Wednesday dinner - Taco's and refried black beans

So this is another meal that doesn't need much explanation.  But I did make homemade refried beans.  Still debatable if I'll do this again, because it is a LOT of work!  The final product was yummy and I've got lots of frozen leftovers so that's a plus!

Here's the meal

I'll let you get the instructions and ingredients for the black beans from this site. 

A friend told me another friend makes this a lot and uses the extra beans for enchilada filling, bean dip, or just reheats as a side!  They are definitely more tasty than your average refried beans out of a can!

Here's some pics from my first attempt:

The ingredients: (I actually doubled the recipe - I highly recommend doing this because it's nice to have a larger quantity to show for all the work!

Someone brought home-grown peppers to Trent's office, I actually had to ask my neighbor who's a gardening expert what all the different types were!  The red is a spicier jalapeno so I made sure to get ALL the seeds out! 

My helper!  She's pulling up on everything...including me while I try to cook

So I got out pots and utensils so she could cook too!

The jalapenos and garlic ready to be minced 

Diced onion going in to the pan

Stirring in the jalapenos and garlic

Next come the seasoning.  I added more chili powder than the recipe calls for to give it more kick

 This is what it looks like once the seasonings are stirred in (my lense is foggy from the steam -hah!).  The recipe says to stir till aromatic...let me just tell you, it's VERY aromatic!  (in a good way)

Adding in the beans and liquid.  This is where the tedious-ness of the process began. 

It calls for a potato smasher to break up the beans...of course I don't have one of these...so at first I tried this kind of spoon

It was NOT successful.  Then I moved to a metal pasta straining spoon which worked better...until I bent it out of shape!  I had worked up a serious sweat and toned all my shoulder muscles by the time the beans were finished.

Our final meal

Doubling the recipe made enough for our dinner, about a cup of leftovers in the fridge and 4 cups stocked in the freezer!  Worth it if you have the time, patience, and muscles...

Oh and a potato masher!