Sprouted Beans (and grains) - Colander Method

I am making a black bean soup for dinner tonight.  Originally I had planned to make beans like I always do...soak and then toss them in the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients.  But then I thought this might be a good opportunity to make my first attempt at sprouting.  I found an easy colander method on The Nourishing Gourmet.  It was so simple!  And now we have a huge jar of sprouted black beans in the fridge.  I was actually quite surprised how quickly they started sprouting.  I cooked some of them this morning to add to our soup.  They taste great (even at 4:30 am :)!  And they only take about 20 min. to cook once they're sprouted.  I decided to cook them separately so that I could rinse them afterward to make sure I got any extra gas-producing stuff off :P  I'm anxious to see if Rebecca and I tolerate them better this way.  Rebecca had a few already with lunch.  She gobbled them up like always.  It'll be fun to try sprouting other beans and get a stock in my fridge.  And at some point to try sprouting other things, like grains.  This method can be used with any legume or grain as long as it's large enough to not go through the colaner.  For smaller things I'll need to get a sprouting jar/screen.  You can use any amount of beans you like.  I did a fairly big batch of black beans.  Just beware that the larger the pile the longer it takes to dry.

Colander Sprouting (legumes or grains)

Equipment:
large bowl
colander
small kitchen towel (I just used a loose covering of plastic wrap)
plate

Place the legume or grain you wish to sprout in a large bowl and cover with water. Leave to soak 8-12 hours (overnight works well). Then drain in your colander, and rinse very well (the water should run clear). Drain, and then place on your plate-to catch any drips-and cover with a kitchen towel. Now all you have to do is rinse and drain every 8-12 hours (think morning and evening). When I rinse, I gently shake the colander a bit to make sure that all of the beans are getting wet.
And then it’s just a matter of waiting until you see little sprouts. For both legumes and grains, you generally aren’t wanting the sprouts to get really big, as they taste better when the sprouts are small. So when you see the sprouts starting to shoot out, rinse one more time, and leave for another 8-12 hours to drain thoroughly (they should be dry to the touch) (mine took about 2 1/2 days for the whole process...soak to dry). Then place in a mason jar or other container to keep in the fridge. And you are done!

You can cook them the same way you normally cook beans (simmering water).  But they cook much faster.  My black beans took about 20 min.