Tuesday Tip

It is official this is the strangest blog post EVER! LOL Not really but I have found the best tip for cooking dry pinto beans and I had to share. Who doesn't love a big ole' pot of beans loaded with flavor (and ham) with a slice of cornbread? Or what about flavor packed pintos for your chili at a fraction of the cost of buying 4 cans of beans (1 bag dry beans $1, 4 cans depending on brand $3-4) or how about re fried beans without fat or frying;) Talk about universal I use this same "recipe" every single time I make pinto beans and since I don't buy canned beans and it is soup time we might use these more than I care to admit.

Universal Dry Pintos:

1-1lb page of dry pinto beans

1 jalapeno pepper (seeded and chopped)

2 cups chicken broth

1 medium onion

1tsp salt

1tsp Lawry's

1tsp pepper

1tsp garlic

2 tsp cumin

Wash and separate beans. Place in the bottom of your crock pot. Add jalapeno and onion along with seasoning. Pour in chicken broth and the cover remaining with water. Amount of water will vary because you want there to be "juice" after cooking and since beans soak up so much water you'll likely have to add more throughout the day.

Here are my beans all ready to go in my crock pot. I cook mine on high most of the day. And I also normally do a double batch. If you are going to serve as a meal add some ham at the beginning before you start cooking.

Once beans are done if I have made a batch to replace canned beans I scoop (juice and all) about 2 cups of beans into a quart size freezer bag, release all the air and store in my freezer until ready to use. When I am using them for chili I use the above single recipe and once the beans are done I add my fixings and allow to cook until ready to serve. For re fried beans just scoop beans using a slotted spoon in to a shallow bowl, mash with a potato masher adding the "juice" as needed until desired consistency. I also use about a half of the above recipe mixed with a pound of ground beef for our taco meat helping stretch the meal a little farther.

I have slowly started replacing things I use to buy canned because I was unsure of the high sodium levels and was leery about what they are adding to make them so shelf stable. Figured the "fresher" the better. So venturing to using dry beans was part of making that change. My family assures me these are LOADS more tasty than the canned ones I use to buy.

Hope you enjoy and if you try them please let me know how they turn out!