Beans Beans they're good for your heart!

The More You Eat the More You...You know the rest!

Anyway, I really love baked beans. And my son really loves baked beans. The thing is, I knew there must be a better way to make beans than busting out the can opener, dumping the beans into a pan and heating them up. I means, don't get me wrong, mom, your "baked beans" in a can were great...but, seriously, we deserved better!
So, in my quest for wonderful beans I scoured the nets and found several recipes I thought sounded great. What follows is my rendition of those many recipes and one I think you'll love!
It's easy, it's delicious and, did I mention, it's freaking easy! Oh right I did.
So here you go partners...Make these tomorrow. Do it!

First things first...Get some thick cut bacon, I do not care what kind you get, just make it thick cut and actual bacon...you know from pork! Now, throw it in a pan and cook it about halfway done. Remove the bacon and set aside on paper towels. Leave the grease in the pan.
Here's what bacon cooking looks like, in case you were unsure:

Get an onion, a bell pepper (what color you get is totally up to you. I like them all and they taste the same, in my opinion, no matter what color you use), 1 clove of elephant garlic (or 5 regular cloves) and a jalapeno (I only use half the jalapeno).

 

Wash 'em, de-seed 'em, and chop 'em up.

Now, go ahead and toss those beautiful vegies in the bacon grease and start to cook them down until they are soft-ish. Deglaze the pan while you're cooking down the onion mixture. Here's a batch that I made with green bell peppers. And another with the orange peppers. They were equally yumm!

Now, here's a secret that I learned from the Pioneer Woman's blog...Canned pork n beans. 3 cans, to be exact. There isn't anything to it, just open them up and dump them in the pan with the onion mixture

 

Stir the mixture and set it to medium heat while you measure out the next ingredients. You'll need BBQ sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, mustard (yes, whatever kind you want. sometimes I like to mix it up and use a little of 2 types of mustard), & cumin. Stir it together well.

 

Now, add it to your beans, which should be nice and hot by now...

 

 

Blend this together well and lay the bacon pieces over the top. Here's another picture for the hell of it!

Now, pop those babies in the oven for a couple hours. Really cook down the beans and everything so they are so delicious you could eat the beans for a meal! I take the bacon off the top and rough chop it before stirring it back in.

 

 

 

Now, here's the recipe.




Mel's Sweet and Savory Baked Beans

Ingredients:
6 slices Thick Cut Bacon
1 medium white onion, coarse chopped
5 cloves garlic or 1 clove elephant garlic, coarse chopped
1 medium bell pepper, any color, coarse chopped
1/2 jalapeno, coarse chopped
3 cans pork n beans
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons mustard, any type
1 teaspoon cumin

Preheat oven to 325.
Fry bacon in 12 inch skillet until cooked about halfway. Set aside to drain on paper towels.
Add onion, garlic, bell pepper, and jalapeno to bacon grease and cook until tender.
Add pork n beans and stir. Let simmer on medium heat.
While simmering, stir together BBQ sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard and cumin. Pour into beans and stir.
If your pan is oven safe, top with bacon and bake in center of over for 2 hours. The sauce will thicken.
If your skillet is not oven proof, transfer the mixture to a 9x11 glass dish. Top with bacon and bake for 2 hours.
Once beans are finished baking, remove the bacon from the top and coarse chop. Add back into the mixture and stir just before serving.

Enjoy!

Tags:
beans, baked beans, BBQ, summer, cooking, vegetables, legumes, bell pepper, onion, garlic, jalapeno, pork