Healthy Refried Beans

OK so I promise: today I'm going to sit down and pray and think about my resolutions for 2010. Hopefully I will post them in the next few days. But today, I wanted to share with you a new recipe I just tried. I love making bean and cheese quesadillas for lunch or an easy quick dinner, but have always felt bad buying canned refried beans. In an effort to make me feel less guilty we've have always gotten the vegetarian refried beans so that they're a little bit healthier. Anyway, I found this recipe on http://nourishingcookbook.blogspot.com/ and it turned out really well. So Here it is;

Healthy Refried Beans
yield: 9-10 cups

THE NIGHT BEFORE: cook dry beans in crockpot. Put the following in the crockpot and cook on low all night (or 9 hours)
51/2 cups (2lbs) dry pinto or black beans
about 31/2 quarts water, as needed
1 tsp garlic powder

THE NEXT DAY: place drained cooked beans, reserving the bean liquid, in a mixing bowl; add remaining ingredients:
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp chili powder
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt, to taste, optional

Blend beans with electric mixer or by hand with a potato masher, adding amount of reserved bean liquid until beans are the consistency desired.

And VOILA! There you have it folks! Yummy, healthy refried beans that are easy to make!