black beans & rice: tried and true!

I’ve had several requests for this recipe lately, so I thought I’d share it here.  We had it for dinner tonight and its so easy, healthy, cheap, and filling!

1. buy a bag of black beans (instead of the bag that’s been sitting on your shelf for years with every intention of using it…..old beans end up crunchy)

2. The night before: pour into your crock pot and sort any “extras” out of the beans.  Cover the beans completely with water plus about 4 inches of water above the beans.

3. The next morning, drain out the water and re-cover the beans with water plus some extra water about 2 inches above beans.

4. Add in: chopped onion, chopped garlic, and green pepper. (you can also saute these and add them in at the end, which is what I did today since I’d forgotten to add them in during the cooking process). Simmer on low in your crock pot all day.  Do not add salt until you are ready to serve (it makes the beans more crunchy to have the salt while cooking).  If you’d like, add some bits of fried bacon to your beans, but its not necessary.  The beans will need to simmer until they are soft and tender, about 8-10 hours.

5. Serve over rice and your choice of toppings!  We like sour cream, cheddar cheese, avocado, and franks red hot sauce.

Enjoy!  Cooked beans freeze really well so if you have a ton of leftovers, you can easily freeze half the batch for use in your other favorite recipes, like bean burritos, etc!