Elementary Chef

The Cinco de Mayo countdown continues! Today’s recipe is for refried beans. I know you can get refried beans in a can. And you can dump a couple of cans into a sauce pan, and no one will be much the wiser. BUT, if you want to go the extra mile… Try making your beans from scratch. Yum.

Serve refried beans as a starchy accompaniment or as a filling for tacos, enchiladas, Tostadas and the other dishes which call for refried beans.

Refried Beans
6 c. water
1 bag dried kidney beans
1 onion, diced
3 T hot bacon drippings (feel free to toss in the bacon, too! You can substitute butter for vegetarian beans.)
Salt, to taste
Garlic, to taste (about 1-2 t)
Chili powder, to taste (about 1-2 T)

Combine beans and water in slow cooker. Cook on high for one hour, then turn down to low. Simmer until beans are very tender. Mash beans with a potato masher, add bacon drippings (and bacon) or butter. Mix well; continue cooking, stirring frequently until beans are thickened and fat is absorbed. Add seasonings to taste.

cinco de mayo, dinner party, refried beans, Mexican, recipes

Time for your dinner party dessert recipe! Flan is one of my favorite desserts ever. We vacation in Mexico some, and I look forward to the flan for WEEKS before we go! Maybe it’s the caramel sauce… Maybe it’s the custard… Maybe I should go make a batch and figure it out!

Flan

3 C sugar
2 T water
8 eggs, beaten
1/2 t salt
4 C milk
1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Heat 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan over high heat, stirring constantly. After the sugar has melted and turned a deep brown color, add 2 T water and mix well. Pour mixture into a 6-1/2 inch (small pie size) baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, stir together eggs, 2 C sugar, and salt.

Pour 4 C milk into a saucepan, heat until just boiling, stirring constantly. Stir 6 T of the milk into the egg mixture and mix well. Then pour the egg mixture into the rest of the hot milk and mix well. Add vanilla. Pour mixture into baking dish.

Place the baking dish into a deep (lasagna type) baking pan. Fill the baking pan with hot water halfway up the side of the dish (being careful not to get water in the custard mixture.) Bake for 1 hour or until the custard is set. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (This is an excellent recipe to prepare the night before your dinner party!) When ready to serve, turn the custard upside down onto a plate.

cinco de mayo, dinner party, party, flan, dessert, recipes

Today is your first weekend of planning for your Cinco de Mayo dinner party! If you’ve been following along at Elementary Chef, then you already have a lot of the bases covered! At the end of these posts, I’ll include a list of the links you need so far to prepare for your guests! This weekend, you need to think about who you’re going to invite and INVITE them! I recently learned of a new invitation site — www.mypunchbowl.com. These folks already have 2 ready-designed Cinco de Mayo invites, and the site is very easy to navigate. Think in terms of inviting 6-8 people, depending on your comfort level.

Here is our menu:
- Margaritas, Dos Equis, Iced Tea
- Nachos Grande
- Soft and hard tacos
- Chili relleno
- Mexican rice
- Refried beans
- Flan

The rest of the recipes will come in the next 2 weeks, along with a detailed shopping list. Invite away!