tonights dinner

i recently learned to cook beans. not canned beans, but the kind that come in the bags for 69 cents. really basic, cheap dinner. i bought a bag of pintos. soaked them over night, and then stuck them in the crockpot all day with about half a box of veggie broth (gluten free, yeast free, MUST read EVERY label.) and water enough to cover the beans. i also added garlic. what to do with the beans to make them a meal. maybe some meat? i bought some beef hebrew national franks (call me lazy, but its quick easy meat. and i do love hot dogs, one of the few hot dogs i can actually eat. yay me!) i was saving these to put in with some split peas. i should really buy ham for that though. so i think, omg! beans and franks. comfort little kid food, gotta love it. so looking online for beans and franks recipes... harder than one would think. most recipes call for cans of pork and beans or baked beans. how boring is that? or they call for ketchup and worstershire sauce. neither of which i can have (except for this ketchup i made from scratch. ive made this about three times, and its always amazing, and is actually totally easy! and could also become an accidental bbq sauce. win win). with that being said i end up taking bits and pieces of recipes and praying they turn out. so i ended up taking parts of this recipe from Rachel Ray. turns out i had no cumin so i used 1/2 teaspoon curry powder instead. i also added a drizzle of light molasses. black pepper to taste.

along with that, my first ever biscuits! (a bit saltier than i'd like, but still totally tasty. maybe cook a smidge less time as well. i also used unsweetened vanilla soy milk.. all i had in the fridge.) these would be perfect with gravy.

but overall super tasty and even though time consuming totally easy meal. which i will be eating for a decade. but success none the less!