One Can Pinto Beans
When I saw “1 can Pinto beans” on the grocery list Nyel handed me, I’m sure my eyebrows went up to their maximum height. We don’t do cans. Not usually. Except for canned diced tomatoes and canned tomato sauce, unsalted, that we order by the case from Mark Bolden at Jack’s. They don’t, as a rule, stock unsalted canned goods plus, that’s one of the few canned things we buy.
We don’t buy packaged processed foods either. Or those frozen ready-to-heat-and-eat things. I tried a TV dinner back in the fifties and all I could taste was salt, sugar, and chemical preservatives. Periodically, my friends tell me, “Oh, those frozen meals have come a long way since then, Sydney” and so I try some specially recommended item.
Chalk it up to jaded palates, but neither Nyel nor I have hit on anything we’ll repeat. Except Costco’s meat lasagna that has become our signature offering at House Concerts. Any uncertainties on our part were outweighed by the onerous task of making lasagna (which we love!) from scratch. Most everything else, though — from scratch it is!
“How come?” I asked about that can of beans. “We have plenty of dry beans.”
Lunch!
“Well, our slow cooker has sprung a couple of leaks…” He didn’t have to say more.
Thirty-some years of marriage means I could fill in the blanks. Research into a replacement slow cooker (or instant cooker or…) will be thorough and time consuming. Meanwhile, one can of pinto beans, thoroughly rinsed, will have to do for the tostados he’s wanting to make… Works for me.
And, so it was yesterday that I had to go up and down the aisles at Jack’s looking for that can of pinto beans. I hardly ever veer away from the outer edges – you know, the produce (which seems to be shrinking) and the dairy and the meats, so the canned good aisle is a mystery to me. I managed everything else just fine – radishes, green onions, slicing tomatoes, romaine lettuce (but I had to get red leaf; that’s all there was), green pepper, cucumber, a package of sourdough English muffins.
Quesadillas for Dinner!
Barbara Poulshock was behind me in the check-out line. We chit-chatted about the usual – her choir, the weather, grocery store sticker shock. “You’re eating mighty healthy,” she said, glancing in my basket. I smiled…
She must not have seen those pinto beans!
I am with you on buying canned goods. We buy our diced tomatoes by the case at Costco, and that is about it. If your slow cooker is toast, I highly recommend the Instantpot. I stay away from trendy gadgets, but this gets used so much it never gets put away. And as far as dried beans, check out Ranchogordo.com. It has changed my relationship with dried beans. ?
Jane
Last year I stayed at a charming farm, an AirBnB in the middle of Nebraska, called Stubby Acres. I love the Swiss Mennonite family who (against all odds!) grow organic beans and organic popcorn. Heirloom beans are the rage this year (read in Saveur and The New Yorker feature articles about dried beans – seriously). Who knew there is such a qualitative difference between fresh dried beans and old dried beans!! But I can attest. So now I order them for myself, tickled they come right from the heartland rather than off the shelf. Contact joannawiebe.68@gmail.com if you want to order one for yourself or others. And yes, the Instant Hot Pot will cook them perfectly in 20 minutes! I sent one to each of my kids for Christmas and, besides the SmartWool socks they beg for, this gift was a fav! More beans, please.