Cheese and Beans

We had chicken fajitas tonight and it reminded me of two things we eat that might seem anti-CRON to most people.

One thing is "refried" beans. We discovered that refried beans do not actually require oil to be added to them at all - and oil is what makes them unhealthy. Typical Mexican cooking would involve siginificant quantities of lard in the recipe. But, you can have "refried" beans, if you prepare them correctly.

First of all, you will need plain cooked pinto beans. By plain, I mean no added sugar or salt pork. Several brands I have tried are too sweet and just don't taste right. I used TJ's organic pinto beans today. You can make your own, of course. Bush brand or Goya brand are also just plain beans with salt.

In a large shallow pan - like a frying pan, pour in a can of beans - liquid and all. Get out your potato masher and mash away until all the beans are broken open. Throw in a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and an ounce or two of tomato salsa. Now, turn on the heat to medium. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly. The beans liquefy rather quickly, creating that refried bean texture. I cook it until the the texture is what I am looking for - not too soupy. Watch out, it can get too dry. If, like me, you eat cheese, you can add some at the very end.

If you don't add the cheese, this is basically just plain old pinto beans. Pintos have nutrition similar to most beans - good B vitamins, minerals and fiber. Not a super food, but perfectly CR in modest quantities.

One thing I eat that many CR folk avoid is cheese. I am very fond of cheese and like to use it as an accent flavoring in many recipes. I probably average four or five ounces of cheese a week. Many years ago, I figured out that the stronger and sharper the cheese, the less you needed to get that cheesy flavor. I quit using mild cheddar at that time and switched to sharp. What a difference! You can use 1/4 the cheese for the same flavor. I tested allergic to cow's milk, so I use only goat and sheep cheese now - typically feta, romano, and goat gouda. There are many delicious hard goat cheeses available - goat gouda is one of them. Most have a similar flavor and can substitute for sharp cheddar. I avoid the creamy chevre - the soft and semi-soft goat cheeses. They are too high calorie for the amounts that you need to use. Feta is generally a lower fat cheese.

CR folk often use non-fat or low fat cheese. I might consider using them if I could - but they are typically cow's milk cheese. So, rather than eating larger quantities of low fat cheese, I work in small amounts of full fat goat cheese into a recipe. These cheeses have fairly large amounts of saturated fat - so I limit myself to an ounce or less a day.