Slow Cooker Black Beans

If you've never had black beans that didn't come from a can, here's a secret: they are actually black. I find the dull brownish color from canned "black" beans as appealing as that syrupy goo that it is packaged in, but I fully admit that I call on those cans quite often.
Because as it turns out, I'm a blackbeanaholic.
I put them in hummus, on my tossed salads, in cold salads, in warm salads. I re fry them and spice them to soup. But my most favorite way to eat them is right out of the ol' crock pot, scooped out with a salty tortilla chip.
Making beans sans-cans was always something I was afraid of. The soaking just turned me off, as if that one extra step of doing, well, nothing, was too difficult to juggle. It wasn't until I later learned the beauty and ease of cooking these babies in a crock pot, and my world has become beautifully bean-y.

Your house will smell fabulous. Your kids will say, "mom, what's cooking? It smells soooooo goooood!" And you will answer, "beans!" to which they will most likely respond, "yuck." And then you smile, because there will be more for you and chances are if your house contains a small boy like mine, there will be definite winners and losers in the evening fart contest. (Beans, beans, good for your heart...)

Slow Cooker Black Beans

1 pound bag of dry black beans, rinsed and picked of stones
7 cups water
1-2 garlic cloves (to taste)
1 tsp salt

Put beans, water, and garlic in crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hours. Add salt (to taste) and turn to low. Cook 2 more hours. It's that simple.

Last night I made up some homemade tortillas which were a heap easier than I thought they'd be, and mixed some leftover rice with the beans and topped it with salsa and cheese. (There's just something about simple food with one-word ingredients that is so pleasing.) Today I ate the same thing for lunch, without the tortilla, just in a lovely big bowl.

As for the kids who didn't eat the beans, game on. :)