Pinto Bean Chili Recipe 6 of 12

I know it seems like I have forgotten my 12 Days of Pintos.  I haven’t....life is just nutty around here.  It’s okay.  That is how life is.  My go with the flow is “flowing along.”  Haha — couldn’t resist!

Anyway, I had originally hoped to have leftover pumpkin chili to go on my baked potato, but it didn’t work out that way.  We ate it last week on baked potatoes instead of having pizza. (However, my daughter basically turned her baked potato into a pizza.) 

I simply didn’t get home in time enough to make my crust....sometimes it happens if meetings go over.   Like many disappointments prove to be, this was a blessing in disguise....the perfect opportunity to add my next pinto bean recipe entry.

This recipe is the recipe I decided to use.  Pinto Bean Chili in the IP (using dried beans). It is from Neena over at Paint the Kitchen Red. Of course, I never do things quite as called for.  I also didn’t need a large batch of chili.  Since she gives step by step (extremely detailed instructions) I am not going to do so.  

Sorry about the water spots, but I don’t want to waste paper by printing this out again.

I’ll use it as is.

I did end up using 2 cans of Rotel.

Just to make certain I don’t have any trouble with tomatoes sticking, I leave them on top when I cook chili.

When it was done I gave it a good stir and this is what I ended up with.

Verdict:

This chili is pretty good!

I ate some in a bowl for my lunch.

Then I had some on a baked potato for my supper.

(With me being the only one home to eat it, I’m thinking I may freeze some leftovers.)

     

5 of 12 — Pressure Cooked Ham and Pinto Bean Soup

I didn’t forget my 12 Days of Pintos plan.  I promise.  December just got crazy.  We relied on fast, convenient foods, but even as I type that I realize it is just an excuse.  Dried beans can be a fast and convenient food.  Sure they require a little advanced work — an no I am actually not talking about soaking, but more I refer to planning.  I can think of several ways they can actually be quite fast and convenient.

• Slow cooker — now here me out before you laugh at me.....yes I know slow cooker and fast don’t go together....but for me fast is about the amount of effort I have to put into something.  If I know tomorrow is going to be a busy day I can simply set out the slow cooker tonight and put my dry beans in, sprinkle any seasonings on I am going to use.  I cover the pot and in the morning I add my liquid and cook.  My time is minimal, they cook while I do other things, and when the day is near end I have a “fast” meal ready.  However, for my world this pretty much works only for the evening meal.

So what if you want beans or bean soup for lunch?  Well there are several options to use dried beans, which are more economical than buying tinned beans.

• If you are a home canner, you can pressure can your own.  Most of us canners have the sunk cost of both the canner and jars....some even reuse the lids....while I don’t reuse lids and I haven’t tried Tattler’s brand lids....I still find canning my own to be quite economical.  I also like that I can control the amount of salt added.  Home canned beans, like all home canned products, are recommended to be boiled for 10 minutes.  (I’m throwing that out there as a precaution.....not a heated debate statement before anyone shoots me.  This isn’t an issue for me because I either use my home canned beans as an ingredient in a cooked dish or as the base for soup and they are well heated by the time I finish.). Either way, home canned beans are just as convenient and fast as purchased beans if you have had the foresight to can them.  Yes, canning does take time, but running a canner of beans while you are detailing your kitchen or perhaps doing your weekly baking lets you effectively do two things at once.

Of course, my favorite options is — yes, if you are a frequent reader here, it is probably easy to guess — a pressure cooker.  I have both a stove top and an electric pressure cooker.  (While I do use the Instant Pot brand, they are all relatively interchangeable with a little tweaking.  I use two methods of cooking dried beans in the pressure cooker depending on what my calendar shows for the day.

• Scenario 1 — Calendar shows I will be out of the house and coming in about an hour before I want to serve supper.  I, being tired the night before go to bed without setting out all the slow cooker “stuff”....I confess it has been known to happen.  (There’s a reason I set up the coffee pot for the next morning when I am cleaning up supper dishes.).  In the morning, I simply put my beans in a large bowl or pot and cover several inches over with water.  Depending upon the weather (if it is winter I don’t bother) I may refrigerate them while they soak for the day.  When I come home, I simply drain my beans, pop them in the pressure cooker with whatever I want to add, set my timer for 30 to 40 minutes and go about preparing the rest of our meal.  
• Scenario 2 — I am going to be home all day.  Maybe we changed our mind about what we wanted to eat.  Maybe I realized I need to use some ingredients up.  Maybe — just maybe I love to use the pressure cooker, but I am slack and rarely soak my beans.  All three of those happen in my life....one more often than the others, but in an attempt to not incriminate myself I’ll let you guess which one that is.  

