Beans, beans, the musical fruit...

Am I the only one who learned the "Musical Bean" song as a child?

My dad used to sing it...

Beans, beans, the musical fruit.
The more you eat, the more you toot.
The more you toot, the better you'll feel.
So, lift your leg and let them peel.

Ah....

Childhood memories.

Did I ever mention that I was kind of a tomboy?

Anywhoo...

Fast forward to the present day.

My family loves beans.

This was a major factor in our decision to put the teenage boys up in the third level.

Where you can't see them or smell them.

But...

Back to beans.

Do you know you can replace butter in your recipe with bean puree?

Yep, I don't lie. on this one anyway

I take small white beans (mine were Great Northern beans) and follow the package directions in cooking them.

Once they are all cooked up, I stick them in my food processor (blender works too) and puree them until they look like butter.

Talk about saving money and tons of fat grams!

I replace the butter in my recipes with a 1:1 ratio. So far, I have tried it in pancakes and my banana bread recipe and I have been thrilled with both results!

You can also freeze the bean puree, either in 1 cup measures (in ziplocs) or in larger containers if you will be doing a lot of baking.

If you are not used to eating a bunch of beans you might be "musical" for awhile.

But you can always sing along.

Happy cooking!