Beans, Beans, Beans

Now that is what I call a pot of beans! When Craig and I first got married, I couldn't make a pot of beans to save my life. I think I tried to cook some in a crock pot and they were a dry, disgusting mess. Flash forward six years, and now I can make some pretty good beans, if I do say so myself. The key, I have learned is chicken stock or bouillon. I use the bouillon because it is salty. I have also learned that you can put any number of vegetables in beans and you either can't tell a difference or it enhances the taste. The beans you see above have celery, carrots, zucchini, jalapenos, and tomatoes in them. Now, whenever we make beans, which is usually once a week now, we throw in whatever vegetables we have lying around. It makes for a healthier recipe and uses up vegetables before they can go bad.

My favorite kind of beans are re-fried, but you don't have to do that for them to be awesome. Here's how I made the ones you see above:

1 lb pinto beans
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery, finely chopped
1 zucchini, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 bulb garlic, minced
2 quarts of water or more
8 t chicken bouillon

Throw all of these ingredients into a pressure cooker or crock-pot. Make sure there is plenty of water in there for the beans to soak up. If pressure cooking, cook the beans for about an hour, once the regulator starts jiggling. In a crock-pot, cook for at least 5 hours on high, if not longer. (It's been a while since I've done it in a crock-pot) Once they're done cooking you can eat them just as they are, or if you would like to re-fry them, transfer the beans and left over liquid to an iron pot or dutch oven type vessel. You must keep the bean water! We put our pot over the stove, put a large scoop of lard (yes, lard. If you're not to keen on that idea, you can put a handful of shredded cheese in there. The fat makes a huge difference in taste. Trust me on this.) and mash it all with a potato masher. We just keep mashing it and cooking it until it's the desired consistency that we like. We prefer our beans a little on the runny side.

The dutch oven is great to re-fry in, not only because you can do large batches at a time, but also, because it is made of iron, it adds some iron to the beans, a mineral we need in our diets. (Craig wanted me to make sure I put that in.)

These beans are great because they're good for you and they're super cheap to make. You can add whatever veggies you want to it, make it as hot or mild as you want, or even just keep it simple with just the beans, garlic, and bouillon. In my own humble opinion, they taste better than the beans you get at Mexican restaurants. (That's saying a lot, coming from a native southern Californian.) Once you start making your own, you will never want to go back to the canned re-fried beans from the store. Blech!