Story:
The young women (youth group) in our congregation have done a fundraiser for their summer camp two years in a row. They do a Mexican Fiesta-themed bean burrito dinner. They include homemade salsa, tortilla chips, and bean and cheese burritos. This year they included a dessert option of Rice Krispie treats or brownies! I heard this was their biggest fundraiser last year. I'm curious to hear how they did this year. There was a long line-up of cars in front of the Santiago's house at 5:30 last night waiting to pick up their food at the "drive-up" table the girls had set up.
They asked the girls (or their parents) to help provide some of the food this year, and they sent home a recipe for homemade refried beans. I had never made homemade refried beans before! It was super easy and I found it surprisingly satisfying when they actually turned out! So I'm including the recipe here.
As a side note, when Megan (now a senior in high school who recently found out she was accepted to BYU-Hawaii for college!) came home from school and was starving and walked in the kitchen while I was finishing up some Rice Krispie treats and the refried beans, said, "Mom, I think the food plan in the dorms is gonna suck." I said, "No, there will be lots of options and there will always be something you'll like." She said, "Yeah, but you're over here making homemade refried beans and Rice Krispie treats." I think she might have been saying that she might miss me a little bit. ;)
Ingredients:
3 C dry pinto beans
1 cube butter
1 T salt
10 C water
Directions:
Put the beans in a crock pot with the 10 cups of water and cook for about 8-9 hours on HIGH. Make sure the beans are always covered with water. You may need to add more water during the cooking process.
Once cooked, save 1 1/2 C of water from the beans and drain off the rest. Mix the beans, the 1 1/2 cups of bean-water, salt, and butter with an immersion blender--or in a regular blender. I used my immersion blender right in the crockpot.
Return to the crockpot to keep warm or refrigerate until you are ready to eat.
Delicioso!
