(no subject)

[which_chick]

I made an appointment with the eye doctor today for to fix0r the cannot read road signs or recognise faces more than twenty paces away problem. That's for next Wednesday. I expect I will need glasses. My distance vision hasn't been *good* for a while and it's been getting worse, very slowly, for about ten years. It's time to do something about it.



Dinner tonight was home-made refried beans with corn tortillas and absolutely perfect guacamole. Since this is a verboten-food-free meal, I'm mentioning it for those on the verboten diet.

Also, the lime for the guacamole (because you can't have guacamole without lime) came in a $2.00 bag o' limes. (Individual limes were $0.75 each and they looked shittier than the bag limes. There were like eight limes in the bag.) What other things can I do with limes, please? I don't want to waste them... and I don't eat fish, so don't even go there. Things to do with limes. I don't really want or need a lime meringue pie, so don't mention that as an option. Help a brutha out, here.

Comments

[jade1x2.livejournal.com]

So how do you make the refried beans? I love them but the canned ones are tasteless...

Sorry no suggestions for the limes. I have a treeful and always have extra ones...

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Mine are really kind of basic. I cook black beans in large batches, in a crock pot with chopped white onion, a bay leaf, cumin, and garlic. (These are suitable for black beans and rice, which is a pretty regular visitor on my dinner table. Because I don't want to eat that for all week straight, I portion the beans into serving size packets and freeze 'em.)

For refried beans, I take a serving-size amount of black beans, put them in a large skillet, mash them with a fork, add a lump of lard (about a tablespoon for a cup of beans-n-liquid), and continue stirring and mashing until the texture is acceptable. The beans will thicken and dry out, just keep working them until they suit. I don't know how to avoid the sticking thing. Some sticking is apparently inevitable. While you're doing that, you can also add anything else you might want to add, like salt / diced jalapenos.

While I use black turtle beans (my favorite), you can probably use pinto beans (more typical) if that's your thing.

[jade1x2.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I assume you could add something besides lard? I'm vegan...

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Lard is traditional. The fat provides flavor and mouth-feel, but I don't know what I'd pick to substitute. Since I have made 'em without any fat, I will state for the record that you don't actually *have* to supply any fat at all if you stir promptly enough. Lard makes 'em taste better, though. For vegan, I'd try starting with no added fat and if that was unsatisfactory, I'd experiment with plant-based fats.