And back to cooking and flowers

(Roses for thumbnail, not mine but in the complex garden strip near the patio) 

I used to think Pinterest was the bane of craft stores everywhere until I understood what a gold mine it is for recipes and knitting patterns. Folks, if you love refried beans the way they taste at a restaurant I have one for you that is simple and tastes nothing like you get from a can. I've made it four times now and it is delicious every time. This sounds like a commercial or influencer but sorry it is really, really good. The recipe is from 'CookieandKate' have no idea who they are and rather than posting the link I'll save you the annoyance of all the side ads and stuff. This is the proportions for a double recipe. I've been making it for one because two cans of pinto beans actually goes a long way. Oh and very important for the flavor I substituted lard for the olive oil. I also add in some ground pepper which I'm surprised they didn't include.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (substitute lard)
  
• 1 cup finely chopped yellow or white onion (about 1 small onion)
• ½ teaspoon fine salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper (my addition)
  
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 cans (15 ounces each) pinto beans, rinsed and drained, or 6 cup cooked pinto beans
• 1 cup water
• 4 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoon lime juice (about 1 medium lime), to taste
  

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm the olive oil until shimmering. Add the onions and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened and are turning translucent, about 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, chili powder and cumin. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in the drained beans and water. Stir, cover and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Reduce the heat to low and remove the lid. Use a potato masher or the back of a fork to mash up about at least half of the beans, until you reach your desired consistency. Continue to cook the beans, uncovered, stirring often, for 3 more minutes.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Taste, and add more salt and lime juice if necessary. If the beans seem dry, add a very small splash of water and stir to combine. Cover until you’re ready to serve.

Honestly, the type of salt doesn't matter to me in flavor, haven't tried it with the black beans because we haven't had any and I'm sure I could make them from the dried pintos I have in plenty but will need to try that another day. The only annoying thing is the skins from the beans persist if you use a masher. It's got better texture if you have a mixer or immersion blender (neither of which I have). 

Other notes on this; I have a little OXO 'mandeline' style shredder multi blade thing we got at Bed, Bath and Beyond long before they closed.

Looks kind of like this. The clear container on the left holds about 2 cups of shredded cheese. The green one is a julienne blade and let me tell you, that is THE best thing for finely dicing onion. Cut the onion in half root to top and then (after taking all the skins off of course) go at it. Because it's crosswise on the onion, you get finely slivered/chopped bits that cook down a lot faster. I use the yellow fine grater for cheese all the time and the slicer very rarely as it's only good for hard vegetables.

I tried the slicer (really thin only option) on a firm roma tomato and it was a fail. The picture is results using the julienne for red onion to go on a hot dog and the thin slices of tomato on the bottom are from the slicer, the ones on top are manual with my good knife. Oh yes, 'Deluxe' hot dog for me is mustard, relish, onion and sliced tomato with a bit of celery salt. All beef dogs only of course.

What started with just refried beans turned into a full on meal the other night. I didn't get any pictures because I ate it so fast. I took two of the pork 'steaks' I had in the freezer, cut them up and stewed them with carnitas spice mix as a start. I took that, cooked just plain white rice and had a carnitas bowl with the refried beans. It was a huge, huge hit with Jon and me. just wish we had more of the meat, I put some fresh home made salsa and some lime juice on mine.. only thing missing was pico de gallo but man oh man it was a do again for sure! When we get a pork roast I'll do it with that in the crock pot and have a feast for days. Will have to try the same thing with that chuck roast next week.

In family news Wellman, Amber's boyfriend, graduated SDSU with a Bachelors in Science (Computers) with honors. We're all so stinking proud of him, and now that he's done with school  is looking for a job and Amber will be starting up college again in September. She's still going for that degree in International Business focus on Korea which means 3 1/2 years of Korean language, study abroad for a year and do an internship. I can't knock her for trying to get a degree, and the business end of it she could still get a job in the US with a multinational company. Of all the things she wanted to do when she got out of high school, this was not on her list. 

Anyway, things are going suspiciously well.....