Question of the Day, Sunday April 28th

[nurseangel]

Beans, do you consider them as mostly a main dish or a side dish?

With the exception of lima beans, I consider beans to be mostly a main dish. I cooked a big pot of navy beans today. I usually just have biscuits with them (I don't like cornbread) but this time, I have a few spare potatoes and may fry them for a side. Since I hurt my back, DH has to help me prepare meals, so he is getting cooking lessons he didn't sign up for.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I consider them an ingredient. Like I add pinto beans to taco meat or chili. I’ll add black beans to my morning eggs. Things like that. I don’t make them to eat alone.

My step-grandpa (born and raised in Puerto Rico) used to make them alone to top rice. They were a pinker kidney bean looking with a little sauce. There would also be a sauce with corned beef from a can that all went over rice. Salty but man it was tasty!

 

[catloverfromwayback]

I only have green beans these days, and they're definitely just part of the veggies in a meat dish.

 

[nurseangel]

MoochNNoodles I didn't think to list ingredient as a choice. I make my chili with beans and also put them in homemade soup sometimes.

catloverfromwayback I never met a green bean I didn't like.

 

[denice]

I think of them as a main dish. I haven't had them in a long time but ham and beans was a dish that was served often growing up.

 

[di and bob]

When I hear beans I think of first, refried beans, and then ham and beans. I love all kind of beans. I can green beans every summer. Beans, beans for every meal,.........

 

[NY cat man]

Either. Growing up, sometimes baked beans was the meal, and not just a side, while string beans were always a side dish. Lima beans were both a side and an ingredient in a variation of bean soup instead of the usual Navy beans, and of course pinto beans in chili.

 

[rubysmama]

As a vegetarian, I consider beans a main dish. Either on their own, like baked beans. Or any sort of beans and rice combo.

Since I hurt my back, DH has to help me prepare meals, so he is getting cooking lessons he didn't sign up for.

Sorry about your back. Hope it feels better soon.

 

[game misconduct]

either or mainly depends on how i am using them with my meal

 

[neely]

Beans are high in protein which is why as a vegetarian I eat them alone and in other dishes. My veggie chili has 4 types of beans in it.

 

[betsygee]

As a vegetarian, I consider beans a main dish.

Beans are high in protein which is why as a vegetarian I eat them alone and in other dishes. My veggie chili has 4 types of beans in it.

Same here. Definitely a main. The Instant Pot was the best thing I ever got--I have black beans, pintos, or garbanzos cooking all the time.

 

[Tobermory]

I love beans of all kinds, with the possible exception of kidney beans. They were always sides growing up, but recently I've really reduced the amount of meat I eat, so beans are becoming more of a main dish for me.

 

[nurseangel]

rubysmama thank you. I am hoping for physical therapy.

In the region where I live, it's not uncommon for people to cook a big pot of pinto beans as a main dish. My aunt used to cook all kinds of sides with them. My mom used to serve them as a stand alone dish. The reason I am so well versed in everything beans is because I hated pinto beans when I was young. And it was pretty much an eat what is served environment. I only learned to like pinto beans was because I loved refried beans in Mexican restaurants.

 

[Kat0121]

Both depending on the dish. They can also be a snack. I love roasting garbanzo beans with some oil and salt until they are nice and crisp.

 

[allmykitties]

They're very flexible. I think ingredient most of all.

One of my favorite recipes is a baked bean recipe that uses five types of beans (I changed out two from the original recipe because I don't like lima beans and I thought great northern were a bit redundant). So the five beans are the pork & beans in tomato sauce (which are very Great Northern like in appearance if they aren't actually that variety), red kidney beans, white kidney beans, black beans, and garbanzo beans. There's a few more ingredients in there, but you can either serve this up in side-dish size servings, or in winter it's a really nice main dish if you make a batch of corn bread and increase the size of the servings (about twice what you'd serve as a side dish).

Green beans are a solid side dish, though.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

It depends. Baked beans are a side, but like a bean casserole would be a main.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I didn't think to list ingredient as a choice. I make my chili with beans and also put them in homemade soup sometimes.

I started using them that way at a friend's suggestion when DS was running a bit underweight and below his normal growth curve. My friend's son requires more calories because of a health condition he has; so she had awesome ideas for how to sneak more calories and nutrition into his diet. Beans was one of the biggest hits! So much to those litlte "magical fruits."

 

[catapault]

If you combine beans with corn with the amino acids they each contain you have a complete protein as they are complementary to each other

 

[maggiedemi]

Beans are an ingredient in my main dishes. How would you serve beans alone as the main dish?! Sounds bland. What do you put on them?

 

[aliceneko]

An ingredient or a side with something like jacket potato and toast (if we're talking baked beans).