Pinto Beans Make Great Refried Beans
 
 
Pinto beans make great refried beans and our version is MUCH, MUCH cheaper and MUCH, MUCH healthier than those you buy in a can. They are also so much more appealing looking than those you dig out of a can.
Ingredients
  • 1 lb dry pinto beans
  • 6- 8 c water to soak
  • 6 c water to cook
  • 1 can Mexican Style Tomatoes (I use Red Gold or RoTel)
  • ¼ to ⅓ lb ham (optional)
  • Garlic Powder or Salt to taste (optional)
  • Seasoned Salt to taste (optional)
  • ½ tsp. Baking Soda (optional)
Instructions
  1. Place dry beans in a bowl that will allow them to swell to at least twice their current size or larger. Fill bowl with water nearly to top. Remove any loose bean husks or other floating particles.
  2. Allow to soak overnight. Skipping the soaking will increase the cooking time drastically. If you are running behind and don't have time to soak the beans overnight you can boil them on the stove top to increase the rate at which the dry beans take on the water. If you are using this method for the first time, you may want to keep a dry bean or two to help judge how much they have increased in size.
  3. Drain the water used for soaking or boiling the beans. Rinse beans thoroughly. The water is likely to be cloudy looking, this is normal. The water will also get dark brown as you cook the beans.
  4. Place the beans in your crock-pot. Chop the ham and add to your beans. I use my mini food processor so that it is almost a puree. This helps it distribute throughout the beans very easily and adds so much flavor to the beans.
  5. Add 6 cups of water to the crock-pot, the can of tomatoes, the garlic salt, and the seasoned salt. I season heavily and my way of judging is to add enough of each so that it floats on the surface of the water. This sounds extreme, but there are going to be about two pounds of beans when you're finished. You can always start with less and add more as they cook.
  6. I'm sure you know the old childhood song, "Beans, beans, the musical fruit . . . " You can add about ½ tsp. of baking soda to the pot as the beans are cooking (this works for all gas causing beans) to help break down the gases that form during this process instead of building up as a process in you!
  7. We cook our beans all day on high. By evening, they're perfect and ready to serve.
  8. We usually take out what we want and eat them right away and then allow them to continue cooking. After cooking for twelve hours or more, we use our immersion blender to blend them smooth .
  9. We have now made homemade "refried beans."
  10. The beans are removed from the crock-pot and portioned into storage containers and frozen.
Recipe by DealsFromMsDo.com at https://dealsfrommsdo.com/pinto-beans-make-great-refried-beans-2/