This past weekend I cooked up a pot of Pinto Beans. It takes three days to do them properly, but when they are finished, it is amazing how many meals you can produce with Pintos.
Here are the pictures:

Adding a bay leaf to the crock pot which already contains onions, garlic, and spices

Fill the crock pot up with several cups of rinsed beans. Don’t fill it more than half full of beans as they will greatly expand in size and shape.

Cover the beans with water, turn the heat on the lowest setting, and let them cook for three days. I like to check them once in a while and add in water as needed. You always want to keep them covered with water as they cook. After three days they are ready to eat!

I store the beans in small jars in the fridge. Please note these beans are not prepared for long term storage in the pantry. They must either be stored in the fridge or in the freezer.

Finished beans in jars

Ingredients for Refried Beans – Salsa, butter, two jars of beans
Melt the butter in a skillet. Add in the beans and mash them well with a potato masher. Then add in the salsa and let them reduce down to a thick paste. They are now ready to use for bean dip, burritos, or to eat as pintos and cheese.

Add beans and cheese to a burito tortilla

Wrap burrito in thirds and then thirds again
I bake these burritos in the tin foil for about fifteen minutes @ 250 degrees to melt the cheese, and serve them with more salsa. The kids and Paul took these burritos for lunch the other day, and the two jars of beans made eight large burritos.

Jenny Hatch