Chili Part 1

Chili is one of my favorite cold weather meals. Normally, I'd save myself a lot of time and trouble using canned beans. In the spirit of cutting the budget (again) and living more frugally I'm going to be experimenting with dried beans.

I never remember to soak my beans overnight. So instead I put the beans on to soak first thing in the morning. 

Quick Soak Method: Pour a bag of dried beans (these are small red beans) into a pot of boiling water. Turn off the heat and let them soak for around 2 hours. I'm making a double batch of chili so I used 2 bags of beans.

How they should look post soaking:

Cooking the Beans:

Drain the beans and refill the pot with water. Cook on medium high until tender (about an hour and a half). I'm thinking since my chili will cook for the rest of the day, I might not want to overcook the beans here.

This may be more done than I'd prefer (the skins are split and the beans are soft enough to eat right now). Next time I'll shorten my cooking time.