Pintos & Cheese

Lunch.  That's one meal that I really struggle to get under control.  I'll make a detailed meal plan with a grocery list to match and totally forget we have to have lunch every day too.  Leftovers are good, but there isn't always something left over.  So in my (haha) free time, I've been researching lunch options.  I like a hot lunch and making a pot of beans has started to be something that really works for us.

When I was a kid, the only beans I would eat were baked beans, but I love them all now.  Recently I found a recipe for pinto beans that can simmer quietly in the kitchen, while we do our regular morning things.  The only requirement is you have to be home for a few hours to add (like Amelia Bedila) "a little of this and a pinch of that" over the cooking time.  We eat it as a soup with cheese or with some rice or in a tortilla as a bean taco - the kids reeeeeeally like it.

This recipe is similar to the black bean recipe I use:

1 cup pinto beans (soaked overnight or "quick soaked" earlier in the morning)
4 cups water
1 slice of bacon
salt to taste - this can be added later too

simmer the above for about 2 hours, then add:

1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 diced onion and 1/2 diced green bell pepper
1 minced clove of garlic
salt & pepper to taste
cumin (I don't really measure it)
about 1 tbsp sugar

stir, then use the back of the spoon to mash some of the beans against the side of the pan.  How many?  As many as you want - half, 1/3, all of them - any amount is ok.  Then simmer covered 1/2 hour and uncovered the final 1/2 hour.  Really you cannot simmer these too long.  They are great right away and great left over and can be drained and added into something like a casserole as well.