Prepared Black Turtle Beans

Don't pay up to $1 per can for black beans when you can make them yourself for pennies! These tasty beans work great in Santa Fe style recipes or as a substitute for refried beans. Tested at high altitude.

• Ready In: 3 hrs 10 mins
• Yields: 4 quarts

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 lbs  dry black beans
•  water
• 1  envelope  Lipton Onion Soup Mix
• 1  tablespoon onion powder
• 2  teaspoons garlic powder
• 2  teaspoons salt (or to taste)

Directions

1. The night before: wash beans and remove any debris.
2. Place in large mixing bowl and add water to cover plus 4 inches.
3. To cook: pour off water from beans and place in 6-quart heavy kettle or dutch oven.
4. Add enough water to cover, plus 2 inches.
5. Cover and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat but keep boiling at steady rate.
7. Boil beans for about 2 1/2 hours or until just tender.
8. Stir occasionally.
9. Add water as needed.
10. (Ideally, at the end of the cooking time, there will be just enough water to cover the beans.) Remove from heat.
11. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
12. Allow to cool.
13. Scoop 2 cups of mixture into each freezer bag.
14. Try to distribute an equal amount of liquid into each bag.
15. Squeeze out excess air and seal.
16. Freeze.
17. To use: Remove bag from freezer and allow to thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours, OR thaw bag in microwave according to manufacturer's directions, OR run warm water over bag to release contents from bag, then place frozen bean mixture in saucepan and heat over low flame until hot.
18. Each bag yields 4 servings.