how to make dried beans?!

they take about 2 hours to cook.
Wash them, look them over incase there are any rocks or other weird stuff in there.
put them in a kettle and cover with water so they have at least 3 inches of water above them.
Turn on the heat and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down so they still boil but not so hard.
Check after about an hour to see if you need to add more water.
Check after another 1/2 hour and taste one. they should be starting to get soft now. When they are finished cooking and are nice and tender, Drain off the cooking water and put the beans back into the kettle.
Now you can use them any way you want to. Chili is nice. There are many recipes using beans on the internet. While they are cooking you can look one up and see if you have all the ingredients for it.

You can also put some bacon (cut up into pieces) in the beans while they cook. Personally I precook the bacon just abit before I add the beans to the pot, then of course the beans then the water. Make sure to keep the water level just a couple inches above the beans, near the end when they are almost completely soft you can allow the water to be lower, and simmer. You can speed up the process by using a lid over the stock pot or leave it off and allow the water to boil down (or simmer down). I take the lid off about the last hour and keep a close eye on them. Good luck, I hope they turn out quite yummy, which I'm sure they will. You're young to be taking over the cooking but it's a skill that will be a good one for the rest of your life. BTW, when you get married look for a man who's not afraid to cook a meal or two himself, one who actually enjoys cooking. Take some of the burden off of you!

Edit: Don't forget to add some salt while they're cooking! Between the bacon and the salt is where all the flavor comes in!

Cooking for 30 years (since I was a teen) and have a husband who loves to cook.

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