Now that I have prattled on, I’m sure you are asking yourself, “Is Shara going anywhere with this?” The answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

Today we have a forecast for snow.  Yes, it does occasionally snow in Eastern North Carolina.  Yes, we do like all Southern towns and shut down.  Yes, I am indeed freezing.  All the standard stereotypes of Southerners in snow does indeed have a basis in real life.

So three things have happened:

1.  I am going to be home all day.

2.  We have changed our minds about what we want to eat....thanks to the temperatures.

3.  I have some things to use up.

Basically today is Scenario 2 and the perfect time to share another pinto bean idea with you.  As promised, I’ve found an online recipe that everyone can easily access.  Pressure Cooker Smoky Ham Hock and Pinto Bean Soup from Pressure Cooking Today.  However, as usual I’ve made a few changes.  The version below shows what I did and shares my results.

I assembled my ingredients:

2 cups of pinto beans

5 cups of chicken stock (I used all my home canned and went with bouillon and water.)

2 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic because it is cold season

1/4 teaspoon onion powder in deference to my daughter

1 heaping teaspoon of cumin

1/8 teaspoon of rosemary

1/8 teaspoon of oregano

Leftover ham and bone from my last ham

I added some black pepper, but no salt.  

I’ll add salt after they cook because I don’t know how salty the ham will be.

Then I added my secret ingredient:

A bit of crushed red pepper.

Everything literally went into the pot.

I set it for 60 minutes because I know I like my beans soft.

So that I could give you a real life cooking time estimate:

I turned it on at 11:01

At 12:41 they had finished and Natural Pressure Released for 20 or so minutes.

The results:

I served mine with a dollop of salsa.  

These were delicious!

My daughter even enjoyed them — of course, she skipped the salsa.

As a note:

I keep a print out of recipes I find online and add them to a binder if they are a success.

I write notes on them to show what we did.

As far as this recipe I did make a few changes.

In the future, I think I would add about 10 to 15 more minutes cooking time.

The flavor was great,but I think the beans could have been a little softer for a bit more of a creamier texture.

4 of 12 — Homemade Hamburger Helper

In my research for pinto bean recipes I ran across a recipe for homemade hamburger helper that had beans added.  I didn’t like the way that recipe sounded and decided to try another (simply adding beans.). This dish was a hit with my family.    My package of ground beef was large and I actually divided it into two.  (The second half was cooked up into taco meat with 3/4 cup of mashed pinto beans added.  A freebie if you will.  Simply add one or two teaspoons more of taco seasoning to your meat mixture.  I cooked this at the same time I cooked the hamburger helper and put it aside for the next day.)

The original recipe I used for hamburger helper is by Kimberly of  The Daring Gourmet.

Cheeseburger Macaroni

I made a few changes.  No avacado oil, no onion, I made beef broth using bouillon, I used tomato powder to make my tomato paste, I used Spanish style paprika, and I used cheese and pasta I had on hand.  I also stirred in almost 1 cup of pinto beans to further fluff the meal and add some more fiber.  (Gluten free pastas are notoriously lacking in fiber.)

This recipe yielded 6 generous servings.

3 of 12 — Pinto Bean Brownies

Recipe 3 of the 12 Days of Pintos came about faster than I had planned.

My grandson was helping me research recipes and saw the brownie recipe.

He had to have them “right now.”

Since I had the foresight to cook extra pinto beans, I decided they were destined to go in this recipe.

Pinto Bean Brownies

The original recipe linked above is vegan.

However, I made changes that made it vegetarian and allergy friendly for me.

I replaced the flax seed with one egg.

I used Sunbutter instead of peanut butter.

I used turbinado sugar and went with the 1/2 cup.

I also used corn oil instead of coconut oil.

Please ignore the flash.

I basically tossed it all in the food processor and let it mix until I had a batter consistency.

This shows the color better.  I divided it into 12 portions and baked it for 23 minutes. 

This is the baked results. 

These are quite good!

They have a nice texture and the flavor is good.

They’re not super sweet, but I did not add any chocolate chips or other add ins.

