Homemade Refried Beans

These beans are the greatest and they beat the canned stuff by a mile! They do take a little while to cook, but they are well worth it!
Here's what you need:

1 bag (16 oz.) dried pinto beans
2 tsp. garlic powder
3 tsp. real salt
3 Tbsp. lard or bacon grease

1. Sort beans, making sure all rocks and debris are out of them. Throw away any bad beans. Rinse them in a colander under cold running water.

2. Put them into large pan and fill the pan up about 3/4 of the way with water. Lid the pot and turn the heat to med. high. When the beans begin to boil, remove lid.

3. Cook the beans until the water turns dark. This step usually takes about 2 hours or so.  Add the garlic powder, the salt and the bacon grease or lard.

4. Turn the heat down to about med. and cook the beans. Check them often as the water tends to cook away. If you notice the water level is going down, you can add more water to bring it back up to the previous amount. This step could take anywhere from 2-3 hours, depending on how high you are cooking them. You will know they are done when the liquid gets thick and pulls away from the inside of the pan. Also, when the beans smash easily up against the side of the pan.

5. Remove pan from heat and begin to mash them with a potato masher until they are the consistency that you want. I always keep mine a little chunkier than the canned beans.

6. Now they are ready to use. Use them anyway you would use the canned ones. Very easy and very yummy! They are easily frozen, so you can make these up ahead of time, freeze them and you will always have re fried beans for recipes.  When you need to use them from frozen, just thaw and add them to a pan with a little milk (this makes them creamy) and stir them until they heat up. These are great for my Spicy Bean Burritos.

The cooking times may vary. I do not usually watch the clock, I just cook them until they are done.