Mudcatters are soooooo predictable! It gets cold out and we start talking about food.

I made a bean recipe last week for a staff lunch at work. It's my ex mother-in-law's recipe, from Puerto Rico. Here in Texas they expect beans to be "ranch style" or chili, but these aren't hot. They have red kidney beans, a ham hock or fat back, to start. The seasoning (sofrito) consists of onion, green pepper, garlic, coriander, a bay leaf and a few grinds of pepper, and to this I add some cumin and a little chili powder (not enough to make it hot, just to perk it up a little). I add fresh or frozen tomatoes when I have them (otherwise canned diced tomatoes) and sometimes some tomato sauce if it doesn't look thick enough. At some point in the cooking process I'll sometimes add fried (crumbled) hamburger, and as it is about finished, in the last few minutes I add a couple of tablespoons of capers. A variation on this recipe is to steam some squash (butternut is fine, but any of the orangey pulp squash), peel it, squash it with a fork, then stir it into the mix. It's a great thickening agent. It doesn't change the flavor much but adds a lot to the nutrition of the dish. Serve it over rice.

When you eat the beans and rice you're getting a complex carbohydrate. It's good for you.

SRS