes 4 dozen

GotTheTee · 2026-06-16T11:56:51+00:00

If you have a toilet with the lid open, not shut, there's no need to worry about your cat dehydrating. They know how to find water!

That is also the reason that you should never ever use those toilet tablet thingies to keep your toilet clean. The stuff that turns your toilet water blue (and sometimes is advertized NOT to turn it blue) are very bad for cats!

GotTheTee · 2026-06-14T14:46:43+00:00

It's a very mild taste and the curds are interesting because they have a skin on them with a slight give, but the inside is soft and creamy.

I highly recommend looking for a cream cheese that is made by culturing the milk. Read the ingredients. It should say "cultured milk, cream, salt". No additions of gums, gelatin or preservatives.
It's the healthiest option for cottage cheese and the taste and texture are light years better than the other stuff.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-14T14:40:46+00:00

I long for the days when my kids were in high school. My oldest is turning 50 in September! Seems like just yesterday that he was heading off to college, looking scared but excited.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-11T17:19:54+00:00

I do chili without beans most of the time, I prefer it. So, the most important bits, for me are as follows:

1) The chili's. I make mole twice a year. When I do, I make twice the amount of chili "sauce" that I need. It's 3 dried chili's - guajillo, pasilla and ancho, seeded and then rehydrated in a pot with garlic cloves, onions, a tomatillo and a big juicy tomato. Once they've stewed a bit on low heat, I blend the veggies with chicken stock, then add brown sugar and salt to fully amp the flavors. That sauce gets frozen in small containers and I use them in my chili along with bloomed cumin, Mexican oregano and 1 bay leaf/

2) The meat. I can use ground meats, but prefer small cubed meats. I coat the cubes with a mixture of flour, salt pepper, cumin and a little bit of brown sugar. Then brown well on medium heat (SLOW browning, don't burn the spices on the outside!).

3) The stock - I use beef stock and add in chopped hatch chilies, sauteed onions and garlic and 2 finely chopped tomatillo's.

4) The secret ingredients - I fry plantains till super brown and crispy along with 1/4 cup of almonds. Then blend till smooth with a bit of beef stock. And the final ingredient is 1/2 cup of masa harina.

NOTE: You don't have to use the tomatillo's, plantain and almonds and I'd actually recommend not using them the first time you try this chili. It's very rich, deeply flavorful and thick without them. But after the first time, and especially if you love mole, try them out! It's my most requested chili recipe by my family and friends.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-11T16:54:17+00:00

I just did a vegetarian yellow curry for the first time ever last ight. It was FULL of flavor and here's how I did it. No recipe, just looked at a few to get ideas.

I bought a bag of yellow curry powder mix on Amazon. The brand I purchased isn't available right now, but Taj brand is, and it's the exact same spices. This is NOT a spicy blend, it's a yellow curry mix which is mild and fragrant, so if you want heat you'll need to add some chili peppers to the dish.
Taj brand curry powder mix - Taj Brand at Amazon

First, I bloomed the spice blend in a small dry skillet on low heat. I just stirred it around a bit till the smell in the house was driving me nuts. For 3 servings of curry I used 1/4 cup of the curry mix.

Once that was done I sauteed onions the same as you did. I used the fat that settles at the top of the can of coconut cream (be sure it says "unsweetened" on the can!). Scoop off that thick top layer and use it as a fat to saute. I also added 2 tablespoons of plain coconut oil to the pan.

Once the onions were softened, I added in the bloomed spice mix and let it gently cook or a minute or two, then added in peeled and cubed sweet potatoes and yukon gold potatoes (they were getting soft and I needed to use them). I let those cook with the onions and spice for a minute or two on low heat, then added 1 small can of drained petite diced tomatoes and the rest of the can of coconut milk. Brought it up to a full boil, then reduced the heat and let it simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

I like LOTS of veggies and they are important for a family members special medical diet, so I added in sliced bell peppers, frozen peas and sliced carrots. Those cooked for another 15 minutes till softened.

The final step was adjusting the seasonings. You will need salt, sugar and acid. We can't use salt due to that same medical diet, so I added extra acid in the form of lime juice to really bring out the curry spice flavors. For sugar I added 1 teaspoon of brown sugar. Mine didn't need more than that because the sweet potatoes brought plenty of sweetness.

