Now I should start by talking about my refried beans. When you go to a Mexican restaurant, they give you a runny paste that looks like it was left in a blender for a few minutes. We like our beans with a little consistency to it. My late ex wife was married to a Mexican in San Antonio, TX before she met me and she came up with her own version of beans. My step daughter and I still prefer her beans to any other style. I should also say that her "style" is cheating. Mexican food purists will read this blog and think I'm nuts, but every Mexican I served this to (in Pasadena, TX) and that my daughter who is still serving it to (in central Texas) love our beans. If it's good enough to serve to Mexicans from Mexico without complaints, don't knock it till you try it. My daughter's friends always have her make the beans because they prefer it to their own.

So, to get that out of the way, let's talk about refried beans.

cooked .7 lbs of "meat market" bacon till it was crispy,
saved the grease,
washed the pan.
opened 7 cans of generic pinto beans from china-mart. ( the reason for using generic is the juice drains better. Bush's beans have a real thick juice)
drained 5 and dumped them all in the pan.
crumbled the bacon into the pan.
added a good sample of the grease for flavor.
crushed with the bottom of a glass.
added salt to taste and a pinch of Caribbean jerk seasoning ( I now have borrocho bean seasoning)

and let then it simmer for a while.



Breakfast was Huevos Rancheros with homemade tortillas

I fired up the Old Smokey with Kingsford and a good healthy supply of Mesquite wood chunks.
I started with the chicken. I seared it and moved it to the side


I seared the beef  (Using ribeyes from the freezer) and slid it over beside the chicken


I heated up a cast iron skillet with veggie oil and fried the veggies and peppers


I chopped up the steak and put it in the skillet.


I broke up the hamburger and added taco seasoning.

Then it was eating time. I cooked the corn tortillas. and started stuffing.

when I ran out of corn tortillas, I pulled out the store bought flour tortillas. I was full enough to realize I didn't make the pico de gallo and I forgot to pull out the cheese and sour cream. I skipped the pico but pulled out the rest.

Now for some chili (Enchilada toppings) 

I threw a whole bunch of new twists into my chili and I got away with it. it's not "my" chili but it's good.
I threw these ingredients in it with 3 lbs of mesquite smoked stew meat.

I got the meatless chili cooking down and waited for the temp/humidity to cool off a little before going out to smoke the meat. I added two packets of Big Ron's chili powder in the pot and I thought I messed up when I tasted it (too much) but it cooked down and blended in nicely.

I had a friend down the road who had his Old Smokey fired up from smoking some leg quarters, so I threw all the meat and peppers on the jeep and went down and used his grill. I stuck my mesquite in there and smoked it all up. the peppers were "sweet peppers" from wal-mart's veggie section (and a red bell). they are pretty good.

threw it all back on the jeep and slid back to the house. I had to take it easy because the mud was flaking off and I didn't want any clay seasoning.

I added the meat and bell with a dozen quartered cherry tomatoes and it was ready.


I have no idea what these sweet peppers are so I taste tested each one before adding it to the pot, but it all worked out. I saved half of them for the next day.


damn good chili. needs some tweeks but everything went together nicely


Breakfast!
More Huevos Rancheros

Enchiladas
The first step was smoking two T-bones. My friend called and said his grill was still at 200F. I jumped into the Jeep and had a look. it was full of ash. I used the grate to sift the coals from the ashes. I added more coals and some wood and had it ready to grill in less than 10 minutes

Hauled everything back home


Steak enchiladas with beans, cheese, onion, peppers, and topped with cheese and chili

Chicken enchiladas with cheese and peppers, topped with cheese and chili