Pinto beans..not just for chili. Who knew! (recipes enclosed)

I eat dried beans.  I do.  Usually in something.  Usually in Hispanic cooking; but I rarely eat them just by themselves.  That is until last night.  Oh my!

A couple of weeks ago I cooked a ham in the crock pot.  Turned out great!  The meat we used for dinner that night, and subsequent lunches and breakfasts thru the week that followed.  The fat was taken off and given to the chickens.  They love that stuff!  It's funny to watch them when they get something they love.  It's like watching chicken football.  They grab a piece and run to a corner somewhere trying to play keep away from the other chickens who are convinced they only want the piece of meat another chicken has.  Anyway, I digress.

So after all of those uses, I still had these wonderful juices from cooking the ham in the crock pot.  So I did what any other sane person would do.  I stained out the broth and placed it in a container to let it cool and solidify the fat that would rise to the top.  It did, and I pulled out the fat and put it in a jar.  That will be for the dog treats.  That recipe calls for 1/3 cup of oil.  I'll use the ham fat to replace that.  The dogs won't complain.  The broth I stored in the freezer until yesterday.

I've cooked dried beans before with a ham bone, and while it added some flavor, it wasn't much different than water to me.  But because people cook beans with ham, I decided to cook these in the ham broth.  I cooked 2 lbs of beans.  I had about 4 cups of broth, so I added enough extra water to cover the beans.  That broth was pretty concentrated anyway.  Then I let the beans slow cook on the back of my stove...all day.  This made a big pot of beans; about a full dutch oven's worth.  We didn't eat nearly what was cooked.

Yesterday was a baking day.  I made loaf bread, bagels, and granola.  Since I was baking anyway, I used up some cornmeal and made two pans of cornbread; one was for dinner, and one was for the freezer.

I liked these beans so much, I'm using some of the leftover beans for re-fried beans today.

Re-fried Beans 

1 quart of cooked pinto beans with the broth
1 quarter of a large onion, finely chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
Olive oil or Lard

Heat a little oil or lard in a skillet,  I use a cast iron skillet, but any will be fine.  Once oil is hot, add your onion and garlic.  Saute until they start to brown.  Then add your pinto beans with the both.  Add a little water if you need to in order to make it soupy.  Let it simmer for a bit.  I've let mine simmer about a hour.  The beans should thicken up as they simmer and the water cooks off.

Now I just mash mine up in the pan and don't use additional oil for frying, but if you want to, you can heat another skillet, add some oil, and mash your beans up as they fry in the skillet. 

I just mash mine in the skillet where they are.  This keeps some of the fat and calories out, and also keeps dishes used down to a minimum.

Can't have re-fried beans without tortillas so here ya go!

Flour Tortillas

4 cups all purpose flour
1 ts salt
1/4 ts baking powder
1.4 Cup of lard or softened butter
1 cup ( plus up to 2 TBS ) warm water

Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Cut in the lard/butter (I used Lard).  Add the water little by little, tossing to mix.  If you need to add the extra 2 TBS of warm water, you can, but do it a little at a time.  You want the dough to stick together, but not be real sticky.  You'll add water, toss, add water, toss, until the dough forms a ball.  Just until the dough forms a ball.  Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces and shape them into a ball.  Cover them and let rest for 15 minutes.  Once 15 minutes have past, take each ball and, on a floured work surface;  flatten it with the palm of your hand.  It should be about 3 inches in diameter.  Once you've flattened each ball, start with the first ball you flattened and roll it thin, about 1/8th inch thick. Repeat this process with all 16 tortillas.  I stacked mine loosely on a plate.  Heat a skillet well on low-med heat.  Add a little oil or lard.  You should only have to do this once.  Fry each tortilla 1-2 minutes each side.  When you see little brown spots on the cooking side, it will be time to flip it to cook the next.  As each tortilla is completed, remove and put on a plate and keep covered by a towel.  Makes 16 tortillas.

Here's a pic of the finished product.  I had to take these out of hubbys lunch, as these were the last ones!  So, sorry the pic isn't great.