Mexican Style Pinto Beans

I have lots of bean recipes.  You what they say about the whole "musical fruit" thing...I guess we go for it because we eat lots of beans.  I love, love, love the typical refried beans and I usually make those, but my sister made these beans and we all loved them.  I made a double batch of this recipe to take to our small group nacho bar potluck and didn't have many leftovers!  What was leftover my kids ate with a spoon for lunch today.

These ranch beans are perfect wrapped in a tortilla, dipped with tortilla chips or in chili.

Mexican Style Pinto Beans

adapted from sparkpeople.com

1 lb dried pinto beans, or 2 c. dried beans

3 Tb. cumin

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

3 tsp. smoked paprika

3 tsp. granulated garlic

2 Tb. chili powder

1 Tb. salt

1 large onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped (any color)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 can Rotel, undrained

1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes

3-4 c. water (or more if you don't soak the beans head of time)

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Rinse the beans and cover them with water and soak overnight.  If you don't have time to soak the beans, just add more cooking time in the morning and 1-2 c. more water.  Rinse the soaked beans and add to your slow cooker.  Measure all dry seasonings, add to the slow cooker, and stir the beans to coat.  Add in the onion, bell pepper, garlic, rotel, tomatoes and water, and stir.  (You want enough liquid to cover the beans.)  Cook on low 4-6 hours, adjusting salt or seasonings as you like.  Stir in the cilantro once the beans are cooked. You can keep the beans on warm as long as you need before serving.  

 

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Beef & Bean Stew

I had a bag of dried northern beans and wanted to use them up so I began my recipe search and found this recipe.  I used it as a basis for this soup and it was so good!  We will make this over and over again, it's easy to put together in the crockpot and is nice to have dinner prep all ready well before the dinner rush.  This recipe is a great way to use up an inexpensive, more tough cut of beef such as a chuck steak or London broil because slow cooking will make it fall apart. 

It is finally crisp in Phoenix, so this is a great recipe to try now!

Beef & Bean Stew (Slow Cooker)

recipe adapted from bhg.com

1 lb dried northern beans (canellini beans)

12 oz. lean beef, cut into 1'' cubes

salt, pepper & 1 tsp. smoked paprika to season the beef

8 oz. bulk Italian sausage (I used fresh chicken sausage)

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced

3 medium onions, coarsely chopped

5 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

6 cups water

4 tsp. instant beef granules or 4 beef boulion cubes

1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed

1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed

1/2 c. dry red wine (merlot, cabernet, etc.)

1/3 c. tomato paste

fresh parsley, chopped for serving

Soak the beans overnight.  Drain and rinse them and add to a crockpot. Heat a skillet & 1 Tb. olive oil over medium heat, season the beef well with salt, pepper and paprika.  Brown beef on all sides and add to the crockpot. (It isn't necessary to cook the beef completely.) Add the sausage to the skillet and cook completely, adding to the crockpot when finished. Add all other ingredients to the crockpot and stir well.  Cook on low all day or high 4-6 hours.  Stir occasionally throughout the day. Taste and adjust salt & pepper. Sprinkle individual bowls with fresh parsley & serve with crusty French bread.

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Quick Halloween Food Ideas

This post is coming a little later than I planned...but I have loads of recipes on here that would make any Halloween a little tastier and more festive!  We have always done chili for Halloween but this year we are changing things up and doing a nacho bar. We are providing nacho sauce, chips, salsa, jalapenos and drinks and the neighbors are bringing more nacho toppings. I'll post pictures later, I'm excited! However, I have been on a strict chicken, egg whites, fruits and veggies diet the last 2 days in preparation!

Some of my favorite warm, fall-y foods/drinks that you could make quickly with one fast run to the store are:

All-American Chili  We have made this four years running for our Halloween Block Party!  Quick to make and easy to keep warm in the crockpot until your trick-or-treaters are hungry for some real food.  (My trick-or-treaters haven't ever been hungry for real food, but it could happen to you.)

Chorizo Queso Super quick and addictive! I can definitely make a meal out of this... and there's no better time to eat some super processed cheese than directly before 16 miniature candy bars.

Pumpkin Lattes OR Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup-- A little adult treat for trick or treaters.  Hot Apple Cider would be super tasty for non-coffee drinkers.  I'm making a big batch of the cider for the neighbors (annnd myself). Just in case the hot apple cider doesn't have enough sugar already I like to drizzle caramel sauce in it and top with whipped cream, yum!

