Crock Pot Pinto Beans

Brad grew up eating pinto beans and rice. When we moved in together, he asked me to make some with him but he didn’t really remember how his mom made them. So, we called her, got the gist of how she made it and added our own twist. Each time we make it, it’s a little different from the time before. This is how I’m making them today:

Basic Ingredients to think about –

  • Pinto Beans
  • Cooking liquid (proportion of liquid to beans is 3 to 1)
  • Salt
  • Seasonings of you choice

Today, I used –

  • 4 Cups Pinto Beans
  • 8 Cups Water
  • 4 Cups Beer
  • Salt
  • Garlic Powder
  • Bay Leaf
  • Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
  • 1/2 Ring Dried Beef Sausage
  • 1/2 Yellow Onion

 

I started by putting the liquid and seasonings in my crock pot.
Put the liquid & seasonings in crock pot.

I then washed the pinto beans and made sure to pick out all the stuff that won’t cook well (including looking for pebbles).
Wash the pinto beans. Stuff that won't cook well. No pebbles today!

Cut up the dried beef sausage into small pieces.
Dried Beef Sausage Ring Cut into small pieces.

Cut 1/2 an onion into small pieces.
1/2 a yellow onion. Small pieces of onion going in the crock pot.

I put the crock pot on high and I’ll let it cook until it’s ready. I’ll stir is every couple of hours but I’ve read that every time you open the lid of your crock pot, it takes 20 minutes for it to regain the heat it lost so I have to remember to be patient. Hopefully, it’ll be done by dinner time.

Right before we eat, I’ll make some rice in my rice cooker. I’ll try to remember to take and post a pic of the final product.

Love you, mean it!
~C

But do they know what they want to say?

There’s a budget crisis in Texas. Actually, it’s a national budget crisis but that’s not what this post is about. Many State workers, including educational employees, are scrambling to either find a way to save their jobs or at least the integrity of their profession. The stress of this have trickled down to our students and they’re feeling the crunch of upcoming shortcomings.

Human nature tends to make our brains try to fill in holes we may have in the facts and kids being kids, easily fall into that trap even more so than adults. There are a lot of possibilities for “band aids” on how to make school work for next year. There’s talk about:

  • going from an A/B block schedule to a 7 or 8 period day,
  • having a 4 day on, 3 day off school week,
  • increasing class size,
  • laying off teachers,
  • etc. – the suggestions are endless

    • in helping to relieve some of the financial woes our government has put our districts into. What’s the best answer? Your guess is as good as mine since band aids on this type of a problem are only temporary and usually lead to bigger problems. So, as kids hear the possibilities being tossed around out of context, they take it as gospel and get upset that their world (as they know it) is going to change. Well of course, they’re kids. And good for them for wanting to do something about it and their parents for supporting them in projecting their voice. BUT, what everyone needs to understand is that walking out of class, causing havoc during lunch, getting upset in classes is not going to help create a positive change. Not enough people understand that the school districts are being given their annual “allowance” by the State and are having to make due with pennies compared to what they’ve operated from before.

    When that happens in a kids life, they go find a job (if they’re old enough) or whine and cry to their parents until they get what they want (I got a job ’cause crying to my parents wasn’t going to change what little they had to share with me when I was a teenager). When that happens on a government to school basis, neither is going to offset the millions of dollars they’re talking about. There’s no choice than to make changes because they district only has what they’ve been given from the State.

    Let’s review – who has control of the money districts operate from? The State government. Tell me how walking out on classes and standing around the outside of campus is going do any good? OH, the media is going to talk about it – probably not, folks. There are school districts having to lay off anywhere from 500-2000 employees. Those are the districts the media wants to talk about. Our school district has actually made some smart moves with their rainy day fund and are willing to dip into it to offset some of the shortfall from the State. Being proactive isn’t what the media wants to talk about – it’s not “good news” (except it is actually good news).

    Speaking of rainy day fund, why isn’t the State dipping into theirs? Are they waiting for a monsoon or something? I think a multi-billion dollar deficit could be considered a bit more than just a sprinkle. In fact, I’d call that the monsoon!

    So, writing this blog entry – is that going to solve anything or put a band aid anywhere? No. And I know that. Is that going to make kids smart enough to know that disrupting the last of their well funded education days they have left isn’t going to help the situation? Probably not. But it makes me feel better. And right now, that’s all I can do.

    Love you, mean it.
    ~C

    Great comic

    My friend Naomi emailed several of us this comic yesterday and the subject said “Brad Wins”. I happen to agree. I forwarded it to him and he said it made his day. Enjoy!

    Lord of the Nerds

    Thanks to Geeks Are Sexy for posting it originally!

    What does that recipe need???

    I realized the recipes I blog about don’t start with an ingredient list and if you’re trying the recipe for the first time, that can make it hard to get started. I apologize and plan to go back and add an ingredient list to the beginning of each recipe I’ve blogged about that doesn’t have one.