Beans Recipe

And...here's what I did!

Ok here's what I did to make my soup.

Since I did not soak my beans overnight, cuz this was a 'flash' idea. I covered the dry beans with water, added a large tablespoon of baking soda..and boiled them for about an hour. (adding water if I need to)

Black beans first..then the pintos (a mix of light and dark pintos). I used..about 4 Cups of beans total.

*Adding the baking soda makes them soften faster and gives them a salty flavor without adding the salt, which can make beans tough..so if you need salt, add it before serving!

Once the beans were boiled, I drained them and dumped them into my crock pot.

To that I added

3 chicken boullion cubes

1 cut up bell pepper

3 or 4 cut up Jalapenos

2 stalks of celery, cut (leafy part and all)

1 onion chopped

And one piece of pork..it was the end piece of a boston butt that we had cut into steaks at the butchers. Wasn't big, but it was enough.

Then..the spices

2 T. Cumin

1t. red peppers (or more to taste)

2t. chili powder (or more to taste)

1t. black course ground pepper (or more..to taste)

3 bay leaves (cuz they were small)

Then..the liquid

I put 1 large can of whole stewed tomatoes, juice and all. (and I squished the tomatoes as I was putting them in..just give em a squish with your hand)and 1 medium/regular can of cut up stewed tomatoes

Then, used the large can to measure the water, putting in three can of water. (this is something you may want to adjust..you might want to make just beans..less water, or more soup..so adjust to your liking) I think I ended up adding an extra can of water, cuz I wanted more soup. Just go with whatever you like!I cooked this on high in the crock pot for about 2 hours, then turned it to low till the beans were soft and getting squishy. (about 2 hours) After that, I just kept it warm till dinner and baked my bread! YUM!

You can add salt at the end if you need it..but these didn't need any.

Serve with cheese on top if you like, or sour cream on the side if you like. These were not TOO spicey, but did have a SLIGHT tang to them..they were great

Sage, the Hedgewife