México, Fiesta and frijoles refritos! You will find this dish served at every good celebration in Latin America. The refried beans are the shining stars in many different dishes through the whole continent.

My mom’s recipe made to meet us non-patient cooks, no bean-soaking! Works every time!

Beans Around the World.

Broccoli flowers, carrot flowers, zucchini flowers, potato flowers....BEAN FLOWERS!! The beauty abounds my goodness. Black bean flowers in my garden grow a bold scarlet red, but they are as fragile as tissue paper. The beans within are earthy and a bit nutty (I can relate) and so delicious in salsa, chili, salads, soups, hummus (my fave), casseroles, this list goes on and on for these shiny, onyx black beauties. Here’s an homage to these hearty beans and their delicate flowers.

Beans aren't just for cookin'!

It’s said that refried beans can either be healthy or good, and there is some truth to that.

This recipe makes a tasty and fairly healthy filling for tacos and burritos, and tastes amazing with rice or refried and served with your breakfast eggs.

Change out the beef soup base for vegetable (I suggest Better Than Bouillon brand), and it easily becomes vegan.

The liquid from the pressure cooker has an intense salty-bean flavor (don’t panic!), but once the beans are added to the gravy, the flavors and the salt level are suddenly perfect (bean magic!).

Beans from around the world. A perfect Italian picnic or celebration featuring ingredients from the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy: arugula (known as rucola or ruchetta), Proscuitto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano as well as a glass of sparkling Italian Lambrusco wine. Buon Appetito!

Our family loves curried dishes. These curried beans are worth the effort and time.

Beans Around The World.

My mother-in-law invented this recipe as a way to feed herself and her five children on a tight budget. I confess that I didn't understand it at first, because the only goulash I had eaten was in a red sauce over noodles, whereas this recipe has other starches and has a firmer texture. However, I've come to think of it not only as comfort food, but as a kind of "stone soup" recipe, since I would not have thought to combine those particular ingredients. The stone soup thought led me to the trainyard setting, a place where all kinds of people from different backgrounds gather. It's a total coincidence, yet a happy coincidence, that I submit this illustration on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Black bean Hummus

Mexican eggs with fried beans

This is a recipe that is an all time family favorite. I would always look forward to weekends, because that meant chana masala!

Here’s a recipe for traditional refried beans with the theme of Mexico with Mexican animals and a woman making tortillas to go with the refried beans.

Beans around the world contest / This recipe is one I customized from a plain baked beans recipe, because beans heart bacon! They come out rich, sweet, smokey, and yummy, the perfect combo of baked n' bacon'd beans!