Lately I've been making our main meals go a bit further using beans. I use them alongside the main dish or sprinkled on salads or in Chilis. Baked beans is typically a side dish when it comes to using beans. I like this recipe as it uses spices and bacon to add the flavor instead of brown sugar and molasses. I doubled it and put half of the finished recipe in the freezer.
Bacon Pinto Beans
- 16 oz. dried pinto beans, soaked overnight
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon
- 1 large onion, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, grated
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
Soak beans overnight. In the morning, rinse beans and drain beans. Add to slow cooker. Add water
to cover beans (about 6 cups or so). Dice bacon into small pieces and cook over medium heat until
crisp. Add bacon to slow cooker. Add onions to pan with bacon grease and cook until softened and
translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook another minute. Add everything
to the slow cooker and stir. I used a little water after I took everything out of the pan to scrape up the little bits of bacon. I then added this to the crockpot as well. Cook on low for 8 hours.This was a side dish for one meal and then I mashed them into refried beans when we had tacos later that week. I have one more meal for this recipe before they are gone.
Enjoy good food,
Coach Nancy
Check out this MInestrone Soup Recipe.
