Menu suggestion. Serve with brussels sprouts, stewed tomatoes, and celery sticks, have sauteed peach halves for dessert.
Beans and sausage, Mexican style
25 portions, 1 cup each
1½ quarts (2½ pounds) dry kidney beans 4½ quarts boiling water 1 quart chopped onion 1¼ cups chopped green pepper 1 tablespoon minced garlic 4 pounds bulk pork sausage 1 quart bean liquid 2 tablespoons salt 2 tablespoons chili powder (or to taste) 2 quarts canned tomatoes ½ cup sifted all-purpose flour
Add beans to boiling water and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and soak in the hot water 1 hour. Or if more convenient, soak overnight after the 2-minute boil. Cook beans in the soaking liquid about 1 hour (slightly underdone). Drain; save the liquid and if necessary add water to make 1 quart.
Combine onion, green pepper, garlic, and sausage. Cook until sausage is light brown, breaking it up as it cooks. Add beans, bean liquid, salt, chili powder, and tomatoes, reserving ½ cup tomato liquid. Blend flour with reserved tomato liquid and add to bean mixture. Blend well. Simmer until thickened (about 30 minutes), stirring frequently to prevent sticking.
To serve immediately. Simmer until beans are tender. Serve on mounds of fluffy rice.
To freeze. Cool the bean and sausage mixture quickly. Pack in freezer containers, leaving head space ([p. 4]). Seal and freeze immediately.
To prepare for serving. Add a small amount of water and reheat in a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Or reheat in the top of a double boiler. Or bake at 400° F. (hot oven) until the food is heated through, about 45 minutes for pints, 1 hour for quarts.
Menu suggestion. Serve plain or on rice, with tossed green salad and french bread, and for dessert have pineapple sherbet.