I found this recipe in a cook book I got for my wedding and I used it so much when I was raising my family. Some Monday mornings I would start the pinto beans, mix up a batch of granola and then start a batch of bread. All the while I was doing the laundry. My oh my, where did all that energy go?
Anyway, this is a simple but delicious recipe
2 cups pinto beans
2 cups of tomato juice (or 1 quart bottled tomatoes)
1/2 pound of hamburger, browned
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt (or less)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Put the beans in a large pot and cover them with at least 2 quarts of water, the beans will double in size.
If you want to, you can add onions at this time, either diced fresh or dehydrated. I use about 2 TBS dehydrated onions.
Bring the water to boil and boil for 2 minutes. Cover the beans and turn off the heat, let the beans sit for 2 hours.
After two hours turn the heat on and boil softly for 1 more hour. I you keep the lid off, make sure the beans are covered with water.
After that hour add all the rest of the ingredients and simmer again for 1 hour. It could take longer for the beans to get soft. I like to make sure they are soft.
Fresh beans cook up nice and soft in this four hours, older beans take longer to get fully cooked. I often just rotate out my old beans each year because they are so cheap and fresh one are so good. They food bank will take them.
