Slow Cooker Vegetarian Refried Beans (No Soak, Easy Method)

These are delicious and creamy refried vegetarian beans, using a 5-quart (or larger) Crock Pot and a few simple ingredients. No pre-soaking the beans is necessary.  The cooking time remains the same, soak or not. You can make them vegan if you substitute non-dairy butter at the end.

It takes approximately 6 hours to cook, once everything is in the slow cooker. You can freeze the extra in portion-sized freezer containers and they can last safely between 3-6 months.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb.  Dried pinto beans
• 1 large onion (yellow preferred)
• 4 bouillon cubes (I use Better than Bouillion paste in place of chicken bouillion cubes)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf (optional)
• 6 cups water (I use 4 cups of vegetable stock in a carton and add 2 cups water to equal 6 cups total)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, this gets added at the end

Instructions:

1. This recipe does not require soaking the beans. You can soak the beans if you want, but it’s not necessary. Set up your slow cooker and set it to high.  (If you cook on low, cooking time is 10 hours.)

2. Slice the onion into large cross-section slices and sauté in a large skillet on medium-high heat with 2 TBL cooking oil until they are brown and caramelized on both sides.

3. Rinse and sort the dried beans, throwing away any rocks or clumps of dirt.  Put the beans in the slow cooker.  When the onions are brown, add them and their oil on top of the beans in the cooker. 

4. Add the bouillon/stock, garlic, and bay leaf. Stir and cover.

5. Set a timer for 6 hours. Stir every couple of hours and check on the beans.  They will take between 5-6 hours to completely cook. (If you cook them on low, set your timer for 10 hours.)

6. When the cooking time is done and the beans feel thoroughly cooked, ladle off at least half or most of the liquid - but save it separately to add back to your beans’ desired consistency at the end.

At this point, don’t forget to take out the bay leaf, if you added one.

7. Add the stick of butter into the cooked beans. Use an immersion blender and blend the beans in the pot until smooth. If you don’t have a stick blender, you can use a manual potato masher.

8. If your beans feel too thick and pasty, add a little of the reserved cooked bean liquid back, a tablespoon at a time, until it has the consistency you want.

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Eat with burritos, as a dip, with rice, eggs, tacos, roll ups, tostadas, etc.

DIY Power Dish-Wash

Here’s a budget friendly spray for your dishes to loosen up the sticky stuff.

You will need:

A spray bottle

Water

Dawn dish soap

Rubbing alcohol 

Directions:

1. Fill up the spray bottle with about 13 ounces of water.

2. Add 2 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol 

3. Add 2-3 tablespoons of dish soap

4. Stir or shake, put the spray top on, and it’s ready to use.

Turns out, rubbing alcohol is great for cleaning dishes. Spray this mixture on the dried food bits on your dishes and let it sit and power soak for 20-30 seconds before scrubbing. I’ve also used it for countertops, stovetops, and sticky things on the vinyl flooring.

Welcome to the Republic of Cold Brew Coffeeland

This summer, I became the queen of the cold brew. It is so easy to make! After being confused by a gazillion online articles about different grind sizes, "gourmet" methods, and ratios, I decided to experiment and keep it as simple and cheap as possible.

One great thing about making cold brew coffee is that once it's brewed in a big batch, it can sit in your refrigerator for up to two weeks (I hear!) and still taste fine (although mine never lasts more than a few days). Making coffee with heated water is not the same. Hot brewed coffee just doesn’t taste fresh or stay good for very long. There are scientific reasons for why cold brew coffee stays stable in the refrigerator with no degradation of quality, but I won’t go into that here. Let’s just get to how it’s made, shall we?

Step 1: Get a container with a lid.  I'm using a 64 oz. Rubbermaid juice thingie that I've had since about 1994.

Step 2: Get a funnel and 8 oz. of ground coffee.  Any kind you like -- it can be freshly ground and gourmet straight from a local fancy roaster, or it can be the standard big brand grocery store stuff.  It is strictly up to you and your taste buds.  It just needs to be a medium grind.

Funnel it into the big jug.

Step 3: Pour cold water into the container and fill it up.  Leave a little room for the coffee to expand.  Put the top on tightly.

Step 4: Give it a good shake to saturate the grounds.  Put it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.  You can also let it sit on your countertop in your moderately temperatured abode.

Step 5: 12 hours later, strain your amazing and delicious cold brew coffee using a French press (pictured above), or whatever straining device you have (coffee filters, cheese cloth, whatever works).

 This cold brew ratio works for me straight into a glass with a couple of pieces of ice and some almond coconut milk (and if we're being honest here, I like to add a few drops of vanilla extract). However, it can also be brewed as a concentrate if you reduce the water to about half the container. The water to coffee ratio can range anywhere from 1:2 to1:8, from the research I have done.  There are a lot of opinions about this out there! Again, it's all up to you and how strong you like it.  

Can you do it with decaf or half caf?  YES, you absolutely can. The process is the same.

Enjoy your delicious cold brew coffee.