Saturday, February 24, 2018

Stir Crazy Me? Not Yet!



I'm doing okay for February and snow and ice so think that I don't dare leave the apartment complex just yet. This last week that made one trip away from the complex and that was for my Thursday book club. Actually, if you count going out Tuesday morning to the bus stop in getting stuck I guess that would be a trip out but I hardly count that. I'm not yet buggy, stir crazy or whatever. Luckily I'm out of apartment complex large enough about I have enough stimulation to ward off the insanity that comes with being locked in. Got food and resources, an Internet connection and people to visit with should I feel the need. Granted, many of these folks are folks that I would not typically visit with but they are good people and provide adequate social interaction.

I've got projects. This weekend's project has been making refried beans from real dried beans. Couple weeks ago I made refried beans from a can of beans which was okay. I wasn't totally pleased with the refried beans but they worked for what I needed. The trouble is you can only make as many frijoles as you have cans of appropriate means. Now if you have bags of dried beans that's a whole different ballgame but takes a lot more work. Actually I started my project on Thursday I don't have a bag of beans into some water to soak overnight. At the end of this time the beans were getting a little soft but they were a long ways from being what I would use for refried beans. So I dug out my crockpot but the beans in and cook them all day. Last night when I tested them they were still slightly crunchy so I put them away and put them on again this morning. Finally, midday the beans were socks I think they're going to get so I got my mixer out and beat the beans into a quasi-mash. I really need to get a potato masher that's what everyone uses but I still think might beans were totally ready but I was totally ready to get the project underway. I took the beans with garlic and onions, green peppers and that could in jalapenos and about half a cup of juice from the can of jalapenos. I used about 3 cups of chicken broth to cook the beans in. Now I have to admit along the way I may have removed 2 cups of beans while they were cooking towards the end just to eat. They were darn good, I think I would be just as happy to have eaten these beings as beans and not necessarily mashing them up but I was focused on refried beans and that's what I ended up with. Trouble is, I was kind of tired of the beans by the time I finished mixing them up with the beater to put everything in a plastic box and shoved it in the refrigerator. I tend to use the beans with my Mexican dinner plates.

This project, left my kitchen in a shambles. I am going to clean a little bit tonight and maybe tomorrow.I can't remember if more snow is forecast for tomorrow or Monday but more snow is coming. I need broccoli, bananas, grapes and. I'd like to cook a roast. I may try to make a run for it in the morning if the looks at all doable if not maybe I'll just make garbroc and call it good.

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