Day 272.
These are very good beans. Our family always has an 8-pack of Bush's Baked Beans on the shelf in the garage. We buy them in bulk at Costco, and they are a go-to for an easy snack or lunch for the kids (and me!). Because I like them so much, I never really played around with making a Baked Bean anything of my own.
Until Friday. We brought these beans to a PTA potluck, and everyone who tried them commented on how good they were.
I'm going to make another batch today for lunch, because we weren't able to eat as much as we would have liked.
The Ingredients.
This is enough food to feed 8-10 as a side dish. Next time I will make more.
--3 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
--2 medium onions, chopped finely, or 2 T dried minced onion (I used dried, because I didn't want to get to the store. I wish I had been able to get fresh)
--1/2 cup brown sugar
--1/4 cup molasses
--1/3 cup ketchup
--1 tsp salt
--1 1/2 tsp dried mustard
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 pound of bacon, or equivalent. I used chicken and apple sausage.
The Directions.
I used a 4 quart crockpot, but this will fit in as small as a 1.5 quart.
Drain and rinse your beans, and add them to the crockpot. Add onion and brown sugar. Pour in the molasses and ketchup. Add spices. Stir to combine.
Lay slices of uncooked bacon over the top of the beans, or slice chicken and apple sausage and lay it over the top.
Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or high for about 4. I think you would discard the bacon after cooking, but I kept the chicken and apple sausage and mixed it in.
Our beans ended up being cooked on low for 6 hours, and then were on warm for another 3. They tasted great, but got a bit more dried out than I would have liked. I think if I had used bacon, they wouldn't have---the bacon would have created more juice. Using fresh onion would have helped, too.
The Verdict.
Very tasty.
This is a keeper. We'll make this often. The flavors were much richer than canned beans. If I was going to use dried beans, I'd probably use pinto or a white bean, after learning about that freaky kidney bean toxin.
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