Smokey Red Beans

I love making beans overnight in my Crockpot.  I saw some recipes for Smokey Beans and thought, I could make those even simpler...and I did.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups dried red beans
8 cups water
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 TBL mineral salt

DIRECTIONS:

Add all ingredients to a large Crockpot or slow cooker.
Cook on high Overnight, turn to low, or warm, in the morning depending on how soft you like them, or how soon you plan to eat them.

I also added a bit of Apple Cider Vinegar to the pot in the morning, as I have heard it helps with the digestion and occasional side effects 😉 of beans.

I had these with a single serve recipe of Cornbread from Briana Thomas's Blog.

Pumpkin Chia Pudding

I love to tweak and make different versions of recipes. I took another chia pudding recipe and adapted it to make it without yogurt (mostly because I was out of yogurt). So... without further ado...

In a pint jar, mix the ingredients: 

1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk

3 TBL chia seeds

Some drops of Vanilla

A generous sprinkle of cinnamon 

3 to 4 doonks stevia (or sweetener of choice)

**For best results, stop here and mix the chia seeds for a little while. They will mostly want to float at first. As you mix them, let them sit, mix them again (I do this while I prepare something else in the kitchen), mix again, let sit again... you get the idea. You will see the seeds start to suspend in the liquid as they absorb the milk. Now you can add the last ingredient.**

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Next, mix it all again until the pumpkin is mixed all the way through. I like to use a fork to mix in the pint jar, it sort of works like a whisk, but it is smaller and easier to use in the space.

Lastly, put in the refrigerator to set up overnight. The results taste like crustless  pumpkin pie to me. You could, of course, use pumpkin pie spice in place of (or addition to) the cinnamon. 

You can make multiple jars for the whole week, or the whole family at one time. Just gather jars and your ingredients when you are making something else that doesn't require constant attention.  You can take turns stirring each jar just a bit until it reaches the suspend and then add the pumpkin to each and mix all of them one last time. 

If you like pumpkin pie, tapioca pudding, or chia drinks or pudding, you will probably like this.