Clean Refried Beans

I love refried beans..... I love them alone, in a tortilla, to dip things in, in a casserole.... the list goes on. So I was excited to try making them from scratch with all natural ingredients.  



Clean Refried Beans

Clean Refried Beans

Adapted from Pennies & Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs pinto beans

1 large onion, chopped

4 Tbsp. jarred minced garlic

2 1/2 Tbsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp cayenne

10 cups hot water

Directions:

Rinse the beans in a colander. Pick out any bad beans.

Combine all the ingredients in the crockpot. Remove any floating beans. Cover, and cook on HIGH for 4 hours and on LOW for 2 hours.

Uncover, and remove extra liquid. Leave enough liquid to reach the desired consistency when the beans are mashed. (We like our beans somewhere between the very-liquidy restaurant style beans, and the canned version of refried beans.)

Mash beans with a potato masher to desired consistency. 

Serve warm. Store in air-tight containers in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks, or freeze in ziplock bags for later use.

So, now for my review..... VERY easy, VERY inexpensive.... however, they weren't as delicious as I hoped :(  There was just something about the flavor, or lack there of that wasn't what I had hoped.... Don't get me wrong, they are good, they just seem to be missing something.... any suggestions??

Italian Hot Pockets

That creative name to hours to come up with.... Ha!  I need someone else to name things :)

Anywho... last night I made these "hot pockets" for dinner.  

I used this Whole Wheat Biscuit recipe as the "pocket".... I cut out the biscuits and stretched them out a bit, then filled them with brown ground beef (seasoned with basil, oregano, garlic, onion, and some pureed tomato) topped with grated cheese, folded them over, and baked them at 450 for 10 minutes.  Viola!  Everyone loved them, and they were fairly easy, and quick!  

If you haven't tried the biscuit recipe yet, you must... they are pretty fool proof, and so versatile!  We use them for Breakfast with butter and honey, or cream cheese.... for lunch with a little Peanut butter... or for dinner along side a soup (or as the main dish in this case!)

Delicious, Quick, and EASY Whole Wheat Biscuits.

I know I said I was making these tomorrow, along with whole wheat tortillas, and possibly french bread... but I had some spare time this afternoon before my class so I thought I would give it a shot.

First off, I started around 3:20, it's now 3:50, and aside from the last batch in the oven, they are done, mess cleaned up and everything.  Not bad.

Secondly, they are delicious!  YUM!  I have to confess, I have eaten 2 already, they are that good.

To start you mix all the dry ingredients together, and then grate the butter into them.... kind of resembles mozzarella cheese...  :)

Cut the butter into the dry mixture, then add the milk, mix and knead.  Turn if out onto a cutting board or counter, and flatten as eavenly as possible.  Use a drinking glass, or something round (or shaped cookie cutters) to cut out the biscuits.  I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup, so I ended up with 35 biscuits (I made a double batch).  Using a drinking glass should give you 10 in a single batch.

Then bake them for 10 minutes (or until golden) at 450 degrees.

Like I said, I doubled the recipe and have 35 biscuits, so I will be freezing about half of those.  Using the others for dinner tonight, and lunches tomorrow.... if I don't eat them all!  Next time I think I will use a bigger cutting utensil, because I would like to use the biscuits to make breakfast egg sandwiches!

Whole Wheat Biscuits

Adapted from 100daysofrealfood.com 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole wheat organic flour)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup milk (any kind)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with whisk or fork.
2. Grate the butter into the flour mixture.
3. Using a fork, try to mash the butter pieces as you mix it together with the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. It is okay if the outcome just looks like the pieces of butter covered with flour.
4. Then pour in the milk and mix it all together. Knead the dough with your hands 8 to 10 times and then turn out onto a counter or cutting board.
5. Pat it out flat with your hands until the dough is a somewhat even ¾-inch thickness (sprinkle with a little flour if necessary).
6. Turn a drinking glass upside down and cut out biscuit rounds. 
7. Then put them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
   Enjoy!

Chicken.....No fancy name..and a hodge podge of other random food.

Just chicken.... I made it up, so I don't have a fun catchy name for it!  I was at a loss yesterday and just started throwing things in the crock pot....

8 Chicken breast tenderloins (frozen)
2 cups of pureed tomato (I added a chopped up de-seeded jalapeno before pureeing)
minced garlic
minced onion
Cumin
Cayenne Pepper

Threw it all in the crock pot and let it cook for about 5-6 hours, then I added 2 cups of corn kernels, and 2 cups of pinto beans, and let it cook on low for another hour or so.

I served it over brown rice, everyone loved it! Quick and easy!

My to do list this week included making whole wheat biscuits  and whole wheat tortillas from scratch.... and MAYBE attempting whole wheat french bread... I have to stay home and wait for the cable guy Thursday, so that is probably when I will get to this list...

Speaking of whole wheat bread... I make whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread last week.  It was "ok".  I need to work on the recipe, it was a bit dry, and a little bland.  But if I toast it and put pb or cream cheese on it, it's a good breakfast. Andrew likes it, Kate doesn't like raisins, so I didn't bother, lol!

Here is the recipe I used, and this is for a bread machine...

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
(adapted from 100daysofrealfood.com)

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups whole-wheat flour
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• ½ cup oil 
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 1 cup raisins

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Follow your bread machine’s directions for making a whole-wheat raisin loaf. 

There you have it... it's a combination of 100daysofrealfood.com's recipe, and my bread machines recipe, I just need to figure out how to make it come out moister....

Sorry, I have zero pictures for any of this stuff today!  Slacker!

OH!  I will also be trying a faux "Ice cream"...Peanut butter and banana's, yum! Thank you Kristen for trying it and recommending it! Review to come!