New Fried Ways & Beans

Oh, the weather outside is frightful. It's really cold and not delightful. And even with no place to go. Please, no more snow, no more snow, no more snow!

I'll never get used to the cold. Every winter I whine and complain about the weather. And I'm not the only one. We New Englanders sometimes just get sick of it. It's a myth that if you live in a place where it gets cold, that you enjoy the cold weather. I certainly don't. I could say that I grin and bear it, but I bear it with very little grinning.

So with this winter weather, on top of my being laid off, and the economic news seemingly growing worse by the hour, I've needed some comfort food. G mentioned that when he was a kid, his mom used to make him refried beans. I'd never made them before and asked him if he knew how. He said to mash them and fry them. That seemed easy enough.

I had a can of white beans in the house, so I used those. I poured them in a colander and rinsed them in cold water. Canned foods have a lot of sodium, so rinsing them gets rid of a good deal of it.

Then I put the rinsed beans in a bowl and mashed them. I added some lemon pepper, about a 1/4 cup of chopped onions, a little sea salt, some garlic powder, and squeezed the juice of half a lime on to them.

I mashed the beans some more, then cooked them in a heated pan with a bit of olive oil. They were really good and very fast to make. G loved them! I made them again with cannellini beans and plan to try them a few different ways. I bought some red beans and black beans.

Beans are full of protein and are fairly cheap. I've bought brand name canned beans like Goya, which are really good, but the store brands tend to be even more economical and I can't taste any difference. So if you need some comforting during this tough time, try this new way of making refried beans.

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