I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I like beans. They’re versatile, hearty, and packed with nutrients. You’ll find many recipes here, on She Wears Many Hats, highlighting beans as the main ingredient like Black Bean Dip, Black Bean Hummus, Black-eyed Pea Cakes (The Black-Eyed Pea Cakes are out of this world – you gotta try ’em.) to name a few. You’ll find them all filed under the category The Bodacious Bean.

You can just imagine how excited I was to get an invitation from Bush’s Beans to travel to Napa for chili tasting and cooking at The Culinary Institute of America with Connie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D., author of The Sonoma Diet.

I was tickled. Totally.

(I just hope I don’t make a fool of myself – you know I’m redneck like that.)

So late next week I’ll be flying off to beautiful Napa along with Sandy from Reluctant Entertainer (she’s got a book coming out this August – watch for it!), Aggie from Aggie’s Kitchen (yummy stuff and healthy too!), and Tina from Mommy’s Kitchen (don’t stop by there hungry – yum!). A great group of ladies cookin’ with some beans. How fun is that?

Can’t wait to share what I learn and hopefully some cool photos of the area too. Meanwhile, if you’ve yet to check out this White Bean Chicken Chili, this weekend may be the perfect time to make a batch.

Or take a look at this site from Bush’s Beans with tons of recipes and nutritional information about beans…Beans. The Vegetable With More.

I hope you have a great weekend full of tasty eats!

(So I don’t get in trouble or anything, you should know that Bush’s Beans is covering all costs for the trip – they’re cool like that.)