Pumpkin Cookies or Pumpkin Cupcakes Only two ingredients and low fat!

Caramel Apples These are so yummy and a great way to use up some of a 40lb case of apples. If one was so inclined to buy a case of apples.

Enjoy!

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Buffalo Chicken Salad

We love buffalo.  You may have noticed...buffalo chicken dip, buffalo chicken tacos, buffalo chicken bake, and now this.  This is one of my  new favorite salads, super simple to make but very filling and yummy.

I made some homemade Ranch dressing from the Pioneer Woman's site and it was very good on this, but any bottle of your favorite Ranch would be perfect.  This recipe is for enough for 4-6 dinner sized salads, or the chicken reheats well for lunches too.

Buffalo Chicken Salad
recipe from Cracked Up Kitchen

1.5 lbs chicken breast
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. granulated onion
salt
1/3 c. Franks Buffalo Sauce, plus more for serving. (This is in the same aisle as the other hot sauce, right next to the regular Franks)

1 head romaine, green leaf, or red leaf lettuce, chopped
2-3 roma tomatoes, sliced
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, shredded
4 green onions, chopped
Ranch dressing
shredded cheddar and/or blue cheese crumbles

Put the chicken in the crockpot, sprinkle on seasonings and pour on the buffalo sauce.  Cook on low 4-6 hours until it shreds easily.  To assemble salads, fill a bowl with lettuce, top with tomatoes, celery, carrot and onions and toss with Ranch to your liking.  Top with chicken and drizzle with extra buffalo sauce if desired.  Sprinkle with cheeses before serving.

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Buffalo Chicken Tacos

I saw a recipe for buffalo chicken tacos on Pinterest and naturally I pinned it...9 months ago!  I finally got around to browsing through my "recipes to make" folder and decided to make these tacos right away.

I used her recipe as inspiration but changed a few things up.  Super easy, simple to make, and the family all liked them.  Next time I think I'll make quesadillas on flour tortillas for the kids because they're not super huge fans of un-fried corn tortillas.

I put the chicken in the crockpot in the morning and at dinnertime it took only a few minutes to throw the tacos together.

Buffalo Chicken Tacos

recipe adapted from Mrs Regueiro.com

2 chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs)

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. granulated garlic

1/2 tsp. granulated onion

salt

1/3 c. Frank's buffalo sauce, plus extra for serving

2-3 celery stalks, finely chopped

3 green onions, chopped

shredded lettuce

shredded cheddar cheese

ranch dressing

corn tortillas

Season the chicken with paprika, garlic, onion and salt.  Put in the bottom of the crockpot and cover with buffalo sauce.  Cook on low 6 hours and shred before preparing tacos.  To make tacos put some chicken on a tortilla, drizzle with buffalo sauce, add celery, onions, lettuce, cheddar and add Ranch dressing to your liking.  Enjoy!

Enchilada Soup

I saw this recipe and it looked so great I had to make it! I've now made it five times!! We usually make it vegetarian so I'll include both the chicken and vegetarian version in this post, the picture is of the chicken. I made a few changes to the original recipe and this is now one of our winter favorites!

After much taste-testing I've decided my favorite enchilada sauce is the Market Pantry from Target, super gourmet I know! It is very good and not bitter like some seem to be.



Enchilada Soup
adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

2 10-oz cans red enchilada sauce
15 oz can black beans, rinsed
15 oz can fire roasted tomatoes or diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, any color, chopped
1 1/2 c. frozen corn (I prefer Trader Joe's super sweet frozen corn)
1 can cream of chicken soup (cream of mushroom for vegetarian)
1 1/2 c. milk
2 chicken breasts (sub an extra can of beans of your choice for vegetarian)

In a small saute pan, cook the bell pepper and onion until soft. Combine all ingredients in the crockpot and cook on high 3-4 hours or low all day. Before serving, shred the chicken breasts with two forks if using chicken. Serve with crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, and cheese.

Red Beans and Rice

I found this recipe on the Our Best Bites blog.  I love that site.  Seriously.  I have tried many of their recipes and they are all fantastic.  I love that one of the writers of the blog does Weight Watchers and she posts nutrition facts and/or points values on lots of her recipes.  This was one of those recipes.  However, I did add more meat than the original recipe called for so my recipe will be more calories than hers.  I  mean, why add 1/4 lb of smoked sausage when you could add 3/4 pound?  I have made this once before using turkey kielbasa which would help with reducing calories for sure!


