Frijoles de la olla are incredibly delicious, very cheap, and easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 1lb bag of dried beans (I prefer pinto & black)
• buncha fresh herbs, whatever you have on hand or leftover: basil, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, green onions are my favorite, but yellow/white onion works too
• 6+ garlic cloves
• couple bay leaves (optional, but I like to include 'em)
• 5 quarts water
• 1 tablespoon salt (2 if you have diamond crystal)

Recipe:

• pour out beans onto counter and look through them, picking out any super fucked up, broken, shriveled up ones and any stones
• rinse beans under tap for a little bit, no need to do it for long
• fill up big pot with 5 quarts water
• add all your herbs, you can wrap them in cheese cloth or tie a little twine around them but after making these a few times now I like them straight in the water
• make sure you peel and crush your garlic before you toss it into the water
• add beans and stir a little bit
• heat uncovered and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer
• add salt now and stir
• simmer for 1.5-2 hours, this'll depend on how fresh your dried beans are, I usually start checking them around 1hr
• stir occasionally and make sure there's still enough liquid to cover the beans by a few inches, if it gets low add some more
• you don't want your beans to start splitting and breaking down too much, so once they start splitting and are tender, they're done
• if you put the herbs in directly, this is the only annoying part - you'll have to fish out the stems, skins, bay leaves, etc. don't worry about getting all of the herb remnants, just the stuff that's easy to get - you might want to use a strainer but if you do, SAVE THE LIQUID TO ADD BACK TO THE BEANS it's part of why they're so good

And there you have it - super delicious beans, I promise you'll be surprised at how good they are with this technique.

Also after they're cooked, you can always mash them with some of the liquid, add some fat (lard or butter) and you've got amazing refried beans.

Also highly recommend making your own tortillas, but I'll save that for another post.