Missy asked me, in a thread about her wayward son, to post my bean recipe, which I am more than happy to do. I want to call out to other Deepwell cooks, and those of you from beyond Deepwell who have discovered our quiet burg due to the Bizarre Bequest, as Ida May and I have taken to calling it, and ask you to respond along with your favorite recipes.
These beans hearken back to my grandmother’s Mexican upbringing and Ida May and I enjoy them often. They just couldn’t be simpler…
2 lbs pinto beans, washed
1 onion, chopped
1 lb salt pork, chopped
sliced jalapenos, to taste
cilantro, to taste
Add all ingredients to a large stockpot, cover with water, and bring to a rolling boil. Make sure your water covers everything. Cook for several hours until the beans are soft enough for your liking. You can cook on low overnight and have beans for breakfast! Works in a slow cooker. These also freeze very well. Like I said, really easy and very versatile.
To refry:
You can either “cheat” and use canned pinto beans or start from scratch, using the recipe above, but omitting the salt pork (it will make them too salty).
Get about 3 tablespoons of bacon grease hot in a skillet. Bacon grease! Don’t you dare use olive oil or anything else healthy! Add either 2 cans of beans (with liquid) or about 4 cups of beans. Use a potato masher or the back of a serving spoon to mash the beans as they continue to cook over medium-high heat. They will become glossy and turn into the consistency of mashed potatoes when they’re done. Don’t salt until they’re almost totally finished, since the salt will intensify as they cook down.
We use the refrieds to stuff tamales at Christmastime, but they’re also good just by themselves or on nachos or even as a dip.
Here’s one of my favorite and easiest to make recipes. I look forward to trying your bean recipe meelliesue. Thanks for sharing it.
PECAN PIE
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup pecans
3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1 frozen pie crust shell (regular size not deep dish)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix butter, eggs, sugar, salt and syrup with hand mixer. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie crust shell. Bake for 40-50 minutes @ 375 degrees.
Yum! Thanks Meelie. And Tresbien, I adore pecan pie! I can’t wait to try that one too.
I never claimed to be a great cook, (Steve would vouch for that!!) but I just can’t resist sharing my favorite recipe:
BUSY NIGHT CHICKEN & RICE
1-10 3/4 oz. can condensed cream of chicken soup, cream of celery, or cream of mushroom (mushroom is the best)
1/2 C. water
1/2 C. uncooked brown rice
Pince of garlic power or garlic salt
Ground black pepper to taste
1/2 little pkt. Lipton onion soup mix
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Poultry Seasoning
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix together soup, water, brown rice, garlic power, black pepper, and onion soup. Pour into bottom of 9×9″ baking dish. Trim fat off chicken, rinse; place over the soup mixture and sprinkle with poultry seasoning. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Serve with green veggie or salad.
1 Emmpty #10 can form the dumpster buhind Dina’s Diner
3# beyond sell-by date grond meat from behind the Safeway
3 boxes of dollar day maccaroni at the Piggley-Wiggley
3 cans dollar day condenced tomato soup at the Piggley-Wiggley
Salt and peper to tate (packets form the McDalnds)
pick a river bridge upsteam from Deepwell to shild fire
Throw a log on the fire
Wash out out the #10 in the river
Brown the meat
Put in the soup ad marraroni
simmer for 30 min, stirrring with a de-barked oak stik. Add some river water if it get too thinck.
feeds 15 homeless under the bridge the bridge
I suppose we could call kerrekj’s post a recipe for disaster (no, I’m not laughing). Aside from the potential for food poisoning, no one in a society as rich as ours should have to grope through dumpsters to find food. This is not right. Does Deepwell have a food bank or meal service of any kind? Is there any place that caring needs to begin more than addressing the hunger issue? Let’s look at some solutions friends of Deepwell!
Here’s some information about Feeding America, formerly called Second Harvest, and its nationwide network of food banks: http://feedingamerica.org/
And here’s the website for World Hunger Year, which has a hotline to help those in need of nutritious food and a databank of programs that can be replicated in Deepwell and similar communities: http://www.yhunger.org/
This situation has been on my mind, and I have a couple of thoughts about it. I suspect that some of the homeless people kerrekj mentions could use help applying for food stamps or other aid. Perhaps the library and its patrons could organize a help session?
While I live in a city, I can tell you that not all services to help people are large. Many churches sponsor a person or family and set aside shelter space for them. They make a good start on food needs by asking members to bring a can of food each time they attend services (it’s simple to put a box for this right inside the door). At one of the small shelters I know about, people sign up to bring a full meal or an entree.
Homelessness is a problem that is usually over looked in a society, so I am actually happy to see it being addressed here.
One possible solution is called “Donor Homes”, where residents open up the doors of their own home to those in need of a place to stay.
A good majority of the homeless don’t have an address, so when they go apply for a job they can’t get one. This option provides an address, a shower, a place to sleep, a place to eat and the comfort of knowing that someone cares – which is all we ever really want in the first place.
There are rules in place, of course. Time limits are set for how long someone has to get a job, etc.
I think that this is a very viable option since it will show that the whole city cares. Some people could provide the shelter, other people could provide the food, others could provide the jobs while others could provide other services such as the mental ones.
Okay, that’s my 2 cents.
The community services agency in my town make a distinction, as far as food, between the poor and the homeless/destitute. The first might have a stove and an ice box. The second have to have food they can eat straight from the package. (Fresh fruits and veggies come “packaged”.)
They are also lucky. All the “farmer’s markets” are different days. We are on the last day of the cycle. Rather than take things back which aren’t going to last the next cycle, the farmers give them all to the community services agency before they start for home.
Here’s a simple recipe that I like to make from time to time!
Steak Fried Rice
1-2 pkg of steak chunks (already cut up for stir fry)
1 c of white rice ( I use boil in a bag kind- fast & easy clean up)
2 eggs
Soy Sauce (approx 1/4 c, but use your own judgement!!)
2 tbsp oil
In an pot boil some water. Add boil in a bag rice (follow instructions on box). In an electric skillet heat (400 deg) heat oil and brown steak chunks, until cooked to your consistency. Add rice and crack the eggs in skillet. Mix all together. Add soy sauce to your liking! Serves 3-4, enjoy!
I also know that some places will run food drives by offering certain things in exchange for a specific amount of donation (i.e 5 canned goods will get you 15% off in the boutique, or free admission to the theater, etc)