A leftover 2 pound bag of dried black beans from my tween’s art project inspired me to prepare 1 pound in a slow cooker and the other pound on the stove top. This is the slow cooker version. I usually take the canned bean shortcut when making Cuban black beans and rice (search the Whole Meal’s library of recipes for the recipe) but I have to admit, nothing beats from-scratch cooked black beans as the base.