Had some green Mexican squash that needed attention so I cut it up into big chunks and put it in with the beans too.

Been working on eating up a rib eye steak the last two nights, and some still left. Had cold thin slices of the steak, blistered snap peas, and fresh tomato slices with home made ranch dressing. A pack of seaweed as a snack. Not real hungry with the heat up.

Decided to add corkscrew pasta as well.
This is a really good combination but the squash was a little over cooked due to adding pasta later.
Things happen.

Adding salt to the bean soaking water and cooking them in the Knorr chicken bullion powder was a real game changer.
The fish came out good too plus the potato salad as well.

Wedge Salad. Homemade blue cheese dressing. HEB had about 8 or 9 brands of different blue cheese. I started to get the Maytag blue cheese , but at $25/# I took a pass. Anyhow, Boar’s Head blue cheese was 1/2 as much and super good. Dressing was sour cream (Daisy), mayonnaise (Hellmann’s), lemon juice, fresh parsley, salt and pepper, plus a little milk to thin the dressing.

I used my garden cherry tomatoes, mostly coyote, a few sungold, and the wife went with the store bought extra, extra firm greenhouse tomato. Daily’s applewood smoked Bacon, green onion tops, delicious.

I buy the cheapest HEB brand blue cheese I can find.

Chicken wings, drumettes and wingettes separated, on the menu for tonight, likely baked out on the BGE…served with the leftover blue cheese dressing. Sliced carrots, celery and maybe a sliced up cucumber will be the sides. The hot off the grill wings get tossed with Frank’s Hot Sauce, melted butter and honey.

More and the last of the beans and potato salad for tonight.
Fried fish sandwich for lunch.
Hot link kosher dill pickles and yellow mustard for breakfast.

I'm being forced by fork point to cook one of my frozen pichania steaks for supper.
Probably have a couple of small baked potatoes to go with it.
Beans on the sidelines for an experimental refried beans.
It either will or it won't work out.
Nothing to lose everything to gain.

Pichania with chili powder potato and roasted spreading onion.

This was more of a late lunch (by the time I got around to it!), but I'll have some more tater, for sure! I started it last night - a bean salad, which I soaked 1 1/2 c dark red kidney beans around 6 hrs, using a little baking soda, then drained, and rinsed them, and put them in the IP. I put about 2/3c of rinsed freekeh in the pot, along with 5 c water, 2 black cardamom, and 1½ tsp of salt. I put the lid on, then set it to cook on Bean mode, for 18 min, and let the pressure release naturally. I drained I, let it cool, then put it in the fridge overnight, with about 2 qts of halved cherry tomatoes I had salted, and drained, while getting the beans ready.

Today, I got all those scrap beans I had left from the pickling, and trimmed and cut them to about 3/4", along with some extras, to make about 3 c, then I steamed them, and rinsed and drained. Then I cut up about a cup of garlic chives, about 3/4 c cilantro, and minced some peppers -, an Aji Dulce, a Red Savina, and 2 Datil, and diced up some pepper jack cheese (usually use feta, but out of that, which rarely happens!), and added about 2/3 c slivered almonds. Then added 4 oz EVOO, and 3 oz red wine vinegar, and about 3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper, and folded all this together, and tasted for seasoning. Could have put another red savina in it, but someone else is having some tomorrow, to I left it as is. I had to mix this in the 8 qt bowl, then put it back in the 4 qt bowl, filling to the top!
Almost 2 qts of halved tomatoes, for the bean salad. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Bean salad, with several fresh beans and kidney beans. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished bean salad. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Started off the holiday weekend right Friday night.
Opened up a can of Wolf Brand Chili no beans doctored it up and had it with crackers.

I bought some pre made tostadas but I'm making some too.
Out of extra thin soft yellow Mission brand corn tortillas.
The cooking oil is leftover from fried chicken and catfish.
They should have an excellent flavor.

The pinto beans I made last week with additional things like jalapeno peppers potato squash onion bacon corkscrew pasta and so on were turned into refried beans.
Placed on homemade tostada with Sriracha sauce on top.
Excellent noon day meal.

Yes there are recipes out there but in reality true Mexican and other food ways are what you have on hand so you don't waste and feed a family.
This is an excellent example in my opinion.

About 3 days ago I put 1 cup of dry mayocoba beans in a sandwich bag with salted water.
The beans sucked up all the water.
I rinsed the beans and proceeded to make charro beans my way.
Just using what I have.
No fresh peppers so in went pickled jalapenos along with the carrots that come with them.
Other ingredients are...
Crushed whole garlic cloves.
A tablespoon of bacon fat.
Garlic powder.
Cumin seeds crushed.
Cumin powder.
5 whole allspice crushed up.
One whole tomato.
One white onion.
Two Morita peppers cut up.
Ground black pepper.
Knorr tomato chicken bullion powder.
Meaty bacon without any fat chopped up finely.
1 HEB red skin hot link diced up.
1 Slovacek brand hot link sausage diced up.
1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped.
Herbs de provence because it was within reach.
The Mexican charro beans have regular hot dogs in them and and seemingly always pinto beans they are better with better ingredients in my opinion.
And yes I like cumin so I use it a lot.
No fancy browning or searing just tossed everything in and started the cooking process.
Diced avocado later.

The last ingredients and the reason why.
About 6 ground cloves.
1 teaspoon or so of Chinese 5 spice powder.
About 2 tablespoons of sweet paprika.
Yes 5 spice powder and paprika.
Reason.
Many Mexicans use chorizo in their charro beans.
Chorizo has many if not all of the same ingredients in it more or less depending on who makes it.
My 5 spice powder has anise ginger cinnamon fennel and black pepper.
The vinegar that is normally in chorizo came from the pickled jalapenos and carrots.

Deluxe spicy charro beans.

Not cooking it, but I am eating it! Left over chocolate birthday cake with peanut butter frosting that my sister made for me. It is AWESOME, lol.

Wow, that is completely amazing!

I am very lucky. It tastes even better than it looks.

Sue_CT wrote: ↑Sun Sep 03, 2023 2:33 pm Not cooking it, but I am eating it! Left over chocolate birthday cake with peanut butter frosting that my sister made for me. It is AWESOME, lol.

Just "awesome"???
That all ya got, Sue? Is your sister single? Asking for a friend..