Red Beans and Rice
recipe slightly adapted from Our Best Bites

1 lb red beans, rinsed
6 c. water
5 chicken boullion cubes
3/4 lb smoked sausage, chopped (I used jalapeno cheddar sausages I got super cheap on sale with a coupon)
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp Tony's (or other creole seasoning or even seasoned salt)
3/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp coriander
3/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Cooked white rice
4 green onions, thinly sliced

Put everything in the crockpot and stir it up.  Cook on low all day or high 5-6 hours.  At the end mash up some of the beans using a potato masher or a fork.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  I added more Tony's and some sea salt.  Serve beans in a bowl with beans on the bottom and rice on top, sprinkle with green onions. YUM.

Apricot Pork (or Chicken)

This tastes SO much better than it looks.  Seriously.  We love this stuff, it's Asian-y tasting and I love that you can throw it together in two minutes in the morning, boil some rice and you  have dinner.  I use pork quite a bit with this recipe but chicken thighs or breasts are great too.

I found this recipe on the crockpot lady's blog.  I spent three whole days once last year reading her entire blog and looooove her ideas.  She's gluten free too so if you're looking for those kinds of recipes, s he has loads of them.


Apricot Chicken or Pork11 oz jar apricot jam
1 T. onion flakes
1 T dijon or spicy mustard
1 T. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. dried ginger
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 1/2 lb chicken or pork loin

Put the meat in the slow cooker and mix together the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl.  Pour the sauce over the meat (frozen chicken is fine) and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours.

Crockpot Smoked Sausage and Beans

This is a super frugal, very easy and healthy dinner that comes together really quick and doesn't need to heat up the house-- and for those of us that live in hell....er the Southwest, that's a really good thing! I found this recipe on Lynn's Kitchen Adventure blog and made it the next week because I love beans so much.

This recipe calls for kielbasa but any fully-cooked smoked sausage will work.I had some smoked turkey sausages so I used those instead and it worked great.

The recipe also calls for Northern white beans which was very good but I may try mixing in other kinds of beans just for kicks next time. Also, you could cook your own beans from dried beans and freeze them to save money.

Crockpot Smoked Sausage and Beans

1 lb kielbasa or other smoked sausage

1 medium onion, diced

1 c. ketchup

1 c. brown sugar

2 T vinegar

2 T molasses

2 T mustard

3 cans great northern white beans (or canellini beans) drained and rinsed

In a crockpot mix together beans, sliced kielbasa, and onions. Stir together remaining ingredients and pour over bean mixture. Cook on low 4-6 hours.

Carnitas

We love Mexican food. Of all kinds. Texmex, ground beef and crunchy shells, authentic carne asada from a stand in Mexico...anything. I have several mexican recipes listed here , here , and here as well as the Carnitas listed today which is one of our favorites. My husband is a big pork fan. (In fact when Pei Wei took their pork option away he tried to boycott.) The leftovers are delicious and are great made into enchiladas or taco pie. The leftovers also freeze well which is what I did this time. I pared down the recipe for 2 lbs, but I actually used a huge 4-5 lb pork loin from Sam's Club--whatever you have is great.

Carnitas2 lb pork loin

2 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic

3/4 tsp salt

Rinse the pork loin and dry with paper towels. Mix all seasonings together in a small bowl and rub generously all over the pork loin. Toss the whole thing in your crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours, until the pork falls apart with a fork. You could cook it on high, but because the pork loin is so lean it can dry out easily so it seems to do better cooked more slowly.

Serve the shredded meat on corn tortillas with fresh tomatoes and cilantro and homemade salsa. Yum. Or fry your own tostadas and make tostadas. Yum Yum.

Bacon Cheddar Dip

So this is a strange story, but my in-laws made LOADS of bacon for Christmas morning and my father in-law was going to throw the pan of leftover bacon away....well, of course being the frugal person I am that would actually cause me physical pain so I took home the two full gallon-sized ziploc bags of cooked bacon and froze them in smaller baggies. All that to say, I had some bacon in the freezer I needed to use up so I invented this dip for Super Bowl using ingredients I already had on hand. Turned out really yummy and I think it would be DElish stirred into some mashed potatoes!