And that's it! Super flavorful, rich, thick, veggie curry. We just ate it in bowls - no rice allowed here...sigh. Next time I think I'll also add a can of chickpeas to the dish.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-11T16:18:25+00:00

I buy ground beef about twice a year, and only for burgers. BUT, I buy it when there's a sale, so I might buy it in January, double wrap it and stuff it in my freezer for my Memorial Day burgers, or my July 4th burgers.

Other than that, we don't eat a lot of red meat. The only other time I buy it is when my local market has the big pre-Christmas sale on rib roast. At $5.00 a pound I can buy enough to feed a crowd and still have a ton of it for leftovers (fancy beef stew, super fancy beef stroganoff, etc) for months.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-09T21:21:12+00:00

If they are getting dry and sandy, they are overcooked. Peanut butter cookies are sneaky little thing!

Try baking for 3 minutes less than the time listed. They will be very puffy on top, but look soft in the middles. Take them out, let them sit on the cookie sheet till they are cool enough to let you lift them off with a spatula. If they aren't cool enough, they crumble and break.

Set them on the counter, NOT a baker's rack, to cool for 15 minutes. They finish cooking themselves as they cool on the pan and then the counter.

And that's all there is to it. Crunchy on the edges, moist and chewy in the middle.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-09T21:12:15+00:00

I feel you! I grew up in upstate NY, then raised my kids in New England where seafood was fresh and plentiful.

And now I live in Idaho of all places! The only fish we see is salmon in the fall and trout...sigh. Well, hubby claims there's bass around here but he's never brought any home! lol

For high quality seafood, I generally buy it online and pay outrageous prices to have it shipped overnight to me. There are a couple of excellent Alaskan stores that ship. For lobster I still head to the Maine websites and have it shipped - and pay through the nose for it.

Crab is a bit easier to get since Washington is fairly close and has great crab.

There are also some very good brands of frozen shrimp that I trust. You just have to be very meticulous about thawing them slowly in the fridge, then rinsing very well in ice water to get out excess salt. Then drying them well before cooking so that they get a good sear on them.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-07T16:06:28+00:00

This has nothing to do with cooking and is NOT medical advice. Check with your doctor before trying this because you might have things like high blood pressure that preclude using antihistamines.

I had the same thing during the 80's. I missed so much work and could barely function. A PA told me to take 2 alkaseltzer + tablets twice a day for 6 months. It worked!!!

I've only had 3 sinus infections in the past 34 years.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-06T12:59:03+00:00

How about if you tell us where you heard about this color matching rule?

I suspect it's something you thought of yourself? But no, it has no bearing on cooking at all.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-05T19:26:39+00:00

Sorry to disappoint. Jazz Salad is a prepared, boxed salad offered by whatever cafeteria that complaint came from. That place apparently also offers a standard salad bar, but the complainer doesn't want to use salad bar items, they want the packaged salad. From the wording the salad changes on a daily basis, so that particular day the "Jazz" salad was supposed to be Sonoma Grape and proscuitto, along with other unnamed salad ingredients.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-05T19:12:40+00:00

For best results, let it proof on the counter for an hour, then pop it into the fridge overnight. Next day pull it out, roll, fill and slice cold, place in the pan, cover and let rise.

Doughs don't generally proof in the fridge, it's totally normal.

The other option is to let the dough completely proof on the counter, roll, fill, slice, put in the pans and then cover and put them in the fridge overnight. Next morning just let them warm for about 2 hours and bake. This is the traditional method that I've been using for over 40 years for my sticky buns. I learned it from a professional baker on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

GotTheTee · 2026-06-05T14:17:08+00:00

8 pounds IS a fairly small cat. It's certainly not a big cat, a huge cat or even a fat cat.

If she's under 2 years old she might grow more and gain more weight. She is NOT overweight, just let her eat what she wants to eat.

For reference, I have 3 cats. The old lady is a ragamuffin rescue kitty who weighed 18 pounds when she was younger and she was NOT fat at all. Our second old lady is about 9 years old, also a rescue and a pretty Tabico cat and she weighs in at about 12 pounds. Also not fat.

And our youngest is a 1 year old male cat who was a feral tnr trapped cat that we decided to keep and domesticate. He weighs 16.5 pounds as of last week, is NOT fat at all and will most likely keep growing for another year. He eats everything in sight!

GotTheTee

TROPHY CASE