Oh, I love frybread. I could eat an entire batch myself! ^.^ I found a recipe I really like. I’m not sure how authentic it is, but it turns out tasting great and bubbling up nicely for me. This is one of the few things I have NO problem frying (okay the first time I had some problems, but now I know what the heck is going on!). Not something for the kids to be involved with, though, the oil spits and spatters if the pan isn’t deep enough. Fun to watch, not so fun if your 5 yo wants to watch (which she didn’t, thankfully).

So, for dinner last night, the first thing I should have done was realize the night before that since I wanted to make navajo tacos for dinner the next night, I should probably start soaking the beans. Instead I got to use the “quick soak” method. I was also out of the main seasoning stuff from my usual recipe, so I had to wing it. Pretty easy, actually so here’s the recipe for my beans from last night (even better than the previous batch, I think, we’ll know for sure when they get fried):

Oniony Beans
Prep 5 minutes, Cook 6 hours+, makes 7 cups

• 1 pound pinto beans
• 2 qt. water
• 1 t. salt
• 2 t. Onion Soup Mix – or the kind you can buy in the store

1. Since you (I) forgot to soak the beans overnight, take your beans and put them in a big pot and pour 1 quart of water over them (this is 4 cups, just so you don’t have to look up the conversion). Bring to a boil (fast is fine, no need to baby them). Boil for 2 minutes.
2. While it is coming to a boil, pour 1 quart (4 cups, again ^.^) of water into your crockpot. It is important to not boil both qts. so you don’t shock your stoneware. Once the 2 minutes of boiling is up, pour the water and beans into the crockpot, put the lid on and let them soak/steam for 1 hour.
3. Then add the seasoning and turn your crockpot on. If you have 8-10 hours, go with low. It was noon by the time I got to this point, so I cooked them on high for 5 hours, and then turned the crockpot off while I fixed the rest of dinner, so the beans would cool down enough to eat when we were ready.

This is the second fastest way I know of to cook beans (the first fastest starts with, “Get a can opener . . .”). The beans tasted so yummy, with a good onion flavor coming through, without big chunks of onion. My one year old gobbled up about a cupful of these, and passed on the cheesy frybread in favor of the beans! Weird boy.

Make sure leftovers get put away with some of the bean juice for frying! Yumyumyumyumyum . . .

For the rest of dinner, I had thawed some mexican flavored cooked chicken, which I reheated with some sauteed onions in a big skillet. I added some more chili powder, and a little chicken stock, so that the chicken would end up very moist. Once I got it heated, I stuck it on the back burner on low and just let it simmer and let the flavors meld while I fried the frybread. I also shredded some lettuce.

So, to assemble:
Plate
Frybread
Spoonful of beans
Spoonful of chicken
Shredded cheese
Hot Sauce if you need it
Lettuce
Sour Cream

If you can, eat it folded like a taco, or if you made it to full and tall (or the beans have soaked through the bread!), use a fork. Either way, total yumminess! We have leftovers of everything, so if someone makes one for lunch, I’ll take a pic . . .