beautiful, beguiling beans

While in the Bulk Barn (buying Chicago Mix eep!), I stumbled upon a bin of huge white beans - I have never bought, nor cooked these before, but they were so beautiful and beguiling - I just had to buy some! What to do with these big ol' beans? I checked out one of my favourite blogs:  /http://www.101cookbooks.com/ for advise, and sure enough, a recipe presented itself: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/giant-chipotle-white-beans-recipe.html I have kale, I have fresh oregano, I have cilantro all in the garden, so as soon as I got home I got 'em soaking:

The next day, they simmered in a pot with fresh bay leaves and garlic. The next day, I prepped the tomato/chipotle sauce, cilantro pesto, and breadcrumbs -

 fresh oregano makes all the difference!

 two kinds of kale!

 the big 'ol beans!

 cilantro pesto: so easy to make - just 4 ingredients: cilantro, oil, garlic and salt

 ready to assemble!

I decided it needed to go with polenta and just picked 'freckles' lettuce

And now I have leftovers for lunch, too :-)