2 of 12 — Chicken, Pinto, and Broccoli Skillet

I know I said we weren’t going to do 12 days of pintos straight.  I promise we haven’t, but when I was searching for meals that I felt like used basic pantry and freezer storage I came across this recipe for Chicken, Broccoli, and Pinto Bean Skillet.  Since I had some fresh broccoli in the refrigerator I decided to give this one a try.  The beauty of using beans to stretch meat appeals to me and the eater always feels like they have had “_______” (whatever meat) and doesn’t really pay much attention to the beans. This is my take on this recipe. I started by cooking 2 cups of pinto beans. I don’t buy canned pintos....not sure why...but they could easily be used in this recipe as called for.  I used the pressure cooker and cooked my beans from dry for 1 hour.  This yielded approximately 5 cups of beans.  I  used two for this meal.

2 cups of beans

1 chicken breast, (I cut strips and then bite sized.)

I omitted the onion and the peanuts.

I had about 3 to 3 1/2 cups of broccoli, that I broke into bite sized pieces.

One red bell pepper cut into chunks

2 carrots in thick “matchsticks” (This was to replace crunch of onions and to bulk this out more.)

I omitted the red pepper flakes because my grandson was eating with us.

I used olive oil instead of bacon grease.

I added onion powder and 1 tablespoon of corn starch to 1/4 cup of liquid aminoes.

(I don’t use soy sauce.)

Cook chicken in a little bit of olive oil.

I used a med/high heat.

When the chicken was done, I added in all the vegetables.

Since I didn’t want a heavy fat content, I let them cook for a few minutes and then added a bit of water.

I covered it and let it briefly steam to finish softening my veggies.

I’m sorry I didn’t record a time.

I just kept checking until they suited me.

I then stirred in the sauce mixture and the beans and let it cook for a couple of minutes.

(While all this was cooking, I cooked rice in the Instant Pot.)

This is my largest frying pan, so don’t be fooled.  

This made a good amount.

This was the finished product all plated up.

The finished yield:

3 adults ate supper

1 toddler ate supper

And I packed two generous lunches with leftovers.

This recipe is a keeper.

Notes:

1.  I think frozen stir fry veggies would work fine.

2.  You could serve this over noodles.

3.  I didn’t add any extra salt or pepper — the sauce was enough.

4.  You could easily use beef, pork, or tofu cubes in this dish.

     

1 of 12 — Mediterranean Pinto Bean and Rice Soup

Meal 1 of 12 for the 12 Days of Pintos

For ease of recipe finding for everyone, I’ve decided to try whenever possible to use recipes I find online.

This recipe is the first in our plan.

Mediterranean Pinto Bean and Rice Soup

I’ve revised the recipe slightly to match both the pressure cooker and my daughter’s food preferences.

The original dish is cooked on the stove top.

However, at the end of this post I will share how I would convert this to a slow cooker meal for those who do not use a pressure cooker.

I used the Instant Pot and several of the settings on it, but I am also listing the times for ease of converting to other pressure cookers.

In the pot combine:

1 2/3 cup of dried pintos

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

1/4 cup of dried bell pepper

1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic

4 1/2 cups of water

Hit bean setting and increase time to 50 minutes. 

(Basically high pressure for 50 minutes.)

(I did not soak my beans first, but if you do I would think 30 minutes should work fine.) 

Let pressure drop naturally.

Add:

1 diced potato

3/4 cup of brown rice

1 cup of water

14.5 ounces of diced tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Set pressure cooker for 22 minutes.

Let sit for 10 minutes and then vent.

Serve soup warm.

(My daughter requested no tomatoes, so I heated mine separately and added to my bowl. Also note, our personal preference is a little softer bean.  If you like them less soft, you could decrease the 50 minute cook time because they will be cooking an additional 22 with the rice.)

For my family, with three of us eating this week, this will make at least two meals worth of soup when served with bread.

If there were two of us here, I think I would halve the recipe.

Now for the slowcooker version —

I would put the first ingredient set on in the morning.

Midday add the second half.

I only recommend dividing it because sometimes tomatoes make beans take longer to cook.

12 Days of Pintos

Obviously we aren’t going to eat pinto beans 12 days straight, but I thought for the months of December and January I would try to share 12 meals that use pinto beans.  In preparation for this, I bought this huge bag of beans at Sam’s Club.  I also bought 12 pounds of black beans, too...so maybe that will be a future post.