With summer still months away, I’ve been dreaming about the day I can have steamed mussels again!

As a child, my father had Friday's off from work. In the morning, he would put on a big pot of pinto beans that we would eat together for lunch. I would sit at the table and play with my toy animals and use uncooked beans as ‘feed.’ We always had fresh tortillas for scooping and my dad would shred cheese for us to put on top. This is one of my favorite memories growing up! My mom would then turn the leftover beans into refried beans for other meals over the next few days.

As a vegetarian, beans are a major part of my diet. When I got a dutch oven as a gift last year, I looked for different ways to use it. Discovering that I could cook dried beans in the oven without pre-soaking was a revelation! They're so much tastier than canned, and it's so easy. Beans rule!

Since I can remember, my family has enjoyed black eyed peas and other savory side dishes on New Year's Day to symbolize the good luck and fortune we want to invite into our new year. This illustration depicts our recipe (with a few modern updates) and shows a family enjoying the tradition. As I was finalizing this illustration I found some old stationery my late mother had written some recipes on. It was such a treat to be able to include it in this drawing about family traditions.

Beans around the world...This delicious vegetarian chili is easy to prepare and will help warm you up on a cold winter night. Using canned red kidney beans helps cut down the cooking time quite a bit.

Beans around the world... simple recipe using protein-packed pinto beans.

A beautiful Mexican bean stew recipe which is great for warming the heart. The few ingredients for this stew are staple cupboard items, making this a great last minute recipe.

A delicious recipe for Tuscan bean soup set on top of the rolling hills of Tuscany.

This recipe is for the I've Bean Around the World and the Mexican cuisine has a special place for all the beans of the world. The pinto bean soup is hearty, chunky and full of flavor of garlic and ancho peppers. Great year round and lands itself well to any toppings (chips, sour cream, guacamole, etc).

The burst of flavours from the Rajma combined with steaming hot long grain rice is the kind of stuff where gastronomical pleasure meets your fondest childhood memory of mom made food. For an Indian child, A hot bowl of Rajma curry made with red kidney beans, cooked with an array of masalas with rice hits as close to home as possible, wherever in the world he is.

Beans around the world : Being a French native living in England for over a decade, I gradually got used to the so typical baked beans ! They even became part of our family meals over the time !

I don't usually eat beans, but when it´s about Tacu-Tacu I don't think twice. This delicious dish is the food par excellence in Peru, as it is a simple and effective way to use leftover rice and beans and get as a result a tasty and nutritious meal.
Tacu - Tacu means also tradition because of its main ingredients: Yellow Chilli Pepper and Canary beans, both of them originated in Peru and used in the original recipe.
Of course it´s also possible to replace the canary with the navy beans, so there is no excuse to try it!

This savoury number is a dynamo fave in my house, especially on chilly winter nights. The subtle, soft, nutty, humbly distinguished notes of the Great Northern are enhanced by the wham bam (!) flavours of zesty, bright lemon juice; sweet, deep roasted garlic; strong, piney rosemary; peppery paprika; and the slickness that can only be imparted by a good olive oil. Blended together and then spread generously on a cracker or a hot out of the oven pita toastie (preferred!) is sublime experience...one that can make a meal or a snack with a glass of good wine just heaven.