refried beans

With my self-imposed tight budget, I’m trying to cut down on expenses that have been out of hand.  The grocery bill has been one of those things.  It’s disastrously high due to my lack of planning.

So plan I did.  Last night, I started soaking a pot of beans and they cooked all day in my handy dandy crockpot.

Wait.  I promised pictures, didn’t I?  Okay, let’s start at the beginning…

Gather up what you need: 1 pound of pinto beans, an onion, cumin, garlic, salt, and a pepper as hot as you think you want it.  I used a jalapeno that one of my lovely coworkers grew in his garden.  I tossed a whole bunch of them into the freezer…whole.

Pick through the beans.  I found 2 little rocks, so it was totally worth the 5 minutes or so this process took.  Rinse them well to remove any dirt or other small debris that might still be in among the beans.

Put the beans in the crock of your crockpot and add about 8 cups of water.  Now, you have 2 choices.  Soak the beans overnight (that’s what I did) or cook them right away.  There are arguments about the benefits of soaking beans, but I don’t know enough about either side of the argument to take one.  Next time, I might not soak them just to see what happens.

I’m going to assume you’re soaking your beans like I did.  Makes it easier on everyone.  Trust me.

Go ahead and chop up the onion now.  You probably don’t want to be wielding a sharp object while trying to get the kids ready to go in the morning.

Now, go to bed and pick up with the next step tomorrow morning.  No more pictures because I didn’t grab the camera.  Next time, maybe I’ll have coffee first!

Drain the soak water, rinse out the crock, and return the beans for cooking.  Add another 8 cups of clean water, the chopped onion, 2 Tbsp garlic, 1 tsp cumin, 3 tsp salt, and the whole jalapeno pepper.  Feel free to chop up the pepper for heat, but I left it whole since my girls don’t like hot things.

Turn the crockpot on low with the lid on, and go to work or go do whatever it is you do all day.  Let the beans cook for a good 8-10 hours.

When you’re ready to serve dinner, drain the cooking water from the beans, but don’t throw it down the drain!  I’ve frozen it for use in soups this winter.

Now you need to mash the beans.  I started with a potato masher, but it wasn’t doing the job, so I moved to the blender.  A food processor would work, too.  Blend, mash, or process until the beans are the consistency your family likes.  My girls are used to the canned stuff, so I pretty much pureed them to mush this time.  I will probably back off and leave it a little chunkier as they get used to the homemade version.

Add more salt, cumin, and a bit of black pepper to suit your taste.

And that’s that!  Enjoy.

Let me be honest for a minute.  When we got home, the entire house smelled like an old man’s armpit.  Do not let that fool you into thinking these are going to be nasty-tasting.  It’s just the cumin.  Trust me.

I served these with cheese and homemade tortillas (recipe to follow soon).  Both girls gave me 2-thumbs up and permission to make them again.  In this house, that’s a winning recipe!