So, being new to the dry bean thing I wasn't sure about how to go ahead with cooking them, I actually bought the "ham beens" with artificial ham flavoring. It gives stove top directions but I was hoping to cook them in the crock pot- I have them soaking now... am I supposed to do that with pintos? Thanks in advance!

I always soak my pintos overnight before cooking. I just finished mashing my refrieds for the week

Yeah good call...I was thinking about making Pinto and black beans, but I am clueless...but they are SOOO much cheaper!

Rikki - I soak most of my beans overnight, but if you're doing them in the crockpot you don't necessarily have to. The soaking will cut down on cooking time as well as....well...ahem...toots. I just throw whatever amount of beans that I want to cook in the crockpot and add 2-3 quarts of water. Turn that beast on and let it work! I do mine on high if I haven't soaked them and low if I have - all day, of course.

If you soak them overnight, they'll cook on the stovetop in about 2 hours. Just make sure to keep liquid in them! In the crock pot, just set 'em on high for 6-8 hours if you haven't soaked them, and like Zeffryn said, on low if you have!

One tip for the crock pot is to do a lot of your seasoning in the last couple of hours before it's done cooking. I've found that helps flavor a LOT.

I love beans and peas and things. How wonderful they are healthy too! My favorite thing as of late is using chick peas to make my own hummus. They are just .69 a can as opposed to $5 for store bought hummus. Go Beans--and peas too!

TBG- I have been making my own hummus too and its great- although, a friend of mine let me have some she had bought from the store and OMG it was soooooooooo good. spicy and very very smooth. so I am going to try to replicate it as soon as the batch I have is gone!!! The only expensive ingredient is the tahini- but it costs as much as one batch of hummus would and you can use it to make several batches! I think for the smoothness you have to remove the skins, which I saw somewhere how to do that- I will have to look into it! I will let you know how it turns out!

I make beans in the crock pot all the time. In fact I have some cooking today with very little seasoning because I plan to use abou 1/2 of them in chili.

This is what I do for a 1lb bag of beans:
soak the beans overnight
rinse them well in the morning
put in the crockpot with enough water (or broth) to cover to about 1"
add a couple of splashes of worcestershire sauce
add some salt and pepper
cook on low for 6-8 hours (depending on how tender you like your beans)

Since these will be used for chili and refried beans, I don't add much else. If I were making beans to have by themselves - as bean soup or beans and cornbread I'd make the following changes:

use broth (usually broth I've made myself from a hambone, otherwise veggie or chicken broth) instead of water
add a finely chopped onion
add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
add a bag of shredded carrots
at the end of the cooking time if I have ham left, I'll add it back to the pot

(We usually make bean soup the day after we have ham at home - so there's a bone for the stock and some leftover ham for the soup. You can also buy a ham bone from Honeybaked Hams for $5 or $6 and it'll have some ham left on it - enough for the soup. Sometimes I do that if I'm not in the mood to cook a whole ham.)

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I think garbanzos are the easiest beans to cook from dry - so try them for your hummus. They are almost ready to use after soaking. I just bring the pan to a boil, skim a couple of times, then cover and turn the heat off and let them sit for awhile. 2 cups (a bag) of dried beans will give you enough for plenty of hummus and chickpea crunchies!

I will definitely try that for my hummus next time cyndi- thanks.
Photochick- Thanks for the recipes, as for the hambone I am a vegetarian so I won't be using these thats why I bought the hambeens with the artificial ham flavoring... Also, I have found if I add salt to the beans they take FOREVER to cook! I do like my beans quite tender so maybe thats why I think that way who knows! but I wait till they are almost finished before I season with salt...

So, my beans seem to be done but looks like I have too much water- any p1 friendly ideas to thicken it up a bit without blending some of the beans?

Any soy granules or TVP around? I'd toss shredded cabbage in but not everyone is a fan There's always taking some of the beans out and mashing them then adding them back in. You could also scoop some of the liquid out and freeze it for the next batch.

I ended up putting about a cup of beans with another cup of liquid from the beans... I made some garbanzo dumplings out of 1/4 of the flour and 1 md egg... dropped into boiling beans then after about 8 min I added about 2cups spinach... it was sooooo good!