I'd like to make dried beans in my crockpot. Does anyone have instructions/recipes? Thanks.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 25, 2001

Answers

Ann- do you mean you want to dry beans in your crockpot, or cook dried beans (such as Pintos)? If you want to cook dried beans, sort the beans-pulling out any rocks moldy beans etc then soak over night, rinse, put in crock-pot cover with water, DO NOT ADD SALT, (the salt makes them tough) let cook til tender(You can mash with spoon) then add salt, seasonings, onion, whatever and let simmer another hour or so. If you forgot to soak them overnight, you can sort them early a.m. and let soak a couple hours or so til a little more hydrated rinse, put in a pot on stove, cover with water, bring to a boil for about twenty minents or so, then tranfer to your crockpot and finish as mentioned above. I made chili yesterday with this 2nd method- when we got up it was cold and rainy and I thought"Hey good chili day!) I put beans on to soak, did chores for quite a while, boiled beans while I had lunch, put in Croakpot, left for the afternoon, about 4:30 I seasoned beans added some browned ground beef, then helped with homework, other end of day things, at 5;40 put some cornmuffins in oven to bake, and a bit after six we sat down to chili supper. There are several websites that feature crockpot cooking.

-- Kelly (markelly@scrtc.com), September 25, 2001.

Thanks Kelly: Yes, cook dried beans in the crockpot--A question about your instructions

"If you want to cook dried beans, sort the beans-pulling out any rocks moldy beans etc then soak over night, rinse, put in crock-pot cover with water, DO NOT ADD SALT, (the salt makes them tough) let cook til tender.."

Do you cook on low? number or hours?

Recipes anyone?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 25, 2001.

Hi Ann,

Kelly & I had the same "chili" idea yesterday. When I heard the weather report the night before I soaked beans and then in the morning I browned ground beef with onion, garlic & chili spices, corn, added the rinsed beans and tomatoes and plugged in the crockpot. That was about 6 AM. We had supper about 6PM and it was perfect. I usually cook everything on the low setting because I'm gone from home at least 8 hours. It's very important to rinse the beans and I pick out any debris that might have been mixed in with them. The only other crock pot bean recipes that I use are soup recipes. Again, I soak beans overnight and then cook them on low. Yahoo has crockpot bean talk lists that are quite active. Try there for more recipes. Happy eating!

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), September 25, 2001.

My recipe is identical to the above one. I think the main thing is to be sure to soak those beans overnight. Otherwise there is no way they will be done, no matter what setting. I actually usually put my crockpot on high for the first 5 hours and then turn it down, but then I am home most of the time. Good luck...it is getting to be "pot of beans season..isn't it??)

-- Jenny Pipes (Auntjenny6@aol.com), September 25, 2001.

I would bet with Y2K a bust that you could find the book Country Beans cheap now. It wasn't that much to begin with. Hoegger's had it. You could cook beans every night out of this book, and not have the same thing twice all year. I know I did an endepth chapter by chapter inventory of what all this great little book has in it, so might look in the archives. I won't part with mine. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 25, 2001.

Ann-I looked in my Rival Cookbook and it says"Dried beans, especially red kidney beans should be boiled before adding to a recipie. Cover the beans with 3 times thier volume of unsalted water and bring to a boil. Boil 10 minutes and reduce heat. Beans must be softened completely before combining with sugar and/or acid foods. (Note sugar and acid have a hardening effect on beans and will prevet softening) After boiling beans 10 minutes, reduce heat, cover and allow to simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Soaking in water, if desired, should be compleated before boiling. Discard water after soaking or boiling"

I've found that if you've soaked beans overnight and they are softer, you can put them in Crockpot and cook on high (all day) and they will be fine-they actually will come to a simmer-boil in the crockpot, but it takes some time to get up to temp. I've never burned anything in a crockpot-apparently you can leave it forever and your stuff won't burn. (I'm not inclined to try this, however)

A relative of mine never soaks beans and drain off the water-she says they lose vitimins. She also puts her seasoning in the pot as she begins cooking-the beans are terible, hard and tasteless. I say, if its true,(which I kind of doubt) I'd rather risk losing a few vitamins and have something to eat.

My sister lived in the Dominican Republic for two years. She had beans and rice EVERY SINGLE DAY. She never tired of it, in fact, she missed it when she came back to the states. We have some kind of beans at least once a week.

Look in your library or used book store. Crock pots kind of went out of style in late 80's, early 90's and there were tons of cookbooks at yardsales, usedbookstore, etc. I have several books, if you have anymore questions, just ask.

-- Kelly (markelly@scrtc.com), September 25, 2001.

I usually just wash my beans, put them in the crockpot with some hot water and bacon or ham, add some salt (I've never had a problem with tough beans) and cook at about 250 for about 10 hours. I put them on in the morning about 7:00 and they're usually ready when I get home around 6:00. In a crockpot with just low/med/high settings I would use medium. Or you could start them the night before on low and get the same result. If your ham or whatever meat is already cooked I would wait to add it till the morning.

-- Kellie Duncan (kashaa@swbell.net), September 25, 2001.

Ann, I love Dried Beans! One of my favorites are Large Limas, dried Limas taste nothing like fresh green Limas (yuck). Here is my Recipe:

1 lbs. Large Dried Limas 3/4 cup Hot Salsa 1 1/2 lbs Smoked Sausage (link) 1 small onion chopped coarse ground black pepper

Rince and Clean Beans. Add Beans to a kettle and cover with 1 & 1/2 quarts of water and bring to boil for 2 minutes on stove top, turn off heat and let soak for 1 hour. Drain and add to Crockpot. Slice Sausage 1/8 inch thick and add with remaining ingredients to Crockpot. Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours.

Give it a try I think you will like them. Make some Cornbread to serve with them and you will have a meal! Good Luck!

-- Mark in N.C. Fla. (deadgoatman@webtv.net), September 25, 2001.

I use 1# navy or black eyed peas, 1 meaty ham bone, about half cup each chopped celery and carrots, 1 medium onion - chopped, 3-4 inch long hot pepper and a fist size tomato. Soak the beans over night in a bowl with at least twice the amount of water. In the morning drain the beans, put in a crock pot and cover with fresh water, setting the crock pot on high for a hour. Add the rest of the ingredience. Cook for another hour on high. Take out the ham bone, take the meat off the bone and put it back in the pot. Let simmer on low 5 hours - salt and pepper to taste. Serve with cooked rice. Enjoy.

-- Lynne (lekhorse@yahoo.com), September 26, 2001.