I mill bean flour and use it in many different ways. I mill in a Whisper Mill (now goes by the name - Wonder Mill) grain mill, so I get a very fine flour. Not all grain mills can mill large beans - so check manufacturer's information. If you want to add fiber and protein to baked goods, use bean flour for a portion of regular flour (up to 15-20%). Small white beans have the least amount of "beany" flavor and work best in baked goods. They also work best in foods that include spicy flavors (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.), which help to hide any bean flavor. You will find lots of recipes using bean flour in most gluten-free cookbooks. Bob's Red Mill has recipes using bean flour: - Fast Refried Bean Dip (uses black bean flour) - Mexican Bean Gravy " - Black Bean Tortillas " - Black Bean Dip " Click on the link below. Click on RECIPES at the top of the page. BAKEHOUSE CHEEZY HEARTLAND SOUP (using whole white beans milled into flour using the Whispermill) Mix together and stir well before each use: 1/2 c. Red Star nutritional yeast 2/3 c. white bean flour 1 t. sea salt 1/4 t. each paprika and celery seed 1/2 t. mustard (ground) 1 T. chicken style broth powder 1/8 c. bac'un bits Bring one cup water to a boil, reduce heat. Stir in 3 T. of the mix. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use less water for a thick cheezy style sauce. Variation: Saute 1-1/2 c. diced veggies (onion, carrot, celery, potato) until softened. Add 1-1/2 c. water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and 1/3 c. cheezy saucy. Cook 5 minutes, until veggies are tender and soup is thickened. Soup will thicken a little more as it cools. This chills and reheats well. ------------ You can make refried beans in a few minutes using pinto bean flour. Great for campers. - 1 cup whole beans = 1-1/8 c. bean flour - STIFF REFRIED BEANS - 1 c. water plus 1/3 c. bean flour = 1 c. instant mashed beans (equal to canned refried beans) Cook and stir for 1 minute until mixture thickens. Reduce heat to medium/low. Cover the pan and cook 6 minutes (stirring occasionally). - FLUFFY REFRIED BEANS - 2 c. water plus 3/4 c. bean flour = 2-1/2 c. fluffy mashed beans (nice on tortillas or used for dips by adding salsa or picante sauce) You can also mill black beans for refried black bean. Boil 2-1/2 c. water Whisk in dry ingredients: 3/4 c. pinto or black bean flour pinch garlic powder (optional) 1/2 - 3/4 t. salt 1/4 t. cumin 1/2 t. chili powder Cook and stir for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium/low. Cover pan and cook 4 minutes (stirring occasionally). -------------------- CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP Here's a way to make cream of chicken soup from beans. The kids love the stuff. 1 Cup Navy Bean Flour (Lima beans or Garbanzo beans will also work.) 4 Cups Water or Milk 1 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1/4 cup dehydrated onions or 1 small onion optional Grind the dry beans in a wheat grinder. Usually, 3/4 cup of beans will make 1 cup of flour. Add the other dry ingredients to the bean flour. Stir 1/2 cup of water or milk into the bean flour until it is mixed then add the rest of the water or milk and heat it in a medium sized sauce pan, constantly stirring. As it reaches the boiling point it will thicken. Boil it for about a minute. If it gets too thick add a bit more water/milk until your soup thins down to what cream of chicken soup should be. If it lacks flavor, add a bit more chicken bouillon. Garnish with dry parsley flakes. Serves 4. Recipe from waltonfeed.com. Here is a link that might be useful: Bob's Red Mill

bpathome, the Instant Pot does release steam out the top. Mine never makes a mess, though--it's just steam that goes upward, there is no water or residue on my counter that I've ever noticed. terriks, the IP is a pressure cooker that can also be used as a slow cooker and a rice cooker. I've had one for a year now and I use it multiple times per week. It is great for soups, cooking dried beans without presoaking, making mashed potatoes and hardboiling eggs so they are very easy to peel. I love that I can make soup really fast after I come home from work and I can steam a whole sweet potato for the baby in under 15 minutes. I feel like the IP does save time but for me the primary advantage is that it takes no supervision. I put the soup ingredients in and close the lid, set it for 15 minutes and walk away. Since I am often multi-tasking while I cook, it has saved me time in not having to go back to check if the soup is simmering, adjust the temps, adjust the lid, stir, etc. I've also made mac and cheese in it but did not feel it was any easier or tastier than the traditional way--it was the same and took the same amount of time. We do not cook meat but I can only assume that it comes in very handy for meat dishes, too. Here are the down sides: 1) the steam does vent straight up. If you don't have an island, I think the steam frequently venting under/in front of your cabinets might not be the best thing for them. If you are standing there when it vents you can divert it, but that negates the "no supervision" benefit. 2) It is big-ish and heavy-ish; unless you leave it on the countertop, you will be lifting it. My favorite large soup pot is a Le Creuset, so it's not a lightweight option, either, but if you have carpal tunnel or something, you might want to consider the weight and where you will store your IP.

Thanks for sharing this info and the link!

Nancy - freezing a loaf bread / muffins to then seal in a vac bag isn't so easy for me. I don't have the space in the freezer to put on a pan and slide into the freezer. I see pioneer woman doing that - but she has a big one and it usually has an empty shelf for her to slide it. preplanned I'm sure. my little frzr space is jam packed with lots of things I don't even recognize anymore. am thinking of dumping it all out and starting over. I do freeze bread slices. I can fit 3 slices into a baggie and then put all of those into a gal size freezer bag. I put waxed paper between the slices. comes in handy when I've run out of bread and really want some toast but haven't been to the store. I'm about to do that again with the half loaf I have out, before it gets too old. while in W today I took time to check a few things. 1 was the size of a whole chicken. I only have a 3 qt iP. but I didn't have my tape measure with me to measure them. will have to put it back in my purse and measure their chickens on my next trip. I saw a 5 lb one and it looked like it'd be too big. I have read of people using even a 3 lb chicken in the iP. will look for one of those next time and measure it. I also looked at their FS machines. they had 1 for about 60.00 - it looked small and basic (my speed). and they had one that was about 170.00. It was huge and looked very complicated. I just need a small basic one for the little I'll do. I guess every 5 yrs isn't so bad when you're really using it continually like you must do. I don't think I'd need to use it more than once or twice a month for a few things. 2 chicken breasts can last me a month to 6 wks. I might be using more now since I started sharing it with my furgirl. I usually cut a chicken breast into strips and then put 3-4 strips in a baggie and roll it up after each strip and put all the baggies into a freezer bag. that way they don't stick together and I can just pull out 1 strip at a time. 1 strip is usually enough to make chicken salad for 1-1.5 sandwiches for me and I only eat half a sandwich for a meal. I can pull out just 1 to chop into rice and veggies for a meal. I usually put maybe 3 chopped up into chicken noodle soup. I'm not a big meat eater.