On beans, chicken gizzards and chili.

  Yesterday I discovered how to cook beans.  I have cooked beans many times before but yesterday I finally discovered how to do it properly.  I was making chili for supper and discovered about 4 pm that I had no canned beans.  I always have dried beans on hand but I hadn't soaked and cooked them yet.  Normally that means beanless chili.  However yesterday I thought, I have 2 hours, if I cook them hard for that amount of time maybe they will be good.  I rinsed some and put them on to boil.  Then, just for the fun of it, I googled 'how to cook dried beans quickly .'  Am I ever glad I did.  I have never cooked better beans, and they have never taken such a short time.  I boiled them for about 10 min, then drained them and added more water.  I then brought them back to a boil, put a lid on them and put them in the oven at 300*F for about an hour.  They were ready, they weren't mushy and they didn't have crispy bits.  Also on the subject of chili... We recently killed chickens.  Being Dutch, I hate wasting things, so I kept all the chicken gizzards, liver and hearts.  I haven't tried this with heart or liver yet, but for the gizzards this is the best idea.  Partially freeze (or if frozen partially thaw) the gizzards, cut into chunks/strips grind in a meat grinder.  When they are all ground, regrind them (takes me about 15 min for a lb in a hand grinder).  I mix the ground gizzards half half with ground beef and use it in whatever I use ground beef for.  To date I have made hamburgers, lasagna, and chili.  This is all without the more sensitive tastebuds even knowing that it was anything other than beef.  I tried once to stew them and make a chicken stew and while I could eat them they weren't particularly enjoyable.  Tonight we have a beef roast on the oven with lots of veggies for supper.  Have a good evening all.