Husband Pleasin’ Ranch Style Beans

Husband Pleasin' Ranch Style Beans

I seriously did not set out to start a column about these beans. I was so busy at work yesterday that I didn’t have time to even think about what to make for dinner. Thankfully we had one serving of  spaghetti leftovers from Carino’s the night before so our daughter at least ate by a decent hour. But my husband stepped in and baked some wonderful cod in a Cajun-spiced breading and served it with one of my stand-by recipes of cooked cauliflower slathered in a mushroom cheese sauce. He had interrupted my work earlier to ask me where to find the recipe for that, as he had never cooked it before (but I have, many times over). I guided him to my Better Homes and Garden recipe book I referred to in yesterdays’ blog, and told him to make sure he followed  my notes scribbled in the margins.

I digress, though. The reason this is titled with Husband Pleasin’ is because my husband does cook quite a lot too in this family, and also does a very fine job of it. In thinking on that, I wanted to start sharing some of his cooking, which I’ve also documented with photographs over the past year or so. Which leads us to the title again. In thinking of a title to this post that would somehow bring my husband into it, my meandering brain glommed onto a phrase I saw for years on the label of my favorite canned beans I grew up with in Texas. Ranch Style Beans. Not ANY ranch style beans, but THE Ranch Style Beans, with the black and yellow label with Husband Pleasin’ smack dab on the side of  it with a funny caricature of a man smacking his lips. Sometime in the 80s, there must have been a political correctness adjustment to the label, because now the label only boasts that it is “Appetite Pleasin’!” Harrumph. How could they?

Now I have never even attempted to re-create the yummy goodness inside this can. When I first moved to Oregon back in ’93, those beans were not to be found in a single store in this area. I was heartbroken! Thank goodness there were not many restrictions on luggage back then, as every time I traveled back to Texas I would lug a minimum of 8 cans back with me in my suitcase. Probably about ten years ago, I finally spied a can of it on one of the store shelves, and I do think I caused a ruckus in the store at that time with my joy in finding my long-lost childhood goodness in a can.

So no recipe this time, but if you can find a can of these Husband Pleasin’ Ranch Style Beans on your store shelf, do yourself a favor and buy them. And please don’t rinse them like you would with a can of black beans, as it will wash away all the decadent yumminess right out of them.

Note: I am sad to say in my research of trying to find an actual image of the old can, it turns out the original plant in Texas was closed and moved to Ohio, and the beans now being produced at the new plant don’t taste quite as good. I’ve had many cans stockpiled for awhile so haven’t had a chance to personally taste the results of this very disturbing news…