Home made Black Beans

Directions:

The night before you want to make your beans, rinse the black beans well (be on the lookout for tiny foreign objects mixed in the beans, like small rocks!) Place the rinsed beans in a crock pot and fill with enough water to cover the beans (at least 1 1/2inch over beans) and let sit over night. In the morning drain off the water and rinse again. Cover the beans with water again. Add the onion, garlic, salt & pepper. Cover the crock pot and turn on high. Cook about 4 hours, stirring regularly. After the first four hours, test a bean to check for doneness. You can now turn the crock pot on low and continue to stir regularly until the beans are soft. They will probably take about 4 more hours on low. When they are cooked completely, turn off crock pot and stir in the molasses and cinnamon. Allow beans to sit until cooled. Set aside your 2 cups for the chili recipe and freeze the rest.

To freeze beans: Let cool completely. Use freezer guard zip lock baggies. Here is a nice trick; use a wide mouth coffee mug, or a pint glass. Place the zip lock bag inside the mug or glass and tuck the zipper part over the top of the rim. Take a large spoon or ladle and fill the zip lock bag full of beans. (About ½ way). This recipe makes about 12 cups of beans, so you will have 5 bags of beans to freeze. Now you will have yummy homemade black beans any time you want to make chili, burritos or enchiladas.