Favorite childhood food memory? I have several, but one of my favorites was seeing my mom get the brown Vision pot(it was brown tinted glass and you could see whatever was inside when cooking) out and a sack of beans. Then toddling of with my brother to go play outside(at the insistence of mom, I might add. We tended to be home bodies.) Running back in to see if the beans were done, when they weren't we'd go play with Lego's or Hot Wheels and sometimes my bro would consent to playing restaurant. Then that moment would come when the beans were ready and we'd get our bowl full with chunks of cheese and rolled up corn tortillas and chow down. My mouth is watering just thinking about the thing we called "Bean Soup".
Now that I have your attention with my Latina heritage, here is the recipe for "Bean Soup" and the cool things you can add to it.
16 oz Bag of Pinto Beans
8oz block of cheese, preferably cheddar or jack or a combo
Corn Tortillas(optional)
Minced onion(opt.)
Sort the beans, they can have stones or bad beans. Wash them, then add to a large pot. Cover with water and simmer on very low heat, the water level will need to be checked every couple of hours, along with a good stir and if the tops of the beans are not covered in water add more. This cooking method can also be done in a crock-pot, but you'll still need to check the water level and stir from time to time.
Do NOT add salt, it will cause the beans to harden and they will not cook properly.
It will take, oh, round about 5-7 hours for the beans to cook, taste them every so often and when they are soft and tender they are done.
Cut the cheese(no pun intended) into chunks, heat the tortillas(if using) over the flame of your stove (that's how we did, yeah uh, huh, fingers of steel) or on a flat griddle. Serve the beans in large individual bowls and get as much of the cooking liquid from the beans into that bowl as possible, toss in a few chunks of cheese, onion(which I don't like raw, so I leave them out) and they are ready to go. Dunk those tortillas in and oh boy you are in for a treat. At this point you can add some salt if you wish, but we usually found the cheese gave off just enough.
And here are my other add-ins. Beans already have a nice protein and vitamin level and you don't need anything extra, but I had some hot dogs and cabbage that I needed to use up. Plus it's fun to experiment with a staple and recipe you have down pat.
1/4 head of cabbabge
One Turkey Hot dog(no preservatives)
1/4 piece of Onion(red, brown, sweet, whatever you have is fine, even shallots would work)
Butter
Garlic Salt
Shred Cabbage, slice onion into long thin strips, slice hot dogs into rounds, no larger than a 1/2in.
Heat a non stick skillet on med-high heat. Add about a tsp of butter to the pan and let it melt. Add the onions and then turn down the heat to med-low, sprinkle in the Garlic salt and let cook until onion is translucent, it's ok if it gets a little brown around the edges.
Add Cabbage and hot dog cook until the cabbage has lost some of it's "crunch" about 5-7 min.
Toss it all into a good sized bowl, add your beans, juice and all and cheese on top.
It was so good!! Trust me on this, it is a must try if you love homemade pinto beans. Not to mention all of the health benefits. Beans are an inexpensive way to get protein, are a low sodium food and have so many other good things going for them, so make up a big pot today and count the endless possibilities for meals, plus they freeze really well. Happy cooking my friends and remember to keep it homemade.
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