• two good sized red potatoes
• small onion
• bell pepper
• green onions
• dash of: cumin, chili powder, garlic, oregano, basil, pepper
• pinch of salt
• fresh cilantro
• bit of oil
• tomatoes
• whole wheat tortillas
• salsa (optional)
• lime (optional)

Dice up potatoes and cook in pan that has been lightly covered with oil (I use olive). Add diced onions, bell pepper, and green onions. Brown. Add spices. Add diced tomatoes. Cook until potatoes are done. Add fresh cilantro.

Warm tortillas, add potato mixture. (I warm my tortillas on the stove top with foil on the burners. If you have a gas stove, or a tortilla warmer, you're lucky!) Optional are added fresh lime juice to the burritos, and/or salsa.

Serves: 2-3

Preparation time: 20min.

Greek Salad

• 4 large good tomatoes
• 1 jar artichoke hearts
• a handful of Kalamata olives
• 1 small cucumber
• 1 or 2 green peppers
• 1 small onion
• Balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• oregano, salt and pepper to taste

Wash all veggies and dry thorougly. Cut everything except the olives and the spices into chunks, not slices (even the onions!). Toss together in your favorite salad bowl. Add the oregano and a couple of tablespoons each of the vinegar and olive oil and toss again. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Feel free to add or remove ingredients at will--just keep the proportion of tomatoes to other stuff pretty constant.

Serves: 2-4 (Depending on how it's served)

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Mexican Beans and Rice

• 2 C Cooked black beans
• 1 10oz pkg frozen whole kernel corn
• 1 C raw white rice (can use brown, but should parboil a little)
• 1 jar (16oz) thick and chunky mild salsa
• 1.5 C V8 (or you can blend together 3/4 C canned diced tomatos with green chiles and 3/4 C water)
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp cumin

Heat oven to 375' Combine all ingredients, stir to mix and bake for 1.25 hours, or until rice is tender, and casserole has started to thicken. Serve with tortillas. Enough for four servings.

Refried Beans

• 2/3 cup pinto beans
• 1/3 cup kidney beans
• 2-3 large onions (or more), chopped
• 4-6 cloves garlic (or more), chopped
• 2-3 bell peppers (or more), chopped
• 1-2 hot peppers (more or less, to taste), chopped

Change water, if desired, and simmer until beans are mashed easily by a fork (check after 1 hour, they'll probably be done by 1-1/2 hours).

Meanwhile:

Saute in olive oil (separately or together, you decide) onions, garlic, bell peppers, and hot peppers.

Now drain the beans fairly thoroughly. Mush (I use a hand mixer - take about 2 cups at a time in a bowl and pulverize with mixer. Put the mush back and get another two cups. Continue until you get desired consistency. I like mine slightly chunky. You could also use a potato masher,fork, food processor; whatever is at hand will probably work.) If you like thinner refried beans, add some of the cooking water as you mush.

Add the sauteed vegetables and mix. Add hot salsa (about 1/2 cup for this amount of beans) or chopped, fresh tomatoes. Add salt and pepper. Add anything else that strikes your fancy - parsley, cilantro, tabasco sauce, dill, black olives, cinnamon (Not ALL of these, of course...)

Purists may now put the beans in a frying pan (probably in several batches) and thicken up - I eat them as is.

The main fat in this comes from the olive oil used in saute-ing. You can use as much or as little as you want. (I generally use 6-8 tablespoons for this amount of stuff - not a whole lot in a gallon of refrieds..)

Source: The original author of this recipe is unkown.

Spanish Rice

• 3 T. vegetable shortening
• 1/2 c. onion, diced
• 1 14 oz. can whole tomatoes
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 3 c. water
• 1 1/2 c. raw rice
• 1/2 c. diced bell pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cumin powder (comino)

Melt shortening in large skillet. Add rice & saute till golden brown. Reduce heat. Add onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic & pepper. Mix well. Add 1 1/2 c. warm water, salt, and cumin powder. Cover, let simmer till almost dry. Add 1 1/2 c. COLD water, a little at a time. Cook over low till fluffy.

Sweet & Sour Bean Dish

• 4 med onions, cut into rings
• 1/2 cup brown
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 cans butter beans
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 lg can baked beans

Spray frying pan with pam, add sliced onions, sugar, mustard, garlic powder, salt, vinegar. Cook for 5 min. Add beans, pour into large casserole, cover & bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Serves: 8-10.

Preparation time: 20 min.

Copyright 1997-2002 Idocs, Inc. Written by Miko Sullivan.