Lately, our ward, stake, and entire church has been focusing on self-reliance. It encompasses many different aspects in our lives, but is so beneficial to being at peace with the many crazy things going on in the world today.
I decided to improve some of my cooking self reliant skills and decided to cook with dry pinto beans. I am always nervous to try these things. Growing up my mom was excellent at cooking from scratch and her food storage, but you I never know if I am really doing it right.
To cook the beans, I first picked the rocks out of them(Very fresh straight from the field, Justin still found a rock in his taco soup though, I will do a better job next time). I soaked them over night in a large pot of water. The next morning I drained the beans and put them in a crock pot on high for four hours.
When I came home that night they were ready to go. I made a large pot of taco soup and still had some beans left over so I made homeade refried beans. It was a very 'high fiber' weekend full of beans. I really liked the refried beans, I thought they had more taste to them than the regular old canned refried beans.
I just read on a canning blog that you can also can your own beans. I may have to try this this fall. So, if you are nervous about cooking with beans, don't be! They are pretty simple, cheap, and really yummy!
Justin and Ruth Blazzard
