I make this basic meal for family or for company just about every week. You can use leftover meat and clean out the vegetable drawer. You can make it simple by buying quality ready-made tortillas and re-fried beans, or make it extra special by constructing your own from scratch. Kids can make their own dinner with what’s offered at the table, so everyone’s happy. The quantities listed make enough so that I can layer the leftovers in a dish for my handsome cheesemaking husband to take for lunch the next day.

Re-fried Beans:
Since this recipe is pretty time intensive, I make a big batch and freeze the leftovers in about 2 cup containers. I start cooking the beans right after lunch so that they are hot and ready in time for supper.

4 C dry pinto or black beans
4 C rich bone broth
2 C Midway Farms Dutch Onions
2 large Gathering Together Farms Carrots
2 large potatoes
2 T bacon drippings (optional)
4 T Nearly Normal’s Mexi Spice Mix
Salt to taste

Soak beans for 3 days, rinsing thoroughly twice a day.
Pour broth into a 3 gallon stock pot. Rinse beans 2 more times and add to the broth. Heat until boiling and reduce heat to simmer with the lid off for one hour, adding more water or broth as needed.
Add chopped up veggies and more liquid to cover beans and veggies. Continue to simmer with the lid off until beans and veggies are tender.
Stir in bacon drippings if desired. Add spice and salt. Mash with a potato masher or purée in a food processor for desired smoothness.
Serve warm.

Tortillas:
4 C Staford Stalford Seed Farms wheat flour
(kamut and spelt also work great!).
1/4 C olive oil
1 t salt
1 1/3 C warm water

Mix dry ingredients. With fingertips, thoroughly rub oil into flour. Add warm water and stir gently until mixture forms a ball. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for an hour.
Heat cast iron skillet to medium heat. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. One at a time, knead each piece a few times and roll into a 6-8 inch circle. Cook for one minute on each side. Keep warm in oven until time to serve.

Filling:
2 T oil
1 C diced Midway Farms Dutch Onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 C shredded chicken, pork, or beef or 1 pound of browned McK Ranch ground beef
2 T Nearly Normal’s Mexi Spice Mix
salt to taste

Heat oil in cast iron skillet. Add onions and garlic and simmer until soft. Add meat, spice, and salt. Serve warm.

When the hot foods are ready, we eat! I place 8 ounces of shredded Full Circle Creamery Smoked Cheddar, Mild Raw Cheddar, or Smoked Raw Cheddar on the table along with a bowls of spring greens, Nancy’s Sour Cream, homemade salsa, and Bombs Away Diablo sauce. The sauce is used at the restaurant and to make our Diablo Cheddar, which will be released this fall. When they gave us a bucket of the amazing sauce, we couldn’t help but save a small bottle of it for ourselves to use for Mexi Nites!

Recipe courtesy of Full Circle Creamery