Saturday, January 31, 2009

Crock Pot Refried Beans Recipe



This recipe comes from some friends of mine, the Cochrans, and it is easy to make. It makes quite a bit of refried beans, so do adjust the recipe if you don't have a big crock pot.

Ingredients:

6 c. pinto beans
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBSP salt
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (you can omit or use a vegetarian product)

I already cooked up the bacon for the broccoli salad we had for dinner (see previous post).

I've got plenty of pinto beans in my food storage. These beans should last about 25 years if unopened. I intend to rotate my storage. As I use up a few cans, I'll just drypack more, or you can purchase them by the case from any LDS dry pack cannery. You can even have them shipped to you, go to Provident Living for more information.

Measure out 6 cups of beans into a bowl. Don't put them into the crock pot until they have been sorted and rinsed. I use a small white bowl or paper plate to sort the beans. I pour about 1/3 c. at a time into the bowl and look for any rocks, discolored or shriveled beans. In the picture below, notice the 2 little rocks in the middle of the beans. Take these out.
In 6 cups of beans, here is what I pulled out.... you sure don't want to bite into a rock, so take care when you sort.
After sorting, make sure that you rinse the beans before putting into the crock pot. Rinsing is critical, because there is dust and dirt that you want to rinse off.....don't want that in you food! After rinsing a few times, pour the beans into the crock pot, and cover with water. I added the rest of the ingredients, and stirred. Make sure the beans are always covered with water; check them every couple of hours. Cooking time is 12-24 hours, depending on how old the beans are.

I could use my pressure cooker and just be done with the process, but not everyone has a pressure cooker. I'll be using the refried beans to make a layered bean dip for tomorrow. It is Super Bowl Sunday, so we will have some chips and bean dips, even though we won't be watching the game!

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