Homemade Refried Beans

Beans, beans...the magical fruit! Yes indeed, I'm a bean enthusiast! If there's a recipe where I can swap beans for animal protein I almost always make the change. Not only are beans full of fiber and nutrients, but pound-for-pound they're typically less expensive than meat or poultry.

For today's Home Day I wanted to make a Taco Casserole (recipe to follow in another post) in which I envisioned refried beans adding a silky texture that I knew would be perfect layered with crunchy tortilla chips. What my vision did not include was a can opener! I promise once you make your own refried beans you'll never look back to that mush in a can. The process is a little time-consuming, which makes it perfect for Home Day!

Below is my version of refried beans. This is one of those recipes that's really hard to write down because it changes a little each time I make it. So, if you have questions please ask in the comments!

Refried Beans

1 lb. dried pinto or red kidney beans
1 medium onion - finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper - finely chopped
3 stalks celery - finely chopped
Vegetable or Canola oil
Seasonings - I use Adobo, black pepper, onion powder and cumin. 
Water

1. Rinse the beans, removing any small stones or dried out beans, add to a large soup pot or dutch oven. Add 10 cups of hot water and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 2-3 minutes, turn off heat and allow beans to sit, covered tightly, for 1-3 hours.
2. After soaking, drain water from the beans and return them to the pot.
3. Add fresh water (enough to cover with a 1/4 inch extra) and herbs and seasonings of your choice. Avoid adding acidic products (vinegar, tomatoes) and salt. I use cumin and onion powder.
4. Bring the beans and water to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are very tender (about an hour) Add water if necessary. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid, and put to the side when done.
5. Rinse and dry the pot, and return to the stove. Add 1/4 inch of oil to the pot and heat over medium-high.
6. Add onion, pepper and celery to the oil. Saute until onion in translucent and veggies are soft, about 5 minutes. Add seasonings of your choice, I use generous scoops of Adobo, cumin and black pepper.
7. Add beans to the pot and very quickly begin stirring. At this point you want about half of the beans to break down into "mush" so I use a potato masher in addition to my wooden spoon. Add the reserved cooking liquid (or plain water or chicken stock) to achieve the desired consistency.
8. When the beans have the consistency you are looking for, remove them to a bowl and enjoy! My favorite uses are as a filling for burritos or tacos, or simply by themselves as a side dish.


Cheers!

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Slow Cooker Lasagna

We are a family that sits down to dinner almost every night, so using my day at home to cook is not really a stretch for me. What is a stretch, though, is adding new recipes to our meal rotation. I have a tendency to cook the same, simple meals over and over, while continuing to add cookbooks to my collection and pin countless links to my "Recipes to Try" Pinterest board. So here's my challenge to myself: prepare one new dish each week and share the recipe and results here.

Confession: I love my slow cooker, but lasagna in the crock pot has never made sense to me. Why on earth would you need a slow cooker when it's a dish so easily prepared in the oven? So this week I decided to try this Italian favorite, prepared in a new and (not-so) exciting way.
 Pros: 

• The preparation took exactly the same time as traditional, oven-baked lasagna. Same process, same ingredients, different pan.
• Using the Crock Pot meant I didn't have to be home to put the lasagna in the oven. Not an issue on Home Day but definitely important on a normal day.
• My sauce is delicious (which I already knew!) and the extra veggies add some extra nutrition.

Cons:

• The noodles seemed softer than normal, but not bad at all. I generally cook my noodles before making oven-baked lasagna, so maybe this happens every time you use uncooked noodles? Mine was done after 4 hours on low, the Crock Pot I used runs a bit hot.
• The presentation is okay, but it's hard to beat a glorious 9 x 13 pan of lasagna, all bubbly and browned on top.

The Verdict: I will definitely make this again if I need a slow cooker meal, but otherwise I'll probably stick to the oven!

Slow Cooker Lasagna
Recipe Adapted from Betty Crocker

• 1 lb. ground pork sausage (I buy local and recommend that you look into locally-sourced, organic, humanely grown meats...but that's another post!)
• 1 medium onion - chopped
• 1 red bell pepper - chopped (could use green pepper)
• 1 stalk celery - chopped
• 1 medium zucchini - coarsely grated
• 1 carrot - peeled and coarsely grated
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce (I usually make my own, but this time used Francesco Rinaldi Tomato & Basil)
• 1/4 c. Italian Seasoning - divided
• 1 c. water
• 15 oz. part-skim Ricotta cheese
• 2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese - divided
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 T. red pepper flakes (optional)
• 9 lasagna noodles - uncooked

1. Cook sausage and vegetables in a skillet or large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink and the onion, celery & pepper are softened; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce, water and half of the Italian Seasoning.
 2. Mix the ricotta, parmesan and 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella cheese with the egg. Add the remaining Italian Seasoning and red pepper flakes to the cheese mixture.
3.  Spoon one-fourth of the sausage mixture into your slow cooker (Note: I used my 4-Quart Round); top with 3 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. Spread with half of the cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with 3 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining sausage mixture.
4. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender and excess liquid is absorbed. 
5. Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover and let stand about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

© It's Home Day!. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.