OLE!

Tomorrow being Cinco de Mayo, I thought I'd post these recipes for beans and rice that we've really been enjoying lately. Easy. Delicious. Great food storage recipe too. I got and modified these from allrecipes.com.

This makes a lot of beans, and I love having the leftovers. I like the beans unmashed as well. Great for use in huevos rancheros, tacos, or even just beans and rice plain. So yummy.

Refried Beans Without the Refry

Original Recipe Yield 15 servings

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded (if desired) and chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 5 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
• 9 cups water/ chicken stock

Directions

1. Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.
3. Or leave whole and eat with Mexican rice as a meal. Works in huevos rancheros, anything really.
4. Optionally also, mash and refry with cheese, etc.

Mexican Rice

I have started doubling this recipe to have enough leftover to use with all the beans. This has lots of flavor.

Original Recipe Yield 8 servings

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2/3 cup diced onion
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper (or a mixture of colored peppers)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon powdered saffron (optional)
• 3 cups water

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, heat vegetable oil over a medium-low heat. Place the onions in the pan, and saute until golden.
2. Add rice to pan, and stir to coat grains with oil. Mix in green bell pepper, cumin, chili powder, tomato sauce, salt, garlic, saffron, and water. Cover, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until rice is tender. Stir occasionally.
3. OR, cook and combine ingredients and cook in pressure cooker with suggested amount of water for the cooker.