Refried Beans

Beans are a great, cheap, nutritious food. My boys, however, act like they are allergic to beans - even though they ate them when they were little. At a certain point, we noticed that whenever we went out to eat, they would quickly devour bean dip with tortilla chips, even as they disdained the same beans which appeared on their plates next to the rice. Go figure. So the obvious solution was to make my own bean dip, a/k/a Frijoles Refritos, or refried beans.

Now, I know some of you like to soak dried beans and cook them all day, but I needed something that was quicker and took less preparation. After googling some recipes and a little experimenting, I came up with this:

Garlicky Refried Beans

2 cans pinto beans
3 T fat or oil (olive oil, coconut oil, lard, bacon grease, etc.)
1 or 2 cloves pressed garlic
1/2 t. onion powder
dash or two of cayenne powder (red pepper)
1/2 t. cumin (optional)
1 t. coriander  (optional)
dash or two of black pepper

salt to taste, about 1 1/2 t.
squeeze of lime juice (2 t. )

Open cans and drain the beans, reserving the liquid. Heat the oil in a cast-iron skillet or your
favorite frying pan. Add garlic and saute for just a minute, until it barely starts to brown. Dump in the beans, spices, salt, and 2 T. of the reserved bean juice. Cook on medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the beans look hot and you have had a chance to find your potato masher in the drawer. Reduce heat and mash up the beans until fairly smooth. Add as much bean juice as you need to reach the desired consistency, keeping in mind that the bean dip will thicken as it cools. I usually find that the liquid from one can of beans is just right. Add some lime juice. Stir it all up real good, scraping the bottom of the pan; and serve warm with tortilla chips.

A couple notes:
- You can use black beans instead of pinto.
- If you are not fond of garlic, skip the fresh garlic and add 1/2 t. of garlic powder instead.
- On the other hand, if you prefer your beans oniony, sautee fresh minced onion in oil instead of (or in addition to) the garlic. Adjust amounts of onion powder and garlic powder accordingly. Dried onion flakes will work as well.

Play with the amounts and kinds of spices until you find a blend that you and your family love. Yum!

Irish Soda Bread

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My friend Julie over at Mommie Cooks posted this yummy-looking recipe for Irish Soda Bread, so I decided to try it. Our family is spending a couple weeks eliminating dairy (milk) from our diets, so I made a couple of modifications to the recipe:

- Rice milk instead of buttermilk (added a tablespoon of lemon juice and let it sit while I mixed up the dry ingredients).
- Instead of 4T melted butter, 2T each olive oil and coconut oil (warmed slightly).

I also substituted one cup of whole wheat flour for white and nixed the caraway seeds, because I hate, hate, hate them.

The bread was easy to make and all my boys loved it - and asked for seconds!

Dairy-free Cornbread

When I want to make really awesome cornbread, I use Patsy Watkin's Rocking Cornbread recipe, which I cut out of the newspaper several years ago. It involves melting butter on the stove in a cast-iron skillet, adding the ingredients including buttermilk, then baking it in the oven. You can add corn, cheese, and jalapenos if you like, and it's really, really good.

However, when we want something easier to assemble, dairy-free, and just pretty good, I use this recipe:

Beat together:
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cups rice, almond, or soy milk (or other milk substitute; or you could just use milk if you don't need it to be dairy-free)

Then add:
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 cups flour
6 T. sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt

Bake in a 9" square pan at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

You can fiddle a bit with this recipe and it will still come out well. I've used whole wheat pastry flour when I was out of white four; and more white flour when I was out of cornmeal. Just make sure you use a total of 3 cups flour with approximately half of that being cornmeal. If anyone tries this recipe with gluten-free flour, let me know how it turns out!

Hot Cocoa

My boys love hot cocoa. In fact, sometimes I think they go out to play in the snow just so they can come in and demand cocoa. But have you ever read the ingredients on a packet of store-bought cocoa? Yuck! Instead, I make my own dry mix in a big batch and just add it to hot water as needed.

My basic recipe is:
3 cups non-fat powdered milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
dash of salt

I use 4 tablespoons of mix for every 8 oz of water.  You can punch it up with vanilla extract, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips (or grated chocolate if you want to get fancy), peppermint or peppermint flavoring, cinnamon, etc. And don't forget the marshmallows!

Easy Black Bean Chili

My new secret to making yummy home-cooked meals is to open some cans, season appropriately, and throw in the crockpot for a couple hours. Seriously, I get raves on my beans & rice, and I feel guilty because it's just three cans and a cup of dried rice.

Anyhow, here's my black bean chili recipe:

1/2 to 1 lb. ground beef, browned (can sub ground turkey, TVP, etc.)
1 can diced tomatoes
1-2 cans black beans
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp lime juice
dash or two of red (cayenne) pepper
optional:  1 can whole kernel corn

Combine all the ingredients in a pot or crockpot and turn on high until it is simmering; then reduce heat and simmer on low. In my opinion, it needs to simmer for at least 30 minutes, and an hour is best. If you put it in a slow cooker, it may take an hour or more to get hot enough to simmer, so keep that in mind. But if you are in a hurry, do it on the stove and you can be eating chili in under 45 minutes.

Top with grated cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips - whatever you like.

If you like stronger onion or garlic flavors in your food, use fresh instead of dried ingredients and put it in with the meat when you brown it. You can also adjust the red pepper if you like your food spicy. Use a whole pound of meat if you like your chili meaty, and two cans of beans instead of one if you like it beany (or are thrifty).

For you vegetarians - I once made this chili without the meat when we had company for dinner, and my husband never even noticed that it was veggie.

How to Bake A Potato

When I need to bake a potato, I consult the aptly named howtobakeapotato.com.

Granola

Granola is easy to make, yummy, and good for you, too. I got this recipe from my mother-in-law, and my boys love it. Eat it with milk or sprinkle on top of yogurt. Throw in some nuts and chocolate chips and it makes a good trail mix, too. Put it in a cup, though - it doesn't clump up. You can customize this recipe to your family's taste.

Barb's Granola

Mix in a large bowl:
6 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned, not quick)
3 cups Grapenuts (we use store brand)

And as many as you like of the following, between 1/2 and 1 1/2 cups each:
shredded coconut (we use unsweetened)
sesame seeds
sunflower seeds
sliced or slivered almonds
raisins or dried fruit bits
sunflower seeds
ground flax seed meal
wheat germ

Combine, heat, and pour over the ingredients: (I microwave on high for about 2 minutes but you can heat in a pan.)
1/2 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
3/4 cup honey
1 T vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt

Stir well and spread out in two 9x13 pans (or one large sheet pan). Bake  @ 350 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Let cool, and enjoy!