Byte of Beans
By Patty "Sassy" Knutson

BEANS

Raise your hand if a bored feeling washes over you when you think of beans. Lordy knows I felt the same way for years.  In fact, I went vegan back in 1994, but didn’t add beans to my diet (steadily) until just two years ago. 

Why? 

Well, the reason sort of centers around pure laziness — I never took the time to learn how to make beans from scratch.  Beans from scratch just seemed like such a time-consuming task for something that bored me to tears.  Of course, there's always canned beans, but if you're anything like me you shy away from anything in a can whenever possible.
 
But you know what?  Beans are pretty cool little powerhouses and not boring in the least.  With the advent of learning the "bean ropes" comes a natural understanding of how these little guys work – the difference soaking them first can make, how to add them to your diet in fun ways without eating just a “plate of beans” every day, that perfect “bite” you’re searching for that signals the end of the cooking time, the various flavor changes that can be brought to a dish simply by changing the type of bean you us…