Bacon Cheddar Dip

1 8 oz block cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or more if you're feeling daring)
1/2 cup mayo
6 slices bacon crisply cooked and crumbled
3 green onions, chopped

Mix everything together and either bake at 400 until hot and bubbly OR toss everything into a little dipper crockpot and turn to high until all melted and hot and then turn to keep warm for up to three hours. Serve with bread (or on top of a baked potato). Yum.

Game Day Queso & a Velveeta Cheese Tribute

Sooo...have I ever mentioned I'm from the midwest? Yah, I am from the midwest. I grew up on my mom's homemade food with ingredients picked from her garden (truly) and velveeta cheese. Yep. I love Velveeta cheese. Now, if you're following this blog because you want a culinary genious who is using expensive gourmet ingredients...keep looking. That is not what this blog is or what this blog is for. I just make food that taste good and may or may not have quality ingredients...but usually never expensive ingredients because if I break my budget my husband may ground me and take my van keys away. (YES that's right I eat Velveeta cheese AND drive a van...yikes. What have I come to?)

SO today as I was running down the aisles of Super WalMart to try to get just what I needed to make lasagna for tomorrow night, a sign caught my eye. This sign would change my mood. A sign that changed my day. It was a little white rollback sign....on the Velveeta Cheese. Rolledback to....$1.50 per 2 lb block!! Seriously I looked twice, rubbed my eyes and read it again and quickly grabbed two blocks of 2% milk Velveeta and ran off before someone tried to fight me for it. As I was dashing off I heard a woman say, "Whoah! Velveeta is only $1.50!" That's right lady, and don't even try to touch mine!!

All that to explain...yes, here's another queso recipe. But, why is that bad? I had some leftover chili just on the verge of seeing the inside of the garbage disposal. It turned out great. This entire crockpot full of queso cost $2.50 or less. So add this recipe to your "Leftover List" and make it for the next football/baseball/basketball game. Or really any weekend that you think your jeans are just fitting too well.

I don't have a photo up yet, but use your imagination. Or look here. It looks like that. Only different.

Game Day Queso AKA Chili Cheese Dip
3 cups leftover chili (any chili will do)

1 4 oz can chopped jalapenos, drained well

1 14.5 oz can pintos, drained well

1 32 oz block velveeta, diced

Put the first three ingredients into the crockpot on high until hot. Toss in the velveeta, give it a stir and wait for the melting to begin. Keep on warm up to 3 hours for a party.

Black Eyed Pea Soup

Did you know you're supposed to eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck? Well I don't really believe in luck but I thought it would be fun to come up with a New Year's tradition (that I ended up cooking/eating January 11th so hopefully that's good luck too!) Anyway, this soup was sooo good. Everyone ate it which is a great record for soup with toddlers. I used the crockpot but I'm sure you could make it on the stovetop too.

I got some of these chorizo sausage links on a special event day at Costco so I used that, but I'm sure that spicy italian sausage links or some fully-cooked spicy chicken sausages would work too. BUT I will say that those stinkin chorizo links were deeee-lish so try to find some!

Black Eyed Pea Soup

1 lb dried black eyed peas

1 lb spicy sausages

1 medium onion, chopped

1 c chopped carrot

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 bunch greens, collared or mustard, rough chopped

4-6 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups water & 6 tsp chicken base (or just use chicken broth if you're not cheap)

1 tsp salt-based cajun seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning, it's the best)

2 bay leaves

lots of pepper

The night before: cook your sausages and slice. Soak the black eyed peas. The next morning: rinse the peas and toss them in the crockpot with everything else. Cook on high 6 hours, or low all day. (Note: if you can't find collared or mustard greens (P.S. I prefer mustard) you can buy a can of greens, drain them well and stir them in at the last minute) Serve with some good ole southern corn bread.

White Chicken Chili

I saw this recipe on a Rachael Ray episode several months ago and I tried it the other day....mmmmm good. I waited too long to even try it, it's so good. Rob isn't a big fan of having soup for dinner but he said I could make this once a week so that's really saying something. I threw all the ingredients in the crockpot within 5 minutes and everything cooked and was ready within 2 hours.

