One of my favorite hearty winter meals from my childhood was my mom’s pinto beans with Indian fry bread. I experimented with smoked chicken and came up with the following recipe. I don’t make fry bread but it’s good with dinner rolls, too.

1 qt chicken broth
2 cups dry pinto beans, sorted & rinsed but not soaked
1 1/2 cups diced smoked chicken, including skin if you like the texture (which I do!)
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbs yellow mustard
1 tsp Tabasco optional

Put broth and beans in saucepan, add garlic and onion. Bring to a gentle simmer. Cook on low for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. Add chicken and let simmer some more. After about 2 hours, the beans should be nice and soft. Add mustard and simmer for another couple of hours, stirring occasionally. To get to the perfect consistency, summer for a total of four hours (though it can be eaten  once the beans are cooked through). It’s better the next day, with or without fry bread! Also can be made in a crock pot (which my mom did; I don’t have one, though).