pinto beans

I'm tooting my own horn right now. Last week I felt like nothing I made was exceptionally successful. In fact, I've delayed some of my sad posts so I don't lose readers to do my lack of encouragement about my kitchen duties last week. But so far this week. . .I'm most proud of myself. OK, I know it's only Tuesday and last night was my first dinner of the work week, but it was good. Even my dad said so. TWICE!

The best thing about this recipe was that I had the enchiladas together in about 16 minutes. The sauce added another 20. (One batch of sauce wasn't enough!), but it was so worth it. Truly a one-pot meal, I put the dinner together at 1400, picked up the kitchen, and left until 1700 when I came back and put it in the oven. After eating, I literally only had Pyrex, dinner plates and forks, and the knife and cutting board for the lettuce to add to the dishwasher afterward. (Thanks to my Mom for cleaning all that up!)

Recipe for Pinto Bean Enchilladas

• 15 medium-sized corn tortillas
• 1 small onion
• 1 small bell pepper
• 1 cup frozen corn kernals
• 2 1/4 cups cooked pinto (Canned beans work, too.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Quarter onions and bell peppers. Chop well in mini food processor. Mine were almost creamed, and that works well, adding significantly more flavor than the usual dicing technique.

Place tortillas on wet paper towel in a tortilla warmer and microwave 1:30 minutes. You should be able to achieve the same effect in a large microwaveable bowl covered with a wet paper towel. Heat one minute and warm additionally if tortillas are not pliable.

Layer one spoonful each of beans, onion and bell pepper mixture, corn, and cheese into tortillas. Roll tightly and lay in Pyrex dish.

Top with canned enchilada sauce or make your own. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Top with shredded lettuce, salsa, and sour cream if you wish.

Recipe for Enchilada Sauce

• 3 packages Savory Choice Concentrated Vegetable Broth
• 3 cups water
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder

Dissolve vegetable broth concentrate in water and whisk in flour. Pour into medium skillet on a medium-high flame stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Add additional flour if necessary. Stir in cumin and chili powder and remove pan from fire. Pour sauce over enchiladas.

Cost Per Person $1.02

About a week ago, Paul cooked us up a big batch of pinto beans. We froze some, had haystacks/taco salads one night, and quesadillas another night. Then we must have had burritos for lunch all week. Don't get me wrong. We like burritos. And the beans were realy good; so, we didn't mind the lack of variety. However, the whole concept inspired me to be a little more creative with an overabundance of beans. In our brainstorming, I came up with the idea to serve chili baked potatoes when my folks came over during the week. The idea went over well, and it spawned the creation of the recipe below. I tried to keep it simple, and would say although it's very good the way it is, there's still a number of ways to change it up. If you are the simpler, don't-confuse-me, indecisive type, stop reading here. (Can you tell I've been reading parenting books?)

1. Add Morningstar Farms Grillers Starters for a chunky, meatier flavor.

2. Don't drain the pinto beans if you're a fan of a juicier chili--or stew!

3. Use Muir Glen Adobo Seasoned canned tomatoes for a hotter base.

4. Mix your beans or choose black over pinto.

5. Make a chili pie with leftovers by scooping chili over Fritos, topping with cheese, and baking.

Recipe for Chili Baked Potatoes

Serves about 6

• 1 can Muir Glen Fire Raosted Tomatoes, chopped slightly in a food processor if your guests don't like chunky tomatoes
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, diced
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 3 cups cooked pinto beans
• 3/4 t ground cumin
• 1/2 t chili powder
• 1 T olive oil
• 6 medium baking potatoes
• Cheese as desired
• Cilantro for garnish

Saute onions in olive oil on medium heat until translucent. May undercook for a stronger flavor. Add garlic and pepper. Stir and cook until just before garlic browns. Add tomatoes, stir, and simmer (until my frozen beans had defrosted enough in the microwave to remove them from their bowl). Sprinkle in cumin and chili powder. Stir in beans, cover, and turn fire to low. Continue to stir occasionally and monitor for 20 minutes or longer (depending on when the potatoes are done).

Spoon chili over potatoes, allow cheese on top as desired. Garnish with cilantro. Salt and hot sauce should be available at the table.

Our best results for baking potatoes in the oven is wrapping them in aluminum foil to keep them from drying out and setting them on the rack in a 450' oven for about an hour. You can also microwave them (max of about 3 at a time), but Paul claims that's technically steaming, not baking.

Thanks to Leann Georgeson, our dear friend from Seattle, for this great recipe idea. She says it's a fine way to mix in lots of nutrients--even spinach--so her son, Jeremy, will eat it. I thought the recipe was smart for keeping burritos from being too boring, and it proves how easy it can be to make the filling go as far as it needs to for however many mouths you are feeding. When you run out of flour tortillas, you can just use the beans as a base for nachos.

Cost to Make Burrito Filling

• $0.79 Organic Fire-roasted Tomatoes (Publix, plus coupon)
• $1.19 Taco Bell Vegetarian Refried Beans(Publix)
• $0.86 Black Beans (Walmart)
• $0.86 Pinto Beans (Walmart)
• $0.25 Corn (Aldi)
• $0.50 Onion (Costco)
• $4.45 Total serves 6-8 persons depending on size of burrito

Recipe for Bean Burritos

• 1 diced onion, sauteed
• 1 can refried beans
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can sweet corn (or frozen bag of equal portion)
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can black beans

Cook onions in a skillet first. Open the cans and add the ingredients, stirring until mixed and warmed through. Place in serving bowl and on dinner table with warmed tortillas to make burritos. Toppings may include but are not limited to, salsa, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, salad greens, and black olives.

Cost Per Person $0.74