creamy refried beans *no more canned refried beans for you*

i love refried beans.. i have been known to make them and intend on only serving bean burritos as our meal.. this usually doesn't go over very well as the family are meat eaters and have never gotten on board with the meatless monday craze.. but me.. i love bean tacos, bean burritos or just a small bowl of the stuff with some corn chips.. yummmyyyyy... this can easily be served as a dip.. now in the old days when my mom used to make this for us as kids she used lard.. good golly.. we always had a red box of the white scary stuff around.. as time went on the lard went away and was replaced with a little canola oil and then in my house was replaced with either a piece of rendered down bacon or nothing at all.. i cook them all the time without any "fat" whatsoever.. i use the liquid  from the beans to "fry" them in.. per say..

you keep them on a medium low heat and allow them to bubble away.. simmering the onions and beans to refried bean perfection.. 

 when the liquid is almost all cooked off {don't wait until it's all gone or they will be to dry} you mash them with a potato masher.. keeping some whole.. top with your favorite cheese and serve as a side to maybe some crispy pork carnitas or how about sour cream green chili crispy baked flautas, or super yummy tacos al pastor.. they work great in, on or on the side of easy oven baked chimichangas.. i love them with this super easy enchilada stack .. they are a must for my cheater indian tacos.. and you would definately want to serve them along side of this sour cream green chili chicken enchilada casserole.. my favorite all time thing to serve them with is pork chile verde  and homemade flour tortillas.. and don't forget you could always use them when making loaded breakfast nachos...or something as simple as a dip with homemade corn tortilla chips.... it's so easy.. and i promise you will like them much much better than canned refried beans.. i ordered a breakfast burrito at a local place and it had canned refried beans.. i actually sent it back.. it was gross.. why would anyone use canned when making them is so much easier.. now i will tell you i did one time soak the beans over night and do the whole real real beans.. and well pete got sick and stayed home from work for 2 days.. we had just gotten married and he forbid me from every doing that again and i haven't.. he was convinced they poisoned him..  ha ha 

creamy refried beans

prep time: 5 minutes
cooking time: 1 hour
servings: approx. 6-8

ingredients:

1 large {40 oz} can of pinto beans (we like sun vista)
1 slice of bacon cut into lardons
1/2 an onion, diced small
cheese (optional)

directions:

cut up your bacon and cook in an iron skillet over medium heat until tender but not crispy add onions and cook until soft.... add pinto beans juice and all.. simmer on medium low for about an hour or until most of the liquid is evaporated.. about 10 minutes before serving mash with a potato masher.. i keep some beans still whole.. top with cheese if desired.. they are so easy.. now if you don't have the hour to slow cook them you can easily cook them a quick way.. i cook my bacon {or if you prefer no bacon at all heat up a non stick pan to pretty hot} drain your beans reserving 1 cup of the liquid.. add beans to either bacon or hot non stick pan.. stir around heating up your beans.. then quickly mash.. then add your reserved liquid until they are the consistency you like.. easy as that.. just as a easy as opening a can of the already refried beans.. you will want to serve them immediately if they sit around they dry out.. when i reheat mine i add a touch of water to get them back their creamy loveliness..

enjoy and get cook'n!!