We had another family Iron Chef competition last night.
This is our Iron Man … he edged out the white bean chili by one point, taking the cake with his homemade vanilla bean ice cream. It was the creamiest, richest, most delicious ice cream I have ever eaten. I need to get the recipe.
Did you guess the secret ingredient?
Beans. Don’t worry … we served Gas-X for an appetizer.
The diversity of bean recipes was amazing. We feasted on black bean brownies and baked bean-chili-mac. We sampled a cream cheese-pineapple-bean dip … fried chick peas … jelly bean ice cream … bean burritos … green beans … Southern succotash.
A feast.
And because we should all learn something new every day, here are some bean facts:
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- Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plants. Broad beans have been grown in Thailand since the early seventh millennium BC, predating ceramics. (At least that’s what Wikipedia says.)
- Beans were deposited on the dead in ancient Egypt.
- In the Iliad (8th century), there’s a mention of beans and chickpeas cast on the threshing floor.
- The oldest-known domesticated beans in the Americas were found in Guitarrero Cave in Peru and dated to around the second millennium B.C.
- There are over 4,000 cultivars of bean on record in the United States alone.
Such valuable facts … I’m sure we can now say ”Yes!” to the question, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?
Our family Iron Chef competitions have become a monthly tradition. There were more attendees during the Christmas edition. No secret ingredient in December … we all made appetizers. What a swell way to celebrate the holidays.
My, oh my, we’re good cooks. Seriously.
You should all come and share in the calories. Delicious!
And the conversations are intellectually stimulating.
And good company and great food prompt lots of smiling, happy people holding hands.
Oh wait … there’s no hand-holding.
The competition is fierce … don’t let those pretty smiles fool you.
And then there’s the storytelling and the philosophizing … it’s first-class B.S., let me tell ya.
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.
Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”
~ Jane Howard
Did ya’ll sing the Doxology? That’s what I really want to know. Looks like a ton of fun.
It always looks like so much fun! Wish I could have tried that icecream. Can’t wait to see what happens with the cornflakes. In the South, cornflake chicken is pretty popular!
I just finished making the ice cream!!! It’s delicious! (and I don’t really like ice cream!)
Did you sing the doxology? That’s what I need to know.
Looks like fun! Neil always liked to cook but never heard of him making ice cream!! Has Mallory been in the sun? She really looked tan!
I love your blog. I have a question – what is the pattern of the dishes I see behind the Iron Man? I have a couple of pieces that my grandmother gave me. Thanks!