I soak them over night then cook them in my slowcooker/crockpot with some water or you can use broth, I add onion and garlic to them and seasoning. We usually do not have any left over LOL but I am sure you could just put them in sealed containers and freeze them for later use.

this is one of my fave recipes with black beans, can be done with canned or even better soaked dried ones.

Black Bean Creole

Ingredients

3 pounds smoked sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces
5 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, partially drained
1-1/2 cups onions, chopped
1-1/2 cups green pepper, chopped
1-1/2 cups celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons leaf thyme
1-1/2 teaspoons leaf oregano
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 chicken bouillon cube
5 bay leaves
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup water
Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a crockpot. Cover and cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours. Remove bay leaves. Serve with corn chips, cheese and sour cream. Or over cooked rice.

There are scads of bean recipes out there, so you might want to experiment and adapt to your liking. I soak mine for at least 6 hours, discard soaking water. Saute onion, green pepper, red pepper and garlic, add beans add water and/or veggie broth to cover, bring to a boil, then simmer. After they soften (not before), I add a can of diced tomatoes, a can of rotel tomatoes and spices to taste. I usually use S&P, Cayenne, cumin and cilantro.
I usually cook two big pots and use a seal a meal a meal's worth and freeze.

I just use them mainly as an "extra" in tacos, Mexican rice etc.
I did see a quesadille recipe that called for mashed black beans on the tortilla and the toppings on top. It looked good.

I also have a quinoa recipe that called for black beans and chicken.

I guess really, what all I use it for, canned would do, but I thought it might be healthier to use dried.

I like the looks of your recipe RC. I'd cut it down quite a bit though. Thanks for yours too Gardenspice.

Anyone have any more?

We love beans and black beans are often on our menu. I usually do a Cuban Black Bean recipe. I am not going to type out the recipe because you can find it at the link below but basically it is so easy to cook bake beans and add a few condiments to make them even better.

Since we are bean lovers, I actually can my own dried beans. They are easy enough to cook but sometimes at the last minute DH will say "Let's have black beans tonight" or I'll just feel like some pinto's and cornbread so all I have to do is go to my pantry and get a jar off the shelf.

This thread is pretty timely as I just finished canning black eyed peas, black beans and pintos. The other jar there is strawberry jam. You do have to have a canner because you can't just water bath beans, but they are easy to can. In brief, all you do is Soak overnight, cook thirty minutes, put into hot jars with 1 tsp salt (optional) and pressure can. It is important not to overfill the jars because you need some room for the beans to expand and you don't want it to be so packed full of beans that it is to dense to process correctly. Don't follow the directions above, but check any good canning website including our Harvest forum for the accurate directions. I pack mine in pints because they hold enough for my husband and I each to have a serving with a meal. If we are having say just cornbread and beans, then I open two jars because we love beans.

Here is a link that might be useful: Taste of Cuba

Jas, just thought I would add that you can freeze beans too but they get a little mushy if you are not careful. What you can do though is cook them about 30 or 40 minutes (still under cooked) and freeze them. When you are ready to use them it will only take a few minutes to have them ready..

If I have leftover beans and I want to freeze them, I use them for things where I would use mashed beans or soft beans. Just this week when I was canning I mashed the rest of the pinto's and made chalupa's.

Jasdip yes that recipe does make a LOT, I make it when I am having company. Or I plan on sharing with some one.

this is a black bean soup I have done also

Black Bean Soup

* 2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
* 2 4.5 oz cans chopped green chiles
* 1 14.5 oz can Mexican stewed tomatoes, undrained
* 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1 11 oz can whole kernel corn , drained
* 4 green onions, sliced
* 2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic

Combine all ingredients in a 5-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 5-6 hours (low 8-10).

I make a home canned salsa that is very thick and chunky and when I am in a hurry and I want to make Cuban Black Beans, I take a jar of my black beans or a can from the grocery store, dump in a can of my tomato salsa and heat it long enough to combine the flavors.........serve over rice. I use homemade salsa but truthfully and salsa would do and it saves the time of chopping onions, garlic, tomatoes etc etc

My mother stored beans for later use...she didn't cook them until she needed them, just kept the dried beans in tightly sealed containers.

Oh they sound good!
Ruthie, I like the salsa and black beans and rice!

I also like the idea of freezing! I'm going to look into that, and try it.

Ruthie, I do that, too! I sometimes mash the beans, and sometimes I use refried beans.

I cooked my own beans for years, but have given in to laziness in the past few years. I'll have to start again.

I'm trying to think why you would cook a mess of beans and then can or freeze them. I'm sure there must be a reason but it's just not apparent to me at the moment. I do what oldgardener does. I cook just what I need for the moment be it one meal or two and seal the rest in an air tight container. They keep for a pretty long time and can store in the pantry. I have a Food Sealer for this and it works great. You wouldn't want to do a 50# bag of beans but very few people would buy that much anyway.

You cook them or can them because you want them right now and don't have time to cook them. When you want a quick supper and decide hey wouldn't beans be nice, you run take them out of the freezer and thaw them in the microwave or grab a jar off the shelf.......simple as that....you also don't cook them completely to cook them or can them but it sure saves a lot of time.........