Veggie Mexican with Refried Beans

Mr VST and I have both read and really enjoyed Chris McDougal's book Born to Run. It's a fantastic book about running, barefoot running and the Tarahumara Indians who live in the Copper Canyons and live a running lifestyle. There diet is very simple and when they go on their 50 mile runs they eat chia seeds, pinole and pinto beans. We were shopping a while back and Mr VST spotted some pinto beans. I think he was hopeful that eating a few beans might turn him into a super-runner without thinking too much about all the running that the Tarahumara do their whole lives.

I hadn't cooked beans from scratch before. It seems like a lot of hard work and it was. The packet says soak them in cold water for 8-10 hours and preferably overnight, which I did. It then says to rinse them, add fresh water, bring them to the boil and boil for ten minutes followed by simmering for an hour. I looked up some healthy refried beans recipes and came across a couple here. I decided to simmer the beans for 50 minutes, then add some crushed garlic, ground cumin, a dash of olive oil and tomato purée and let them simmer for a further 20 minutes before mashing them roughly.

They were surprisingly tasty and went really well in a flour wrap with my usual veggie mix and some salad.