Food Storage Life Hacks: Beans for Butter

I love cooking from scratch because when you do you a) have more control over the ingredients and b) you have more opportunities to use your food storage and c) can do it for a lot cheaper!

But here is one of the greatest food storage life hacks-EVER!  Using beans in place of butter and oil.  SAY WHAT?!  Yep, even Dr. Oz is a fan.  Why? Well beans are CHEAP, from your dry beans you can make the equivalent of a can of beans (which is about a pound) for under 20 cents! Has anyone seen what a pound of butter costs these days?  Last time I checked it was around $3 a pound-good grief.  Plus, beans are virtually fat free, full of protein and fiber which means less calories and they make you feel full!  No joke!  I can eat one piece of cake made with beans instead of oil and feel FULL.  Before I could eat 2 (or 3 or 4–there’s no shame in the truth) and not feel satisfied.  Plus, beans make a very moist product and I promise there is no bean taste!  And just because I know you’re wondering, I don’t use powdered butter or shortening because for the most part it isn’t cheaper than using fresh plus it lacks the protein and fiber of beans.  So, I want to make sure you all understand how to use the beans and how to be successful at it because I’m BIG on YOU figuring out how to do this with YOUR recipes.

HOW TO USE BEANS FOR OIL AND BUTTER

1. If your recipe calls for oil, you are going to use a bean puree.  What is a bean puree you ask?  It’s simply cooked beans with enough water to whirl in your blender.  If you want a simple way to try this, take a can of beans (the entire can) and dump it in the blender and blend it.  Done.
2. If your recipe calls for butter, you are going to use cooked, drained beans.
3. For substituting beans for both butter and/or oil you are going to use a 1:1 ration.  That means if your recipe calls for 3/4 C. oil, you are going to use 3/4 C. bean puree.  If your recipe calls for 1 C. butter you are going to use 1 C. beans.  You’ll use the same measurements for beans as your original recipe says to use for either the oil and/or butter.
4. When wondering which beans to use-you are going to match color for color.  If it is a chocolate cake, use black beans. If it is a spice cake, use pinto beans.  If it is a white cake, use white beans.  Now, here is the tricky part…you can also use white beans in chocolate cake but you can’t use black beans in your white cake.  Your family will wonder what all of those black specks are. 😉  To be safe, you can use white beans in almost anything.
5. Now, you’re going to add the beans however your recipe says to use the butter and/or oil.  So, if your recipe says to cream the butter with the sugar-you’re going to cream the beans with the sugar.  If your recipe says to add the oil to the dry ingredients, you’re going to add the bean puree to the dry ingredients.
6. If you are using beans in something like brownies or cookies that are supposed to be chewy, the beans will not make it chewy-it will be cake like.  So if you’re family is big on chewy that doesn’t mean you have an excuse not to use beans.  It just means you need to use half oil/butter and half beans.  It will still be chewy and you’ll still be saving money and adding fiber and protein!  Remember, I’m not big into all or nothing-even a little or half is better than nothing and it’s important that your family likes what you make!

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Use beans for breakfast, dinner and dessert with my Everyday Bean E-Cookbook!

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