White Chicken Chili

4-5 cups diced cooked chicken
12-16 ounces salsa
4 cups water plus 4 tsp chicken base (or 4 c. chicken stock)
3 cans white beans (not-drained)
4 garlic cloves
1 Tb cumin
pepper to taste
8 oz block pepper jack cheese, shredded or cubed

Put all ingredients in a crockpot. Cook on high until the cheese is melted. (2 hours is plenty) I topped it with crushed tortilla chips.  OR you can put eveything except the cheese in a stock pot and simmer 20 minutes adding the cheese at the end and stirring until melted.

Chorizo Queso Dip

Sorry for the delay in recipe posts this week. I caught this cruddy cold/flu that was miserable and I didn't get dressed or leave the house several days this week. I'm feeling better now so I'm posting my favorite recipe so far in 2010...it's so good. Great for a party, Super Bowl, or just to stuff your face with on a Saturday. The dip isn't very good for the typical New Year's weight loss Resolution, but I DID use 2% milk Velveeta and it turned out just as good, with half the fat! I've always been a big queso dip fan, but when my friend Amber made hers with chorizo...it was love. She used half chorizo, half ground beef so of course I had to take it to the next level and this is what I came up with...the whole neighborhood loved it at our bonfire last week!

Chorizo Queso Dip

1 lb fresh pork chorizo (don't buy the stuff in the tube...too greasy)
2 cans pinto beans, drained (or use your own frozen pintos)

2 cups salsa

1 4 oz can chopped green chiles

1 4 oz can chopped jalapenos (drained very well)

1 2 lb block Velveeta cheese, cubed

Tortilla chips for dipping

Brown the chorizo and drain well, then drain again on paper towels. Layer all the ingredients in a medium-large crockpot and cook on high for 35 min-hour stirring occasionally until the cheese is all melted. Turn the heat down to "warm" to keep hot and gooey for as long as you need. Serve with chips and a dollop of sour cream if you like.

PS I'm uploading the pic of caramel rolls now so check it out if you're wondering. (It's the pre-baked picture only so I guess I'll just have to make them again.)

Taco Soup

I love a hearty soup in the winter. (Those of you in the midwest may be laughing at the term "winter" being used so loosely, but it seems really cold here.) The first time I had taco soup was a few years ago--a photographer that brought lots of business to Rob's photo lab brought in this taco soup one day and it was so good. The other day I made up what I remember of it and it turned out yummy. It is really another version of chili, but whatever. Super easy in the crockpot, but if you use a crockpot you'll need a big one because it makes a lot. I made this recipe and we had it for dinner, I had it for lunch the next day and I brought the rest to a friend who just had a baby and it was plenty. I'm sure it would freeze well for reheating later.

Taco Soup

2 lbs ground beef or turkey

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

2 packets taco seasoning

1 packet ranch dressing mix

2 T chili powder

2 14.5 oz cans tomato sauce

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

2 c. salsa

1 can black beans, drained

1 can kidney beans, drained

2 cans pinto beans, drained

2 cans of corn, NOT drained

In a frying pan or the bottom of a soup pot brown the beef or turkey with the onions. Drain well. Add in the garlic and seasonings/spices. Saute a minute or so. If using a crockpot, dump the beef mixture into the crock and add in all other ingredients and cook on high for 4 hours or low 6 hours. OR If using a soup pot add in all other ingredients and simmer on medium/low for an hour. When you check on your soup, if it seems too thick add in a bit of water. Top with shredded cheese and sour cream and crunched tortilla chips.

Beef Provencal

I'm not even really sure how to pronounce the name of this recipe...and, I know I say this about almost every recipe...but this is SOO good!! Seriously. You must make this during the fall season or else. It SO beats hamburger helper and it is pretty easy and quick to put together. I ripped this recipe out of a Cooking Light issue at least two years ago and never made it. Then the other day when I was rifling through old recipes looking for the baked potato soup recipe, I found this one. AND I had just bought a roast at Fry's on sale for $1.97/lb and needed to use it up. I altered the recipe a bit. So good. Make this.

As a note, this recipe calls for red wine. If you aren't a wine drinker you can buy a 4-pack of little mini bottles for less than $5 and keep it in your pantry for future wine-recipes. I used Cabernet but Merlot or really any red wine that isn't a sparkling wine would work fine. Coming soon is a chili recipe using red wine--so right there you have another red wine recipe! I guess you could make this without the wine....but don't. It adds such great depth of flavor.

Another great part about this recipe is that it's made in the crockpot. I love the crockpot.

