Recipe Swap: Beans and Tortillas

One of our favorite meals is also one of most frugal meals: Pinto Beans and Tortillas.

It is so yummy!

The key to this meal is definitely the tortillas. I make homemade tortillas. If you've never tried homemade tortillas, you must. They are nothing like the cardboard that you buy at the store.

The recipe that I use for my tortillas is here. I like this recipe because she does a great job breaking down everything that you do. Just to reinterate one thing: You must put the cooked tortilla into a plastic bag. This creates the steam that you need to soften your tortillas. Otherwise you get hard tortillas that everyone complains about and makes them swear that they will never make again.

The pinto beans are incredibly easy, which is perfect because you'll be busy with the tortillas. You can have just beans and chicken broth, nothing else. Or, you can jazz it up a million different ways.

Here's what I did over Christmas that won rave reviews: I chopped up carrots, celery and onions and added them to the beans and chicken broth (water + 1 tsp buillion per cup). Then, I plopped in a leftover frozen ham bone. I boiled it and then let it simmer all day long. At the end of the day, the ham had fallen completely off the bone. The beans had such a wonderful flavor to them.

So, you must try beans and homemade tortillas. Super cheap and super yummy.

For more cheap and yummy recipes, check out The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.