Cooked Mexican Pinto Beans

In my attempt to serve more meatless dinners as well as learning to cook with dried beans I found this yummy recipe. I'm sure it is just an average mexican pinto bean recipe but I have always wanted to learn how to make refried beans without the 'refried' and I was so happy when my first attempt was successful! Even my picky 2 year old ate a whole bowl!

Refried Beans (without the Refry)
Recipe and photo from AllRecipes

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (I used 1 can diced green chili peppers)
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 5 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
• 9 cups water

Directions

1. Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency. 

My Notes: I cut my onion into maybe 8 pieces so that it would mash easier with the beans at the end. Cooked beans can end up very bland so just be sure to add salt to taste. I also added a few sprinkles of hot sauce to give it more pep.

Nutritional Information Per Serving:  Calories: 139 | Total Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 0mg

(Sorry I don't know the serving size. This recipe makes 15 servings so I would assume a serving is about 1/2 to 3/4 cup)