Thursday, October 16, 2008

I Heart Crockpoting!

It has taken me a long time to making this but I finally did and it was GREAT!
I made Crock Pot refried beans! Yeah!

I am very into cheap and/or free food and making my own beans seamed to make "cents"!

I always fallow CrockPot Lady's blog and have been wanting to try her recipe for refried beans for some time now.

I always try to make in bulk and felt that 2 cups was not enough for my 6qt. but I did it anyways.

FYI- 2 cups dry beans = about 4 cups soaked (24 hours with 3 water changes) and around 4 cups of finished beans.

L and I washed and sorted the beans as the boys played outside working on bicycles, or model rockets, or some other big-boy toys. (Pasta bake was cooking in the oven!)

I let them soak overnight and then all day and cooked them overnight last night. In all they cooked on low in my Crock for about 9 1/2 hours. I didn't have any onions or garlic in the house so I used
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
I used the blender as someone in the comments suggested and started with a good amount of beans and 1/4 cup or so of cooking water. Started blending and that was VERY watery. I added more beans until most were used and it was a great thick uniform constancy.

I poured them into a container and mixed in the rest of the whole beans for thickness. Stuck the container in the fridge and headed to work!

I ate a cup tonight with 1/8 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and a bunch of leftover tortilla chips! Great full dinner! Tomorrow we might have bean and cheese burritos, or maybe some taco bake, or maybe taco pizza!

Next time I will use 4 cups of beans and double the spices. For all the work I did I should go ahead and make a full crock worth. I had to buy a 8 lbs. anyways and now have 2 huge pickle jars waiting to be crocked!

On a side note:
S was a little worried about fat content after we figured out the waffles I made this morning had a LOT (14 grams or so!). Pinto beans are fat free! Yeah pinto beans!

2 comments:

Stephanie ODea said...

this is great! I'm so glad that it worked out for you!

good idea about upping the beans. I agree.
xoox
steph

Unknown said...

I was totally with you..until 'refried beans'...no me gusta las frijoles...

Brent