It’s time again for Is My Blog Burning. The theme this time is beans, one of my favorite “CheapCooking” foods! These easy pinto beans are on regular rotation around here. We like other beans as well. I’ve made Black Bean Soup, Black Bean Mole, Bean and Corn Melange, a white bean and spinach side dish, split pea soup, my favorite Coconut Rice and Red Beans, and even just dressed up some canned beans periodically.
Unfortunately, I’d neglected to note down the IMBB date and only found out about it this morning when I was catching up on my blog reading (as opposed to blog writing). So, it’s almost noon and I’m supposed to cook beans! I had read, in Feed Your Family on $10 a Day by Linda Eckhardt, that you can get away with not soaking the beans. I’d done the quick soak method before. (Bring the beans and water to boil, simmer a few minutes, then turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for an hour.) I’d made this recipe before, but decided it was perfect for today’s IMMB.
Easy Pinto Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound pinto beans
- water
- 1/4 pound of salt pork or a few slices of bacon
- 1 onion
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
Instructions
- Rinse and sort the beans. I repeat this although I’ve long ago given up the sorting part as I’ve never yet found any rocks or non-bean material. I do rinse them however.
- Cover with 2 inches of water.
- Add a couple of inches of salt pork. (Note: I buy a hunk of this periodically and freeze whatever I have left after slicing up in pieces.) Peel and quarter an onion and add that. Add the chili powder.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for a few hours, until the beans are soft. Add more water periodically if you need to.
- Serve these as a soup or just cooked beans as a side dish, as is, or make refried beans from them.
How to Make Refried Beans
If you don’t want a soup, you can make these into refried beans in just a few minutes.
- 3 cups cooked pinto beans
- 2 Tbs bacon grease
Heat up the bacon grease in a frying pan and add a few cups of cooked pinto beans. Mash and cook, until somewhat dried and they have the consistency you like.
Chalupas
To make these into the basis for a meal, fry up some tortillas, leaving them flat. Drain on paper towels.
Chop up some lettuce, shred some cheese, make or open some salsa, slice up some avocados, and pile them all on the crispy tortillas.
I’m not sure how the pork and beans would convert, as they’re much sweeter. If it were me, I might try to rinse the beans off a bit to get rid of the sauce.
I need some recipe help, I have close to a gallon of sweet pork & beans and desire to convert them to refried beans, then subdivide and freeze.
Very new to this, any ideas greatly appreciated
I’m from Louisiana and we make these beans really tasty by adding smoked sausage to them while they are cooking. We serve them over rice or cornbread topped with some fresh chipped up onions and tomato. This makes a complete very filling meal.
My 19 month old son loves bean broth and cottage cheese. I didn’t know what to do with the left over beans. I refried them and my wife, son, and myself love it. I added a little green chille to it to give it a little taste because I used Conola oil. Next time I will save the bacon drippings.
Thank you,
Dave (a summertime Mr. Mom)
My son loves bean broth and cottage cheese. I didn’t know what to do with the left over beans. I refried them and my wife, son, and myself love it. I added a little green chille to it to give it a little taste because I used Conola oil. Next time I will save the bacon drippings. Thank you
The recipe for the pinto beans and directions for turning them into refried beans sound good. I make the refried beans pretty much the same except that I add just a little cinnamon. It works! Try it.
Ellen – these sound really good. My mom used to serve refried beans on occasion, but they were out of a can and never really appealed to me. These look like they’d have a bit more texture! Thanks so much for participating in IMBB 11!
Cathy
Oh, I didn’t know pork and beans has maple syrup and ketchup! The way my mom cooks it has oregano and laurel. But come to think of it, the canned pork and beans are sweet. Perhaps I should try it with the ingredients you mentioned.
These are not sweet like pork and beans. I mean, it IS pork and beans when you get down to it, but without the sweetness of maple syrup, brown sugar, and ketchup (if I’m remembering how to make the pork and beans). These are more savory. And great as leftovers I can now add, since I had them for lunch today, on a leftover tortilla with some cheese, sour cream, and salsa.
Oh, isn’t this almost like the classic pork and beans? Very homey and filling. And one can also build upon it like layer on more spices and tomato sauce. Oh, such possibilities! 🙂
Thanks for leaving a message on my blog. I’ve been a lurker here and I enjoy your recipes.