Frijoles Rancheros
My grandparents, of blessed memory, raised my sisters and I, from the time our mother committed suicide (I was 12, and came home and found her). My grandparents lived through the great depression, ane developed tastes for a variety of nutritious meal combinations. To this day, I get a taste for those foods, which we ate on a fairly regular basis. This is one of them
I found some really good, genuine beef bacon (comes in a slab) that I wanted to try out in a pot of beans. I found it in a local Middle-Eastern store (Brother and Sister brand).
First, frijoles rancheros (ranch style pinto beans): fresh dry pinto beans, a nice amount of diced beef bacon, Hawaiian sweet onion, fresh ground black pepper, and sea salt. Most do not put salt into the pot until the beans are done. This is because it might tend to make them a bit tough. For my purposes, I hate mushy beans, and they need to stand up until they are all consumed, so I put salt in at the outset of simmering.
Next, a nice cornbread. My great-grandmother, of blessed memory, used to make cornbread for literally every meal. I had never made one, but it turned out quite good: unbleached four, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, milk, butter, and an egg.
The beans and cornbread provide for a complete protein complement, and tastes pretty good too.
Enjoy,
Rich P