Crock Pot "Refried" Beans

I am always looking for ways to cut back on pre-made foods be they canned, bagged, boxed, or jarred. In my family, we go through our fair share of beans.  Our favorites include black beans, pinto beans, and chickpeas.  One thing I had relied on for many years was canned refried beans.  I figured it would be WAY too hard to "re-fry" beans at home.  Boy, was I wrong!

This technique is so incredibly simple, you will wonder why you ever bothered buying canned beans before!  All you need is a crock pot and a food processor or blender.  That's it!  There is no frying involved, and most of the work is done overnight while you sleep.  Isn't that the best type of cooking?  :)  Seriously, the hardest thing about this is just remembering to cook them the night before you need them.  But once you make it a habit, it just becomes part of your regular meal planning.

Ingredients (makes about 2 C)

1 heaping cup dry pinto beans
1/4 onion in a large wedge
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
dash of cumin
1/8 - 1/4 jalapeno, seeded

Directions

1. Rinse the dry beans under running water to clean them.
2. Place the beans, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, and jalapeno into a crock pot (I use a small one, but a larger one is great if you are making a bigger batch).  Fill with water allowing space for the beans to double in size and stay submerged.  Turn on low and cook overnight or about 8 hours.  
3. Drain the beans, reserving the liquid.  Discard onion.  Pour the beans into a food processor adding 4 Tbsp cooking liquid back in.  Pulse until a good consistency adding more water as needed.  Taste and adjust salt and seasonings as needed.