Best Beans

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This recipe makes your basic refried beans, except they aren't refried! This recipe is sometimes called "Refried Beans Without the Refry," but I call them "Best Beans" because I enjoy eating them as a soup as well, instead of mashing them up to use as refried beans. To eat as a bean soup, just follow the instructions, remove the onion and celery after the beans are cooked, and then ladle it into a bowl with beans and liquid for a yummy bean soup! These make great mashed beans too, and this recipe yields a ton, so why not have some soup and then mash the rest? I love these!

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 1 stalk celery
• 3 cups dry pinto or black beans, rinsed (you can do half and half too)
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (optional) 
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili powder (optional) 
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 7 cups water

Directions

1. Place the onion, celery, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, chili, cayenne, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the chicken stock and water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
2. Once the beans have cooked, remove onion, celery, and jalapeno. Strain the beans, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.