I love Mexican food, and there is no better excuse for eating it than the 5th of May. There is a common misconception in the US that Cinco de Mayo is the Mexican independence day which is actually celebrated on September 16th. Cinso de Mayo actually celebrates the Mexican victory over French troops at the battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. As I said though, it is just a wonderful reason to thank Mexico for their delicious food and celebrate when spring actually comes to the East Coast. It also happens to be my husbands, and my father-in-law’s birthday. It’s really just a wonderful and special day for me overall.
In case you want to celebrate I have a few recipes for you to choose from, or build a buffet of this holiday. Happy Cinco de Mayo and I hope the day is beautiful.
Something many people struggle with is what to make for dinner, and what to do with leftovers. I have an answer for both! I personally love leftovers and love turning them into something new for dinner. One of my favorite leftovers is refried beans. There are so many things you can do with them!!
We make these beans almost every week. I love beans in general, and these in particular. We usually start out by eating them the first night in tortillas, homemadeif you have the time, with rice and whatever else we have. Leftovers, if there are any, are used in many different ways. I made a chart you can see below the recipe with ideas for your leftovers.
I posted a recipe forrefried beansa few years ago, but my recipe has changed a good bit since then and I want to do do an update. These beans are not re-fried at all, they are just cooked until they are so tender they are melting. This is important for the best beans, but you can do a shortcut by mashing them in the cooking liquid if you are running out of time.
Refried Beans
Ingredients
1 cup dry pinto beans
1 cup dry black beans
water to cover beans
1 medium onion, cut into eighths
4 small whole cloves garlic
2 cups vegetable broth or 1 large carrot and 1 stalk celery cut into large chunks
salt to taste
piece of kombu (optional)
Instructions
Put both kinds of beans in a bowl, cover with cold water and soak 8 hours or overnight. OR if you decide too late for this put the beans in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil over high head. Turn off the heat and allow to soak in the hot water for one hour.
Drain the beans from their soaking liquid.
Place the beans, onion, garlic, salt, vegetable broth or vegetables, and kombu in a large pot filling the rest of the pot with enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches.
Cook the beans over medium heat for a minimum of one hour. I cook them until they start to fall apart which is about 2 hours. I often have to add more water during cooking to keep the beans soupy enough until they are as tender as I like them.
Remove the carrot and celery if using.
You can either mash the beans at this point, or continue to cook them until they are truly falling apart.
Happy Food Ninja 