Mexican Style Pinto Beans
Makes About 6 Servings
3 cups dried pinto beans (soaked, drained, rinsed, and cooked)
15 cups water
1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (drained)
1 4 oz. can diced green chilies
sea salt (to taste)
cumin or other mexican spices (to taste)
cilantro (must have in my dish, but really it's optional)
lime (optional garnish)
avocado, cubed or chopped (optional garnish)
After your beans are cooked and starting to get soft, add some salt and the chopped onion and simmer until the onions are nearly tender. Next add the diced tomatoes, green chilies, and cumin (I usually start with a couple of teaspoons and then taste). Heat through and then serve with any garnishes. I just love the lime, cilantro, and avocado, but now that I've had the cultured sour cream I try to find more things to use it on because it's so good and good for you!
Be sure to watch that your water doesn't evaporate completely out of the pot. More than once, I've gotten busy and wasn't paying attention only to find a burnt mess in the pot instead! If you cook these without the lid and your beans are fresh enough, the water should cook down to a nice bean broth by the time the beans are tender.
Tip: Make extra beans when soaking and use some for another meal later in the week. They make great fillers for soups, casseroles, and side dishes. Or you can make refried beans with the extras!
I would estimate this meal (with all the condiments) didn't cost more than $6 and we had a little bit of leftovers, too! Pretty kind to the budget, don't you think?
 |
| This post was added to Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS™. |
I'm a huge fan of beans, pintos being my favourite type. I'm going to give this a try, it will be perfect for my vegetarian Mom when she visits in a couple of weeks. I'm off to soak beans now!
ReplyDeleteI love beans. I need to start making more since it is so easy on the budget.
ReplyDeleteAn easy recipe I'll definitely have to try! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds delicious, I'll have to give that a try.
ReplyDeleteHow neat, I just posted a recipe for Mexican cornbread on my blog. Perfect to go with your beans! :)
ReplyDeletehttp://heritageacreshomestead.blogspot.com/2011/04/momas-mexican-cornbread.html
First of all that bean dish looks delicious and secondly I did not know there was a book on how to prepare dried beans. This has been an issue that I struggled with. I would love to check that book out. I love beans but the canned ones from the store are so processed and over-salted. I have stocked the freezer with a variety of dried beans in hopes of learning. The best I did was soaking overnight in very cold water and cooking in a crock pot all day! They were the best.
ReplyDeleteDidjaknow that canned beans are much higher on the glycemic index than dried beans freshly cooked up? That makes is much easier for me to take the extra step of soaking and cooking dried beans. Not to mention that dried beans are much cheaper and keep well.
ReplyDeleteYour recipe is just like mine, only we usually use red onions ;) And cilantro is a staple herb in our home! We usually cook up 2# of beans at a time and freeze leftovers in gallon sized ziploc bags for easy later meals.
some delicious looking beans.....My precious mom always cooked the best beans ever....One of her secrets was that you NEVER add any water that is not boiling hot.
ReplyDeleteI do want to try this recipe.......
Thanks for sharing...
shug
Love this post. I'll have to give this recipe a try. I cooked a huge pot of beans earlier today and was able to put nine quarts in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteYum! On the to-do list for the weekend! We eat them with just about anything and I want to get away from the ones from a can. Thanks for the kick in the pants I needed!
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather back in the 1970's ate pinto beans like this except he would add lettuce! Yummy!
ReplyDeleteTerri/Southeastern AZ