life is a crock of beans

This was a sign in my Nanny's kitchen.  I loved it.  It was my grandparents in a nutshell. They loved beans.  Such a simple food.  Since I have been obsessing over this White Chili lately, I have been buying many cans of Great Northern beans.  We are a big bean eating family - we try not to eat too much meat, so we steer toward beans.  I decided I should try my hand at making my own to freeze, which brings me back to this saying... life is a crock of beans.  Beans run about $1 per can, a 2 pound bag is about $2 and yields about 7 cans of beans.  Today I spent the afternoon preparing 4 pounds of Great Northern beans to freeze in quart size freezer bags.

In a large pot, cover beans by 3 inches with cold water, cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minute, remove pot from heat and drain.  Transfer to a crock pot. Cover by 2 inches with cold water, on low heat, cover and simmer, gently stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, 4-6 hours. For a quicker method - try a Dutch Oven - cover with water 2 inches above beans, cook in oven at 325 for about 75 minutes.  Drain beans and divide into freezer containers or bags.  I divide my beans into 3-4 cup proportions.  Freeze.