Crock frijoles

The thing I liked about this recipe is that it was the first time I had actually made some decent textured beans from hard beans. I also finally went and bought myself a new crock pot. DH made me throw the one I hated away after I kept complaining about it each week. Had to go to the store on crock pot day this day. Unfortunately, this was too spicy for the whole family even though I thoroughly seeded the chipoltes and cut the cayenne down from 1/2 Tablespoon to 1/2 teaspoon. Duncan did love it though and has taken it in a thermos to lunch for the last week. I didn't even make the other boys try it. I thought it was OK. The beans could have been more flavorful, and although not too spicy at first bite, it did have a bit of an afterburn.The idea is originally from Saving dinner, but I made some changes. This is of course the way I made it. She did have good suggestions on making beans. She also always gives nutritional info. Most recipes are pretty simple as well. Not a bad cookbook. No pictures though, and I usually find I like to modify spices, but not always.

Ingredients

• 3 slices bacon
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 small onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 chipolte peppers
• 5 cups chicken broth. (I used 1 container of stock that had 3 cups and 1 can of broth.)
• 1 14 or 15 oz. can tomato puree
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 pound pinto beans

Directions
1. Soak beans the night before.
2. Thoroughly seed the chipolte peppers. Chop peppers (red, green, and chipolte) and onion in the food processor. In a large skillet, cook bacon. Remove from pan and crumble. Drain all but 1 Tablespoon of the bacon grease. Add vegetables to the pan and saute 5 minutes. Add garlic, chicken broth/stock, tomato puree, cayenne, salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce to taste; add beans. Transfer everything to crock pto and cook on low 8 hours. When beans are tender salt to taste.
Since this was spicy, I added sour cream. I also topped them with cheddar. Bought cilantro to throw on there and then forgot to. :(

I know chipoltes are hot, but I like their flavor. If I made this again, I'd probably add a bit of the adobo sauce that they come in and maybe sub chili powder for the cayenne and add some cumin, maybe a bit or coriander.