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!).

Mexican eggs with fried beans

So, in my investigation of all things bean-related (within US dry bean varietals, of course!) I have found my obsessions to be two fold....so far: 1) in what I like to call ‘the bean sheen’, which is the lovely way dry beans pick up light in such a beautiful way....after an overnight soak, they have this polished stone-like glimmer, and their natural colours start popping just like a pebble’s hidden colour comes out when you see it shining away in a little pool of water, as opposed to when dry and muted on the beach; 2) BEAN POTS!! This curvaceous earthenware is so satisfyingly plump and happy looking, especially when brimming full of beans simmering in savoury, sweet, sticky sauce.....not to mention their history in North America and all over the world.....every nation has their own version and they cook everything in the most perfect way, as the clay works to moisten the contents, whether beans, rice or otherwise to a softness and luxurious state - never too dry, never to wet. This illo is a salute to beans (I’ve got a real bean party in every pot here with navy, baby Lima, cranberry, black, adzuki, kidney and great Northern all enjoying each other’s company) and these incredibly functional, not to mention aesthetically-pleasing cooking vessels.

A popular Ghanaian street food made from rice and beans and often eaten for breakfast. You can find millet stalks on Amazon! They impart the classic red color to the rice.

These are incredibly quick and simple and tasty & the perfect snack for January when you still feel vaguely bad about eating all those Christmas cookies.

For a good while I was cooking from Paul Prudhomme's "Fiery Foods That I Love". He has a recipe for a rolled bread using leftover beans. It wasn't a total success for me as a bread, because the beans were sloppy and thus the bread was hard to slice and store. However, rolls, I think, are a whole other story! Easy to bake, eat, store, and freeze any leftovers.

Because Paul Prudhomme was a Cajun cook from New Orleans, I decided to give this recipe a Mardi Gras flair via the parade (the drum straps are Mardi Gras beads) and colors.

For ages and ages there was this very satisfyingly plump pottery pot on my grandma’s kitchen shelf at our family cottage. I had no idea what the purpose for it was, but as a wee kiddo, I sure loved staring at its glossy surface....I remember it reflecting any light in the room brilliantly. Just a cool beans sheen this chubbo pot had. It was yellow, but had definitely been well used into more of a deep mustard hue on its hot spots. The only thing I’d ever seen prepared in it was my other grandma’s wild rice casserole, which though very healthy, I didn’t like too much (note: I’m sure there are some beautiful, toothsome wild rice casseroles out there, seasoned and delicious but this one was BLAND). Anyhow, I didn’t realize until just today (legit) that this lovely pot’s sole reason for being was to cook....wait for it....beans!!!!!!!! And I’m sure they’d be delicious. Maybe next summer on a rainy, coolish night, I’ll try baking up some sweet, sticky, mustardy, boozy baked beans. Oh, it’s a must. Hail the beautiful bean pot! Curvaceous and so enticing ;) this - albeit quick - sketch is just an ode to the happiness that this lovely kitchenware brings me, in both nostalgia and potential. I’m also really trying to just let myself loose a bit more with illustrating. I loved the quote Salli posted the other day....“I’d rather have no style than any style” (Ed Ruscha, via Salli Swindell). Trying to get out of the headspace of comparison and pressing too hard (literally and figuratively) and instead just letting the ideas flow. Definitely a work in progress to be mindful in this practice.

Beans Around The World. It’s a energy fueling meal in a bowl ! Add your own special touch with extra ingredients,(Celery? Cilantro? Onion?) make it spicy, add your favorite herbs, or switch out the dressing. It’s easy, naturally gluten free, & protein packed 👍

Cochise County and Graham County in Southeastern Arizona grow 93% of the dry beans in the state!

if you are Celiac, gluten sensitive, or just want more protein & fiber in you diet, try replacing bean flour with your regular flour. It works well in many recipes & it's yummy 😋

What I love the most about travelling is to try every single dish I find on my way ..
I remember perfectly when I had my first CHANA Masala and how deeply it made me fall in love with Indian cuisine!
In this vegetarian dish is all about Garbanzos beans , Cooked in a spicy curry sauce and usually served with white rice or naan bread. So yummy you would not believe it!

Beans Around The World.

When I was a teenager, my best friend's father flew to Brazil and returned with a Brazilian good luck charm for my charm bracelet. Since that time, I have enjoyed making and eating Brazilian black beans. And I have been fascinated with certain similar shapes that appear in Brazilian imagery, both natural and man-made. I hope you agree!

My loving Abuela always used to stock this particular humble can of beans in her deep pantry. The warm colors and bold typography always evokes a strong sense of nostalgia whenever it catches my hungry eyes in a store.

So many varieties of leaves, vines, bushes, and flowers develop into these wonderful and colorful beans.

The tradition of black eye peas on New Years Day! Great start to a healthy new year!