July recognizes National Baked Bean Month! Gather your recipes and make up a batch or two.
Baked beans make an outstanding side dish all year round, but are a particular favorite during barbeques and picnics. Home cooks quickly make up a batch to bring in slow cookers, and they compliment many summer meals. Do you need more reasons to try baked beans this month?
How about this? They contain more fiber than many whole grains and are nearly fat-free. Beans are high in protein, too. From a nutrient standpoint, beans are a terrific source of calcium, iron, folic acid, and potassium. They may also help reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers.
Now, depending on the type of bean you bake, the nutrients and flavor vary. Most baked beans are made with navy beans in a sauce. However, baked beans can also be made with kidney, garbanzo or even pinto beans or a combination of all the above. What’s your favorite?
HISTORY
The Michigan Bean Commission founded National Baked Bean Month in 1981 to promote all the benefits of the beans and to share the best ways to prepare baked beans.
Explore More…
HOW TO OBSERVE
Make your favorite baked bean recipe. Don’t have one? Share your recipe or follow the month by using #BakedBeanMonth on social media.
Full of flavor, healthy and easy ro make, this dinner hits the spot for full tummies. Filled with Ground turkey, Couscous, black olives, 2 kinds of sqaush, cheeses, and greek seasoning ant topped with lemon slices. It’s perfect for a family meal, potluck dinner, and a good choice for lots of dietary needs. So good I bet no one will even suspect it’s good for them…
Ingredients
1 Near East Couscous 5.9oz box
3 lbs ground turkey
16 oz sliced Pepper jack cheese
1 2.2 oz can sliced blak olives
1 8oz spinach artichoke cheese dip
1/4 cup grated Parmesean Cheese
1 medium onion diced
2 tbls minced garlic
2 lemon sliced
2 Tbls Greek Seasoning
Zucchini
Yellow Squash
10 oz fresh grape tomatoes sliced in half
Directions
Prepare a 9 x 13 glass baking dish
Prepare couscous as directed on packaging and set aside
Chop zucchini and yellow squash into 1/2 pieces
Brown Ground turkey with onion and minced garlic
Drain, mix with spinach artichoke cheese dip, set aside.
In prepared dish spread browned turkey, couscous, vegetables and black olives in 3 layers.
Top bottom layers with Monterrey Jack cheese.
Sprinkle Paresean cheese and greek seasoning over top of cassarole.
Top entire dish with lemon slices
Bake @ 350° for 40 minutes until vegetables are cooked.
On April 24, observe National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day with just a few ingredients.
Celebrated across the world, the term often refers to a variety of different dishes. In the United States, Pigs-in-a-Blanket is often hot dogs or sausages wrapped in biscuit or croissant dough and baked. Pigs-in-a-Blanket are generally served as an appetizer or as breakfast. However, it can be served at any mealtime!
Another popular version of pigs-in-a-blanket includes cabbage rolls stuffed with a beef filling. It’s often covered with a tomato or cream sauce. Many recipes use the name “Pigs-in-a-Blanket” to describe just about any meat product wrapped in something. For example, one recipe we found called for stuffing a hotdog with a slice of cheese and wrapping the whole works with bacon. No dough or cabbage involved here.
And while some references give Betty Crocker credit for the first printed use of the phrase in 1957, records as early as 1901 reference recipes for pigs-in-a-blanket in a variety of forms. However, the phrase did increase in usage in the English language after it was printed in the 1957 cookbook.
No matter how you make pigs-in-a-blanket, make enough to share. We even have two recipes for you to try. The ones wrapped in pastry dough make great appetizers or snacks and can be dipped in a variety of sauces. Check out the sauce recipes, too!
Each year on April 8th, National Empanada Day recognizes a delicious pastry that comes in several different forms. The name empanada comes from the Galician, Portuguese and Spanish verb em pandar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread.
Empanadas are made by folding the dough or bread around a seasoned stuffing. The stuffed dough is then baked or fried. Very much like hand pies, these delicious pastries offer a variety of choices. You can make your empanadas with meat, cheese, vegetables or fruit fillings. However, they may be made with other ingredients, too.
A cookbook published in 1520 in Catalan, the Libre del Coch by Ruperto de Nola, mentions empanadas filled with seafood.
If you’ve never had an empanada, you might be surprised just how versatile they are. Different parts of the United States make them with their own style and flavors. Starting in the Southern and Southwestern United States where an empanada is called a Creole empanada, the dish becomes a savory meal. There, they fill the half-circle flaky crust with seasoned pork, beef or chicken, and cheese.
Head to the Southeastern part of the country and empanadas transform. A little more on the sweeter side, they fill these pastries with fresh or reconstituted dry fruit. Some choices include apples, apricots, peaches or sweet potatoes. Once fried, the pies have a crispy outer shell with piping hot fruit inside.
Further west in New Mexico, making empanadas for Christmas is a winter tradition. They make sweetmeats, similar to mincemeat, using ground pork, sugar, pinon nuts, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Everything is then sealed in a tortilla-like dough and deep-fried in lard.
Make your favorite version of empanadas. You can choose from a variety of fillings and make one for everyone in the family. Have everyone try their hand at making the dough and filling them. Whether you prefer to make them into a meal or a dessert, the day will be celebration-worthy!
If you’re doubting your dough-making skills, try frozen or canned dough. While you’re cooking, be sure to share your recipes, too!
National Burrito Day on the first Thursday in April celebrates the tasty and versatile Mexican dish wrapped in a tortilla.
A burrito is a heavy tortilla wrapped around meat, cheese, tomato, rice, beans, vegetables, and sauces. Like many other tortilla dishes, the burrito is flexible. The cook chooses the meat fillings from ground beef, shredded chicken, shredded beef or shredded pork. The same applies to the bean choices, often ranging from black, red, whole or refried beans. Once again, the flexibility of choice applies to the vegetables allowing the cook to grill the vegetables or keep them fresh. Spices such as cumin, chili powder, and oregano give the burritos an authentic Mexican flavor. For added crunch, chimichangas are burritos that have been deep-fried.
The word burrito first appeared in the Dictionary of Mexicanisms in 1895. The Guanajuato region of Mexico uses the term and means little donkey in Spanish. It is possible that it stems from the appearance of the packs and bedrolls donkeys used to carry. In other regions of Mexico, similar types of food are known as flauta.
The burrito was introduced in the United States in the 1930s at the El Cholo Spanish Café in Los Angeles. Since then, the burrito has found its way to menus all across the United States. Home cooks serve the burrito because it’s a crowd-pleaser and filling, too.
HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalBurritoDay
Call some friends and go out for burritos or make some at home. Who makes your favorite burritos? Be sure to tag someone who prepares the best burritos whether it’s mom or the local Mexican restaurant. If you make the best, you might be getting some love today.
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