Slow Cooker Refried Beans

 

 

 

 

 

I love refried beans.  I use them in dips, burritos, taco salads, nachos and oodles of other dishes. This recipe I love because it gives flavor to the beans.  Let's not forget, they help lower your cholesterol. 

 

Here is what you will need.

 

Ingredients:

 

2 pounds of pinto beans that have soaked over night and rinsed thoroughly after soaking

 

1 can of jalapeno peppers with juice.  ( I use two teaspoons of pepper and 2 teaspoons of the juice)

 

1 onion

 

5 garlic gloves minced

 

5 teaspoons of salt

 

1 3/4 teaspoon of pepper

 

1/8 teaspoon of ground cumin

 

Water to cover the beans

 

 

 

I soak my beans overnight in the cooker and then rinse them really well the next morning.  I pick out any that float to the top. 

 

Then I fill the cooker with water to cover the beans. 

 

Peel the onion and cut in half and place in the cooker with all other ingredients and mix well.  

 

Cook for about 8 hours on low. 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Once they are done drain and reserve the liquid.  

Mash with a potato masher, adding the reserved liquid to obtain the consistency that you want.  I like mine nice and thick, so I use only about one cup of the liquid. 

This makes a huge amount, but I freeze them in one pint containers until ready to use. 

 

 

 

These will last up to three months in the freezer. 

 

Adapted from the recipes of:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Refried-Beans-Without-the-Refry/Detail.aspx

 

Enjoy,

 

Debra



 



Slow Cooker Chicken Stock

 

 

 

I bought one of the pre-cooked roasted chickens at Walmart a couple of weeks back.  To be honest, I thought to myself, I will never buy an already cooked chicken from the market, but I was hungry when I walked in and didn't want to take the time to prepare a meal.  I had to give it a try, it just kept calling my name. 

 

I was really impressed.

 

A few weeks later, I bought another one, and thinking to myself, I can buy a whole chicken and cook it and it would be a lot less expensive, but I kind of like the idea of picking one up and taking a break after a busy day and not preparing a meal in the kitchen. 

 

On that note, I started feeling guilty, so I thought, well, I can make some chicken stock which would probably bring that cost down on the pre-cooked chicken. 

 

Time to share a new recipe:

 

Ingredients:

 

Chicken carcass

4 carrots

2 celery stocks with leaves

1 onion

2 bay leaves

 

 

 

 

 

The first thing to do is put the chicken carcass in your slow cooker. 

 

Chop up the carrots, celery with leaves, and onion.

 

Place these all in your slow cooker.

 

Add two bay leaves.

 

 



 

 

Pour in 12 cups of water, making sure that the chicken bones are covered by at least one inch of water.

Set the slow cooker to the lowest setting and simmer for 24 hours. 

After 24 hours strain and dispose of the chicken carcass and vegetables. 

 

 

 

This yielded about 12 cups for me. 

 

You can place in containers and freeze for up to 6 months until ready to use. 

 

 

You can always add different ingredients.  Peppercorns and garlic and different spices would be ideal too.  Salt is an alternative as well.  

 

 

 

 

Looks like I will be busy preparing some great soups this summer.....

 

 

Adapted from the recipe of:http://www.agirldefloured.com/2014/02/04/slow-cooker-chicken-stock/

 

 

 

Enjoy,

 

Debra

Knook Contest Winner and a Bottlecap Butterfly Pattern

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I've been tinkering with a few crochet patterns for a couple of weeks now, so I thought it would be fun to share the plastic bottle cap butterfly pattern for Mother's Day.

For this project you will need:

Two plastic bottle caps that are the same size. 
Two Fuzzy Sticks
Two small beads of your choice
4 ply worsted yarn of your choice
F Hook

You will need to crochet over the two plastic bottle caps. 

The pattern to cover a plastic bottle cap is here.

To Attach the fuzzy stick body and legs:



Take one of the fuzzy sticks and fold evenly in half.  Twist the bottom several times to the folded fuzzy stick about 1" above the fold line to form the tail. 

With the top side of the covered plastic bottle caps, you will need to slide a stem through the side of the bottle cap, and then do the same with the other stem and cap.  Slide the caps down the stem so that they are against the tail.  Twist the top of the two stems together to hold the caps in place.  Take two small beads and place one on each stem for the eyes.  Curl the top of the stems to form your antennas. 

Take the other fuzzy stick and cut in half.  Slide the sticks from top to bottom on the back of each cap.  Form the legs to your desire. 

Enjoy,

Debra

P.S.  Our winner for the Knook kit and yarn Giveaway is Lynda..

Overnight No-Cook Refrigerator Oatmeal

 

It's becoming the first topic of discussion when I walk into work, as to weather my lunch made the full trip.  I can't help myself.  I'm just not hungry for breakfast until about half way to work and my lunch starts calling my name. 

 

My lunch bag either shows up empty or half full. 

 

The whole purpose of packing a lunch is it is less expensive and probably healthier than pulling into a fast food drive through. 

 

I decided I finally needed to resolve this issue and try out a new recipe that I can make ahead of time.

 

Overnight No-Cook Refrigerator Oatmeal. 

 

 Ingredients:

 

Old Fashion Oats

Greek Yogurt

Milk

Fresh Fruit of your choice

 

You will also need one cup containers with lids.  The half pint mason jars work really well, but I am on the go, so I need something non-breakable.  I used the one cup Ziploc containers. 

 

 

 

Measure 1/4 cup of oats into each container.



 

 

 

Measure 1/3 cup of milk into each container.  I used 2%.

 

Measure 1/4 cup of Greek Yogurt into the container and mix well. 

 

 



 

 

Cut up your fresh fruit into smaller pieces.  I used one strawberry for each container.  This is personal preference. 

Mix well and place in refrigerator with lid for at least 8 hours. 

These last up to four days, so plan accordingly.

When ready to eat, you can add some more fresh fruit to the top. 

Enjoy,

Debra