Slow Cooker Refried Beans (without the Refry!)

We LOVE Mexican food at our house and I am always looking for a yummy side dish. I love refried beans, but when you buy them in a can, dump them out, and the beans retain the shape of the can . . . ew. It grosses me out. I then found this recipe and I am never going back!! Took 15 minutes to throw it together and THEY WERE AMAZING! My husband said that they were as good as the beans you get at a restaurant . . . and the recipe is so easy that you can't go wrong!

**This recipe makes a lot, but you can also use it to make bean burritos, bean dip, topping for a salad, etc . . . you will definitely want to use a large 5-6 quart slow cooker for this recipe.

Slow Cooker Refried Beans
Ingredients:
1 onion, peeled and halved
3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
1/4-1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (I used about 1/4 because I wanted my kids to eat it and not think it was too hot)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
5 cups water
4 cups chicken broth

Directions:

-Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and chicken broth and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.

-Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.

 -If you want to turn this into a big batch of bean dip, add the following: 

 2 cups salsa

2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

2 cups shredded pepperjack cheese

8 oz. cream cheese

16 oz. sour cream 

2 Tbls chili powder

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Mix in with the beans and let cook a couple hours longer so flavors can blend. Makes a huge batch so just freeze leftovers!