Becoming a Sunday Tradition.

Sunday night is fast becoming a favorite around here. After church, Daddy always makes up some lunch while I gather up our school books and work on lesson and menu planning for the week. I also recently added coupon clipping to the day, which takes a good deal of time, so am thinking that I need to drop one of those and add it to Saturday night instead. While I am doing that, hubby and the children sit and watch movies all day. I really enjoy the one day off my hubby has (well the half day..lol...he works early in the morning before church) and so do they, so we try to just have it as relaxing as can be. One of the great things about Sunday is that its designated as Bean night! I almost always cook them in the crockpot(which means the work is already done for me)and we never get tired of them . I wanted to share some of the dinners we alternate using beans and the BEST recipe for cornbread. My hubby likes his cornbread sweet with lots of butter, and this recipe has won him over every time! I stopped buying Jiffy a while ago..lol!

Here are some of the dinners I alternate on Bean Night:

• Pinto Beans cooked w/a smoked turkey leg,rice, cornbread (we don't like pork so this is a great, cheap alternative)
• Puerto Rican Rice and beans , fried plantains
• Chili Beans (most of the time this is meatless), rice, cornbread
• Louisiana style Red Beans and Rice w/smoked turkey keilbasa, cornbread
• Black eyed peas w/ smoked turkey leg, rice, cornbread

I use dried beans for these recipes and soak them overnight. In the morning I just throw all of the ingredients into the crock pot and let them cook all day on low. Something I really want to try is lentils. I have a bag of them in my cabinet and just don't know what to do with them! If you have a good recipe or want to share one of your bean recipes leave me a comment or post about it and link me to it.

I also make a lot of cornbread and this is by far the best cornbread recipe I have made. I'm thinking of having a baking day soon and just making a few pans of this and freezing some cooked rice to have for Sunday dinners. That would save me having to cook at all that day at all besides our big breakfast before church!

Sweet Cornbread:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2/3 cup white sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup oil (we use coconut oil melted, if you want another oil just use the same amount)
  

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a square 8x8 pan.
   
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Beans are a really inexpensive way to have a healthy dinner. Having a bean night has also helped me to allow more in my budget for more natural and organic meat. Saving money is my first priority to my family and we are thankful for whatever God puts on our plates! If its organic or not, I am thankful he has given me the ability to budget them in where ever I get a chance :)

Have a blessed Lords day!