Refried Beans

Refried beans always seemed like such an ironic luxury to me. Like donuts or potato chips, it was always something that was cheap and "common", yet I was never really able to eat, especially not as much as I'd like. Seen as unhealthy or just unusual to order on the the occasions I'd eat Mexican food growing up, I mostly avoided it. Well I've been hankering for it, indeed, and now that I'm an adult, I can eat anything I want! Googling and checking metafilter eventually got me this recipe. The secret ingredient is, incidentally, salt. Seriously, you need a lot of salt for this - it's not just me, I swear.

Prepare:
-Soak 1 cup of dried beans overnight in water
-Quarter 1 small onion and dice half an onion
-Chop about 3 lengths of bacon
-Mince 3 cloves of garlic
-Ready bay leaves, salt, and whole peppercorn

Cook:
-Place soaked beans in a medium pot and cover with water plus add another inch and a half of water. Put in quartered onion, a couple bay leaves, a tablespoon of peppercorns, and 2 tsp of salt (the water should taste like seawater)

-Simmer for an hour or until beans are ready (they should taste edible but still a bit firm; if you take a couple out of the pot and blow on them, the skin should peel). Drain the beans but reserve about 1/2cup of the water-Meanwhile, fry bacon on medium heat in a large pan until completely crispy and all the fat is in the pan. Remove the bacon and set aside

-Fry the onion in the bacon fat until it starts getting translucent and then add the garlic

-Add the beans and a bit of the water onto the pan and start mashing, add more water to reach desired consistency.-Enjoy on its own or in a burrito

Tips:
-Some of the recipes called for adding "salt pork" into the pot when cooking the beans. I think this is just a thick, salted and cured pork to add to the taste of the beans. I don't have it so I didn't use it
-I made this a second time and when cooking the beans in the pan, added about a tsp of pico de gallo and a tsp of cumin to give it a bit more flavor and it came out quite tasty.
-This can also be done with tinned beans, just add them at the same step as the cooked beans.

Carbonara Pasta

For those of you who think I'm all about the health food, thesedays, this oughta abed your fears. Originally created as a breakfast for Italian laborers, without cream, this pasta has evolved to be a creamy sensation. I had it at my friend Ben's house for lunch a couple weeks ago and it hit the spot in ways I never imagined possible. Mine turned out so delicious and not too greasy for how much fat is in it. There's probably a way to make it more healthy, but why bother?
Prepare (for 2 servings):
-Dice half an onion
-Crush 2-4 cloves garlic
-1-2 chopped chili peppers (optional but I like my spice)
-Cut 2-4 strips of bacon (you should end up with around 1 cup)-Lightly beat 1 egg -Prepare 1/4 cup whole cream
-A handful of pasta... fettuccine works best for this but I only had spaghetti
-Seasonings: fresh/dried basil, crushed red pepper, Parmesan
Cook:
-Set water to boil, add pasta, cook til al dente, drain, rinse in cold water, set aside (this should be done while cooking the sauce)
-In a big, deep fry pan or a wok, add a bit of olive oil and a couple pieces of butter (you read that right; the olive oil stops the butter from burning), medium heat-Add crushed garlic and fry for 1 minute
-Add onion and bacon and fry for about 10 minutes or until bacon starts to crisp-Lift pan off heat, lower heat to medium-low, and add cream (otherwise cream may burn)
-Mix, simmer for about 5 minutes, turn off the heat-Throw in pasta, mix for about 3 minutes-Throw in egg, mix thoroughly for 30 seconds, then serve
-Garnish with basil, crushed red pepper, Parmesan, salt to taste
Tips:
-While it may be heresy, I think this dish would only benefit from broccoli. I'd steam it lightly and add it with the pasta in the cream.
-If you like bacon even crispier, chuck it in a minute or 2 before the onion. Also, I used red onion and you might get a better taste with yellow onion or shallots
-As this is Italian, a nice pancetta would be even tastier than bacon, presumably

