"Refried" Beans

As I have said before, the hubby loves all Mexican foods!  Due to this fact I find myself making Mexican inspired dishes at least twice a week - good thing I have developed a taste for them as well.   Now most foods you can just whip up at home without much fuss.  I have posted before about making your own taco seasoning - which is a staple - but I was still spending money on cans and cans of refried beans for different recipes.  Not that a can of refried beans is super expensive, but I like making my meals from scratch and therefore knowing all the ingredients I am using.

With that in mind I decided to whip up a batch of refried beans to use for the taco pizza I was making for dinner.  I have to say I am very pleased with the results.  I halved a recipe - there was NO NEED for 4 pounds of refried beans - and I thoroughly enjoy the fact that I can make them "runny" like restaurants or thick like canned!  They tasted great and the halved recipe made at least 34 (1/4c) servings - plenty to freeze for later use.  Now the refried is in ""'s due to the fact that there is no actual frying in this recipe - it is done 100% in the crockpot.

"Refried" Beans

• 2 pounds of dry Pinto Beans, rinsed
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 4 T Garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 t Salt
• 1 t Pepper
• 2 t Cumin
• 10 c Warm Water

1. Combine all the ingredients in the crockpot.  Be sure to pick out any floating beans.  Mix well and cover.
2. Cook on high for 2 hours followed with 4 hours cooking on low.
3. At the end of the 6 hours, remove some of the liquid (I just put a pyrex measuring cup along the side and squished the beans down to collect the liquid.  I probably removed 3-4 cups, but I retained 1 cup in case I needed to add some back).  
4. Mash the beans to the consistency of your choice - adding back some liquid if desired.  
5. ENJOY

Could it be any simpler than that?!  The recipe makes 16-17 cups, depending on the liquid used.  It isn't calorically healthier than canned beans - let's face it beans aren't the lowest calorie food.  It is however homemade!!  The amount of liquid I left gave me 34 servings which equaled about 90 calories per serving - same as the leading canned refried beans.  I have now stocked my freezer and will be able to just grab a bag the next time I want to make tacos, dip, or anything calling for refried beans!

(I will post a picture of the beans the next time we eat them as a side - with all the toppings you can't really see them in the taco pizza picture.)

The point I would like to stress is the money saving with this recipe.  The onion, water, and seasonings are all things I keep in house and therefore weren't an expense.  The beans I got on sale for $1/lb.  Therefore for 34 servings of beans I paid $2.  Even if we add in the expense of the seasonings and onion - lets say another $1 for those quantities (I am rounding UP) - I would have still only paid $3 for 34 servings.  That is a total of $0.09/serving.  The leading canned refried bean goes for about $1.25 - but let's say I got it on sale for $1.  There are 4 servings per can, that is $0.25/serving (on sale).  OK so I know that a savings of $0.14/serving isn't that much but think about it in terms of totals.  For $3 I can make 34 servings of HOMEMADE refried beans or I can buy 12 servings of CANNED refried beans. What are your thoughts?