A long time ago, someone said that recipes are just guidelines. I didn’t believe it at the time. For years I followed recipes to the letter — sometimes with great results, sometimes not. But in the past few years, I have learned what we like and what we don’t. I ignore all recipes that suggest adding a half teaspoon of cumin. Ha! That’s a “why bother” amount for me. I respect people who can put a full teaspoon of cayenne in a dish, but that’s not us.

A couple of months ago, I created my first recipe in a very long time, Cuban-inspired black beans. (Apple Harvest Cake was my first recipe, but that was long ago.) This month, I landed on a pinto recipe I love. I was looking for something that would work for breakfast, snacks, and dinner. I love how these turned out. Inspired by my success using Goya brand in my black bean recipe, I gave their canned pinto beans a try.

Jake’s Pinto Beans

Ingredients

• 2 cans of Goya Pinto beans (undrained)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1.5 tsp of minced garlic
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 peach pepper or jalapeño, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• ¼ tsp. of cayenne
• 2 tsp. of chile powder
• 1 tsp. of smoked paprika
• 1 TBSP nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 TBSP coconut aminos
• ½ – 1 cup of water (more if needed)
• 1 TBSP of vinegar, lime juice or lemon juice
• Salt and pepper blend

Equipment

• Dutch oven
• Wooden spoon
• Ladle

Directions

1. Sauté salted onion in olive oil until translucent
2. Add garlic and sauté for 2 more minutes
3. Add bell pepper and hot pepper and sauté for a few additional minutes
4. Add water to deglaze pan as needed
5. Add spices and mix to combine
6. Add undrained beans and water and stir to combine; add salt and pepper blend
7. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
8. Add lemon/lime juice or vinegar at the end.

Serving

Serve with cilantro lime rice, crispy onions, tortilla chips, and avocado. Also great on tostadas. It tastes even better the next day.

Wow, these were so good and easy to make. My next goal was to use the Instant Pot and start with dried pintos. Success with dried beans has eluded me but I am giving it a go again. My most recent attempt was good and the finished recipe turned out great.

Another recipe we tried this month is Spring Roll in a Bowl by Sam Turnbull at It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken. This is an easy and versatile use-what-you-have recipe.

Photo by Sonika Agarwal on Unsplash