Full-on Pizza

I got some free vegetables and bacon from an Italian place that was closing down a couple nights ago and decided to give pizza-making a go. It was so easy (I didn't make my own dough) and delicious that I made some again last night.
Prepare:
-Preheat oven to 350F
-Sauce your bread. I used Lebanese flat bread and spread tomato paste (from a jar) on the bread. I also added to the sauce some dried basil, crushed red pepper, and garlic salt-Prepare the toppings you want: I chopped tomato, broccoli, onion, zucchini, cauliflower, garlic, roasted pepper, snow peas, garlic, bacon, and some pickled jalapeño peppers-Arrange the toppings on the pizza. I did it so the stuff that I didn't want cooked would be under the cheese while the stuff I wanted cooked on top (so tomato, onion, garlic, zucchini, and bacon on top and the rest underneath). Grate cheese (I used just cheddar but provolone, Monterey, mozzarella, etc would be good) on topCook:
-Put in oven for about 8-10 minutes, then take out and put back in with the former-front facing the back ( I did this for an even crisp) , cook for another 5-8 minutes or until reached desired level of crispiness Tips:
-Use any topping you have, you just can't lose! Yesterday I sauteed some chicken and then added it with the pizza and it was great
-If you want a pizza-chain cheese-stick type flavor, then ahead of time melt a bit of butter, mixed with fresh crushed garlic, and then spread that on the pizza base

Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Toast

I love soups. You may have noticed. Usually I just through a bunch of vegetables in a pot, boil it, puree and eat. This time I decided to focus the veggie a bit and add a little depth to the meal. I got the idea to serve the creamy pumpkin soup with cinnamon toast from a recipe on allrecipes and I decided it was just crazy enough to work.

Prepare Soup:-Peel and cube a bunch of pumpkin, maybe 3 cups worth. I find that peeling a pumpkin with a peeler is not fun and so I just used a knife and sliced off the rind. Alternatively, you could steam/boil the pumpkin for about 10 minutes and then the peel comes off easily. Also remove the seeds (but don't throw them away!)-Dice about half an onion. It doesn't matter the size of the pieces as you will be boiling and pureeing them
-Optional: get a hot pepper. I find that the pepper doesn't detract from the taste and gives it a nice kick. I used 1 habanero and that was just fine.
-Ready (soy) milk, cornflour, bay leaf, salt, oil or butter, some crushed garlic, cheese, and any other spice you like
Cook:
-Lightly fry the garlic and onion in butter or oil for about 5 minutes, or until onion is tender in a decent-sized pot-Throw in the pumpkin for about a minute or two, letting it coat itself in oily goodness-Add water: the level should be a bit short of the height of the pumpkin (the pumpkin condenses as you cook it and you don't want the soup too watery... as long as you mix every 5-10 minutes then everything should cook evenly)
-Add crushed bay leaf and other spices.
-Lower heat, cover, and let simmer for an hour, mixing every 10 minutes until the pumpkin is at the level of the water
-Puree once everything is very cooked-Put back on medium heat, mixing in 1/4 cup -1/2 cup of milk and a bit of flour to thicken it up. You can also add some cheese to give it a nice creaminess (I used fresh mozzarella)
-I like to throw fresh spring onion on top, adding to it a crisp oniony flavor

Prepare Toast (2 slices):
-Preheat (toaster) oven to 400F
-Melt a tbsp of butter (more if you like a more buttery toast)
-Mix with 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (more if you like cinnamony taste)Cook:
-Toast for about 10 minutes, or until top is bubbly/browning
Tips:
-I also fried up some bacon for this dinner. The salty smokiness of the bacon is really complementary with the creamy pumpkininess of the soup and the cinnamon sweetness of the bread
-You can quarter or eighth the toast and mix it in the soup
-You can fry the bacon with the onion when making the soup originally, and make it a pumpkin and bacon soup.
-Some people like this soup curry style and so add curry powder or cumin and tumeric as well as coconut milk for the milk. Others like it sweet pumpkin-pieish and so add cinnamon, nutmeg, etc

Bacon Cookies

Maybe I'll try this next time...
from http://singlegirlwithcat.vox.com