My Daily Plate

Tonight's Daily Plate is whimsical, if nothing else. We had a couple of packages of Hebrew National brand 98-percent fat free wieners. So, I got to thinking about my childhood and the infamous canned franks and beans which were something akin to eating lumpy wallpaper paste. I'm happy to say that beenie weenies made from scratch are a hundred times better than the canned stuff. The recipe is easy enough. I used dry cranberry beans, since that's what I had on hand. Most recipes call for navy or small white beans. I was limited on time today, so I used my pressure cooker for the beans. I rinsed a 28-oz package of beans and placed them in the pressure cooker. I covered them with water about two inches above the beans. I sealed and brought the cooker up to pressure and then turned it off and let it sit for an hour. Then, I drained the water off and filled it again, this time with 8 cups of water. I brought the pressure cooker back up to pressure and cooked the beans for 10 mi

For our lunch on Sunday, I made chicken enchiladas, pinto beans and brown rice. I didn't photograph it, but we had leftover pinto beans. So, for supper tonight, my Daily Plate is a tamale pie using the leftover pinto beans. The tamale pie was made from 96/4 lean ground beef browned with diced onions and minced garlic. Then I poured the meat into a casserole dish. I topped the beef with some beans, a couple of cups of frozen corn, a can of Rotel, a can of tomato sauce, sprinkled it generously with chile powder and popped it into a 425-degree oven to warm through. Meanwhile, I mixed up the cornbread topping. The cornbread consists of 1 1/2 cups of corn meal, 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 cup canola oil, 1 tsp. salt, two eggs and enough buttermilk to make a loose batter (about 1 1/2 cups). I also added a finely chopped jalapeno pepper and about a cup of shredded cheddar cheese to the mix, but those are optional.