Refried beans

Story:
The young women (youth group) in our congregation have done a fundraiser for their summer camp two years in a row.  They do a Mexican Fiesta-themed bean burrito dinner.  They include homemade salsa, tortilla chips, and bean and cheese burritos.  This year they included a dessert option of Rice Krispie treats or brownies!  I heard this was their biggest fundraiser last year. I'm curious to hear how they did this year.  There was a long line-up of cars in front of the Santiago's house at 5:30 last night waiting to pick up their food at the "drive-up" table the girls had set up.

They asked the girls (or their parents) to help provide some of the food this year, and they sent home a recipe for homemade refried beans.  I had never made homemade refried beans before!  It was super easy and I found it surprisingly satisfying when they actually turned out!  So I'm including the recipe here.

As a side note, when Megan (now a senior in high school who recently found out she was accepted to BYU-Hawaii for college!) came home from school and was starving and walked in the kitchen while I was finishing up some Rice Krispie treats and the refried beans, said, "Mom, I think the food plan in the dorms is gonna suck." I said, "No, there will be lots of options and there will always be something you'll like."  She said, "Yeah, but you're over here making homemade refried beans and Rice Krispie treats."  I think she might have been saying that she might miss me a little bit.  ;)

Ingredients:
3 C dry pinto beans
1 cube butter
1 T salt
10 C water

Directions:
Put the beans in a crock pot with the 10 cups of water and cook for about 8-9 hours on HIGH.  Make sure the beans are always covered with water.  You may need to add more water during the cooking process.
Once cooked, save 1 1/2 C of water from the beans and drain off the rest.  Mix the beans, the 1 1/2 cups of bean-water, salt, and butter with an immersion blender--or in a regular blender.  I used my immersion blender right in the crockpot.
Return to the crockpot to keep warm or refrigerate until you are ready to eat.

Delicioso!