Crockpot Refried Beans

I know I promised this recipe almost two weeks ago, in my Veggie Quesadilla post.  I've been a slacker and I apologize. 

I've been trying to get away from canned foods as much as possible, plus I love to use my crock pot, so I decided to try my hand at refried beans.  How hard could it be?  Not hard at all, as it turns out.  The only thing I wasn't sure about was soaking the beans because I'd never done it before.  But it's not difficult and a bag of dried beans is much cheaper than cans of beans.

Ingredients:

• 3 c. dried pinto beans, rinsed and soaked overnight
• 7 c. water (saved from soaking beans)
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 1 4oz can of diced green chiles (or you could use minced fresh jalepeno or other chile.  I just didn't have fresh on hand)
• 2 tbsp. garlic (I used freshly minced, maybe 10 cloves depending on size)
• 1 tbsp. ground cumin (less/more to taste)
• 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp. salt (or more to taste)
• Juice of 1/2 lime (or more to taste)

To make:

• Place soaked beans, onion, chiles, garlic, cumin, and pepper in 6 qt. crock pot
• Stir in water
• Cook on high for about 8 hours (add a bit more water if needed during cooking)
• When beans are cooked, mash with potato masher
• Season with salt and lime juice

(yes, I know that's the same picture I used before.  When I made these beans I hadn't started the blog yet.  Besides, this is a pretty picture.)

A couple tips:

• No need to cut the onion any smaller than in half.  It will cook down and mash up with the beans. 
• After I mashed my beans, they looked a bit thin so I let them cook for about 30 minutes with the lid off to thicken them up a bit
• I have read that you should never add salt while beans are cooking because it can make them tough.  I don't know this for a fact, but I waited to add the salt at the end just in case.  I added 1 tbsp. of salt, which ended up being a bit too salty for me, so I backed the recipe off to 2 tsp. 
• I'll probably add more cumin and will definitely use fresh chiles next time

This makes a ton of refried beans.  They freeze wonderfully.  I separated them into 1 1/2 c. portions, which is about what we use for one meal.