Ingredients

1 lb dry beans or peas
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 cup of chopped bell pepper (I like to use a rainbow of colors for flavor and visual appeal)
1 medium red onion-give a punch of flavor to any dish
4-5 medium cloves of garlic, chopped
3-5 green onions or scallions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 tsp of each: onion and garlic powder
1 tablespoon of each of dry: oregano, basil, thyme and cumin and sage
Chicken or beef broth, just enough to cover the beans
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Rinse beans. Removed any broken or shriveled beans.

2. Place beans in crock pot.

3. Heat up cooking pan with medium heat. Place a tablespoon of olive oil in the heated cooking pan. Add the chopped ingredients and add in onion powder and garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Season to taste with sea salt. Cook until ingredients began to caramelize (the sugar is cooking out). This caramelizing adds richness to the flavor of your beans. Add to your crock pot.

4. To ensure that you get the right amount of thickness to the beans, use enough chicken or beef broth to just cover the beans. Put your crock pot on low and simmer for the next 8-12 hrs, until beans are soft and thick gravy develops. If you need to, you can always add more broth. It’s best to add because if you use too much broth initially, you dilute the thickness of the gravy and thus the flavor of the beans. If you need to add more broth, preheat to match the temperature of the liquid in the crock pot otherwise, you lower the temperature of the crock pot and this will cause the beans to take longer to cook.

5. Twenty to thirty minutes before the beans are done add: Oregano, basil, thyme, cumin and sage. You can always add more or less of these ingredients to your taste. Adding your herbs at the end preserves the flavor and you get a stronger flavor in the dish. If you really want to accentuate the flavors, add about two teaspoons of sugar. You don’t want the beans sweet and you don’t want the added calories of sugar; you simply want to pop the flavor.