Crockpot Beans

I love using my crockpot for cooking dried beans. One reason being, that I tend to get distracted and forget about anything that cooks longer than an hour ;o) but the biggest reason is the convenience of having a meal ready at the end of a long day.
If I think about it the night before, I let the dried beans soak overnight in cold water. If not, the morning I plan to cook them, I bring them to a boil and let them sit an hour or so. I then drain off the liquid, cover them with either chicken or vegetable broth by a couple of inches and turn on high.You can always add other goodies to the pot, but we prefer plain. At the end of the day you will have a delicious, healthy meal waiting for you. Our favorite sides are either cooked cabbage, slaw or homemade sauerkraut. Leftovers are excellent for lunches or used to create another meal, soup or bean burritos.
Tonight, for example, we are having fajitas with farm raised beef and chicken, peppers and onions from the garden and refried beans made from the leftover cranberry beans cooked earlier this week. To make these I fried a couple of pieces of bacon, warmed the beans with a bit of extra water and mashed them then tossed them in the bacon fat to finish heating. Delish.