Happy fall everybody! I’ve got my warm apple pie candle going, we’re watching a scary movie and I’m about to make an apple tart from my apple picking adventure yesterday, so I’d say I’m autumn-ing it up pretty hardcore right about now. I’m even whipping up a new meatloaf + mashed potato dinner tonight which is perfect when the weather gets chilly like this as I need to put on my winter weight. 😀

So meatloaf will be my next post, but for now – and on this meatless Monday – I wanted to share this recipe I was sort of forced into due to my imperfect produce box (which I LOVE btw). I get all kinds of things delivered that I’ve never used before so it’s fun to sort out what I can make with the ingredients. I had to google “peruano” beans when I got a bag of them, and found out they’re also called canary beans. I found this incredibly easy recipe for refried beans, so thought I’d give it a shot.

Luckily they turned out incredibly yummy! They have a lighter more buttery flavor than pinto beans that I thought was a perfect base to layer lots of flavor onto when stacking the tostada. Obviously you can layer whatever you’d like, but I kept it pretty simple with cheese, cilantro, avocado, chopped raw onion, a squeeze of lime and hot salsa verde. YES, QUEEN.

Ingredients
2 cups peruano beans
1/2 white onion
3 tbs lard
salt to taste
+ tostadas and choice of toppings

First rinse the beans. Then add to a large pot with 12 cups of water, the 1/2 onion and 2 tbs of lard. Bring this to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about two hours until the beans are soft. Stir the beans a few times during this process and add more water if needed. You’ll want some liquid at the end of cooking as it will help get smooth, yummy beanos. Once the beans are done, add in 1 1/2 tsp salt and stir.

Next up you need to mash the beans. I liked keeping some of the beans whole to give a more hearty bite, but your call. To mash the beans I removed the beans and about a cup of the liquid at a time as needed as I mashed the beans to get to my desired consistency.

To fry the beans, get a skillet on medium-high heat and add 1 tbs of lard and then the beans, which is best to do in a couple of batches. Fry-time should be pretty minimal – just about 2-3 minutes.

And that’s it! Serve as a side with some tacos or on a tostada like I’ve done and top with whatever your heart wants. You won’t regret having these handy!