Recipe for success: Beans, Beans, Good For Your Heart!

I love burritos. To be specific, I love burritos made with beans from my momma’s recipe. Ever since we were little, most big family dinners and Christmas Eve meals have been burritos with homemade beans. The beans are cheap and easy to make in large quantities and the burritos themselves are customizable, which is always a crowd pleaser. Unless your crowd doesn’t like beans (and I have run into a lot of people that don’t like beans) and then you just have them fix themselves a quesadilla. Because I am nice, I am going to divulge the great pinto bean recipe and not just talk about how great it is.

1. Assemble the ingredients:

   1 lb pinto beans, dry 1 onion Ham flavoring or a ham hock 2 cloves garlic garlic salt pepper, salt Prep: The night before cooking the beans, put them in a pan with water to soak. This causes the beans to absorb moisture and will make the cooking process faster, as well as giving the beans a good rinse. Alternatively, you can boil the beans, rinse and repeat if you forget to soak the beans the night before. I always forget to soak the beans the night before.

1. Dice the onion and garlic cloves and put them in a slow cooker or stove pot.


2. To the pot, add 2 tbls Ham flavoring or the ham hock, a couple shakes of the garlic salt and a few twists of pepper.


3. Add your soaked and rinsed beans and fill the slow cooker/pot with water just a little above the top of the beans (maybe like .25 - .5 inches).


4. Stir everything together and let cook on low heat for several hours. Periodically stir the beans and add salt and pepper to taste.

How do you know when they are done? They aren’t refried beans, so don’t wait for them to look like that. They should still hold their shape but be soft – you guys are smart so I think you will figure it out. Also if you are a bit pressed for time, then cook the beans on a higher heat at the beginning and turn down the heat once they start to soften and let them coast until dinner time.

Suggested items to make your burritos:
tortillas, cheese, sour cream, onion, tomato, lettuce, black olives, salsa, and guacamole

Suggested attire:
expandable waistline pants or unbuttoned pants