To answer a question...

Jafael asked me the other day how I make my freezer beans. Rather than bury it in the comments, I decided to make a post about it.

First, take your dried beans and put them in your crockpot. I don't pre-soak mine. I did it once and it didn't make a huge difference. They will soak up quite a bit of water as they cook though, so you'll want to check them occasionally to keep them from drying out. I don't make these if I'm going to be gone all day. Out shopping? Yes. Nine hours at work? No.

I usually cook my beans in plain water with chopped onions and garlic. No salt. I make them bland on purpose, because I plan to use them for different recipes. Sometimes I experiment based on what's in my kitchen. I made some pinto beans last summer with black peppercorns and celery added that were pretty awesome. I made my black beans earlier using the leftover stock from pulled pork tacos. That was pretty good.

I used to use canned chicken broth to make beans. But that used up an ungodly amount of broth. Now I only use my own homemade stocks for beans.

I have some pinto beans and some navy beans in my pantry. I suppose I should mess around with those later this week.