I’ve been trying this recently and wanted to ask for thoughts, good or bad. I usually do this post, but sometimes I’ll do pre-workout if I have some gap time as I prefer to train in the mornings.
I rinse the black beans and then mix both together with the water from the corn. There’s a nice sweetness from the corn/water which prevents the black beans from being too bland. This costs $1.60 meal from Costco, and it’s high in natural, unprocessed carbs, protein, AND fiber.
Unless the corn is organic, there’s a good chance its GMO corn (round up ready), and may have traces of glyphosate in it which is turning out to be a carcinogen.
I love this as a meal but I usually bake or sauute some sweet potato and/or veggies (broccoli actually works great). Takes a little longer but if you bake 5-10 sweet potatoes all at once at the beginning of the week, you can dump that corn/bean mixture over the top of one and douse in hot sauce and it is amazing.
Actually I just had 1/2 a sweet potato with homemade (no lard) refried beans with a healthy dose of Cholula hot sauce on them for lunch. Tasty for sure and not unlike the corn and black beans above.
I used to live in an agricultural area where all the corn was GMO. Lots of riding on agricultural roads. I don’t remember the company, but it’s possible to send in a sample of your urine to test for glyphosate. Fortunately my level came back below detectable. Got to be careful.
Like many things, agricultural chemicals have an unknown effect on human biology. The safe minimum dose is unknown. The Imperial Valley of California has a high incidence of carcinoma of the pancreas, for example. The case currently before Monsanto/Bayer is due to chronic high exposure. For example it was very difficult to prove that cigarette smoke was a direct cause of lung cancer. To me it seems best to avoid such things as much as possible. The healthier we are, the faster we go in the short term, and the better we age in the long term.
The recipe I have uses an Instant Pot. However, that isn’t necessary, it just speeds up the process of cooking the beans.
Also, I use a food processor, again while not necessary (the recipe calls for a potato masher) it does make for a really creamy texture.
Ingredients
1 cup dried pinto beans, soaked for 8 hours and drained
3 cups water
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon fine seal salt
Combine the drained beans, water, onion and garlic in the Instant Pot
Stir well, making sure the beans are submerged. Secure the lid and move the steam release value to Sealing. Select Manual/Pressure Cook to cook at high pressure for 20 minutes.
When the cooking cycle is complete, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then move the steam release value to Venting to release any remaining pressure. When the floating value drops, remove the lid and drain the beans, reserving the liquid.
Return the cooked beans to the Instant Pot and stir in 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid along with the cumin, chili powder, black pepper, cayenne and salt. Use a potato masher to mash the cooked beans until smooth, leaving some texture if you like. I use a food processor for this step and only add enough liquid back to achieve the consistency I like.
Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt as needed.
