I am fortunate to have some old cookbooks which were once owned and used by David’s grandmother, Memaw Lucy.  She was a great cook.   She would make us great breakfasts of homemade biscuits, eggs, and bacon, and by the time we were done eating, we could hardly move.  Part of the reason was she’d insist that we have more!  “An egg is just two bites.  Have another!”   And because it was all so delicious, we just couldn’t resist.

So now, I have these old cookbooks which are almost falling apart.  I love looking through these worn books, and I decided I want try out more of the recipes.  I found some recipes which had been written out several times.  It kinda reminded me of the way I will print out a favorite recipe, and I end up  having several copies of them all over the place.  I prefer her handwritten version however.  These recipes must have been popular, and I want to try some of them first.

Some of the recipes are fraying around the edges and have spots on them.  These may have been frequently referred to recipes, and I definitely want to try them first too!

There are all kinds of recipes.  There are quite a few jello salads.  Several recipes include buttermilk.  One that just sounds really unusual to me is a cake recipe which has orange slices in them.  Not fresh orange slices, but those candy citrus jell orange slices!  I have no idea what that might be like, but I am going to find out!

So one of the first recipes I made is called  Faye’s Beans.

This dish has shot up to the top of David’s favorite meal list.   Here’s the recipe, and I also have the pdf linked up above for printing or saving purposes.

Faye’s Beans

1 pound pinto beans (cooked tender)

1 1/2 pound ground beef

1 large onion

1 can green chiles  (4 oz)

1 can taco sauce (4 oz) (I couldn’t find this.  I used a jar of Ortega Taco Sauce and thought it worked awesomely.)

1 large can tomatoes (I used a large can of diced tomatoes)

1/2 tsp oregano (I was out of oregano and so used none.  I didn’t miss it, but I will use next time to see how it is with oregano.)

1/2 tsp cumin.  (Since I had no oregano, I used about 3/4 tsp cumin.  Thought it was perfect.)

The recipe doesn’t mention salt.  I started with 1/2 tsp and then added to taste.  I think I ended up using about 1 tsp.)

Brown the hamburger with onion.Add spices, chiles, taco sauce and tomatoes.

Add beans and simmer about 30 minutes.

We have had it two nights in a row.  We eat it in a bowl with corn tortillas.  We also wrapped it up in corn tortillas like a soft taco.  I think it would be great as a burrito filling too.