Slow Cooker Black Beans

One of the best mom moves I've ever made is serving my kids beans from the moment they were able to eat finger foods. Even my little guy loves them now! We eat a lot of black beans around here. A LOT. I've tried the soaking and cooking dry beans method before, and it didn't go well. When I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I figured I'd give it another shot. I made a few small adjustments, but they turned out sooooooo good. I was afraid my girls would notice a difference between these and the seasoned canned beans they are used to, but they totally didn't. Like the original recipe creator said, my kids ALSO had two huge bowls.

Here is my adapted version,

6 cups water

3 bullion chicken cubes

1 tablespoon of jarred minced garlic

1/2 jar of salsa (I used less. I just finished up an open jar in my fridge. Love recipes that work for that!)

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

I soaked my beans overnight. The next day, I left my crockpot on high for 8 hours and then on low for another 2. When I got home, we had a perfectly SUPER fast and healthy dinner between school and dance. I served these over rice with cheese and sour cream, but this is a great all purpose recipe. It can stand alone as a side or be served in place of any recipe that calls for canned black beans. It would be great in Dorito Salad, on my family's favorite black bean dip or our vegetarian chili.

This was seriously so affordable too! I didn't break down the cost exactly, but it CAN'T be more than $2 for the whole batch!

(Photo credit, A Year of Slow Cooking)