Beef Provencal

2 tsp. olive oil

one head garlic, cloves peeled

1 boneless beef roast trimmed and cut into 1'' cubes. (1 1/2-2 lbs)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 c. red wine

1 lb. diced carrots (about 2 cups)

1 large chopped onion

1/2 c. water

2 heaping Tbs tomato paste

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes w/juice

2 dried bay leaves

egg noodles (I used wheat)

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over low-medium heat. Toss in whole garlic cloves and cook until they start to brown. Keep an eye on them that they don't burn. Remove garlic and set aside. Increase heat and brown beef on all sides, sprinkling with salt & pepper. Add red wine and bring it to a boil, scraping bottom of pan. Pour the wine/beef mixture into the crockpot. Add garlic, and all other ingredients. Cook on high for 4-5 hours. Boil egg noodles directly before serving and serve stew over the noodles.

Pinto Beans & Refried Beans

Beans, Beans the musical fruit, the more you eat....ahem.

Beans are very inexpensive to make. VERY. I used to think it was difficult and time-consuming to make dried beans. And then I did it once....and it is really not difficult. At all. BUT making your own beans does save a ton of money. Really truly.

For example, I bought a 10 lb. bag of pintos at Costco for $5.97 which would be the cost of 6 cans of pintos. I cooked 6 lbs of the beans the other day in about 10 minutes of hands-on time and it equalled at least 14 cans. CRAZY savings! Beans are also super healthy and high in protein, but fat-free so--if you're not sold on the idea yet just try a batch of your own refried beans they're so good!

I bought all of these beans because we're inviting our entire neighborhood over for chili and apple cider before trick-or-treating Saturday and of course I'm trying to make chili for 40 people on a budget. But it has to be good chili. So we went to Costco after the Fair and I bought 2 enormous food-service sized cans of tomatoes for $2.27 each and 2 cans of tomato sauce for $3.19 each and a huge bag of pintos for $6....which makes much less expensive chili for 40!

I cooked the pinto beans and put a huge tupperware container int he freezer for the mass quantities of chili this weekend. Then I put 6 "1-can" bags in the freezer for future use in chili, taco soup, taco salad, ... Then I cooked the snot out of a crock-pot full of the already cooked pintos and made refried beans---lots of refried beans. AAANNNDD I have 4 lbs of pinto beans left in the pantry. So, just try to make your own beans. This recipe to cook pinto beans will work to cook any kind of dried beans except lentils and split peas which are much smaller and cook faster and differently.

*Note: I cooked 6 lbs of beans in a huge roaster but for the recipe I'll put a 2 lb recipe on because that's obviously a more practical amount that will fit in a regular crockpot.

Now, finally for the recipes:

Pinto Beans

2 lb bag of dried pinto beans
1 onion
2 tsp. Salt

Dump the bag of pintos into your crockpot and cover with water. Let stand over night soaking up the water. In the morning rinse the beans in a collander and filter out any funky looking beans. Put the beans back into the crock and cover with fresh water. Peel the onion and slice in half and drop in the crockpot, sprinkle in 2 tsp. salt. Cover with the lid and cook on low 5-6 hours or high 2-4 hours. You don't need to stir them at all, but you will want to check them because every crockpot cooks differently. Just taste one, you'll know they're done because there will be no more brown spots left and it doesn't have a crunch.

Let cool. To freeze, separate into 1 2/3 cup increments and put in ziplocs or freezer containers.

Refried Beans

2 lbs pinto beans
salt
1 onion

4 whole cloves garlic

2 tsp. chili powder or taco seasoning (check for allergens)
1/2 tsp. cumin

Soak the beans overnight, rinse them and drain them. Put them into the crockpot and cover with water. Slice the onion in half and add that to the pot. Add garlic, salt, and other seasonings. (A couple strips of bacon never hurt either!) Cook on Low 6-7 hours or High 3-5 hours. Just cook and cook and cook the beans. I guess you could overcook them, but it would take a loooonnng time. Then fish out the garlic and onions and discard them. Drain off most of the cooking liquid and reserve a little in case you need to thin out the beans. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding liquid if you need it. Add extra salt or seasoning to your taste.

These beans will knock the socks off of canned beans. No offense Rosarita! You can freeze them in 2 c. increments to use as needed. They are good in burros, as a snack, add some velveeta and homeade salsa and you have a delish dip. The possibilities are endless.