Tag: Bean recipe

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Perfect Picnic Baked Beans

Baked Bean Recipe

Potlucks and picnics often have one thing in common, baked beans.  Someone always provides some variation on the theme.  There are times when you get lucky and the baked beans are thick, rich, and full of molasses and bacon.  Other times the beans are slightly watery, tomato-tangy, and full of ground beef.  Inevitably I have to try them.  Most of the time I’m disappointed.

This is where my contrariness comes out.  Seriously, it’s this place.  Ignore every other place you thought I was being contrary,

I have serious opinions on baked beans.  And this is where it gets confusing.  I like Bush’s Baked Beans, but only some of the varieties.  And I don’t eat any other canned baked beans.  Bean recipes that call for tomato soup are not my favorite, but recipes with ketchup are ok.  I like beans with molasses and brown sugar, but  not honey. Bacon and chunks of beef are good, but ground meat is not.  I like onions in my beans, but not large chunks.  Some mixture of beans is ok, but never in a soupy base.  Finally, I prefer my beans cooked to the point where they are nearly melted, but only if there is plenty of molasses.

It’s a lot, I know, but I warned you, I have opinions and even then it doesn’t always hold true.  I had some baked beans at Old World Wisconsin last week that were the sweet mushy sort of bean I like, but had no molasses in them.  They were delicious.

My husband read over my shoulder as I was typing this and said it was funny.

“Why funny?” I asked because I was completely serious about my take on beans.

“Because it’s kind of “When Harry Met Sally”,” he replied.

I just like things a certain way sometimes. That being said, my expectations were not high as I made this bean recipe, but I have to say I was not disappointed.  I mean, yeah, they aren’t the delicious molasses-y baked beans that I prefer, but these are a nice summer-y bean.  They pair well with brats on the grill and coleslaw.  The sauce is great to dip buns in. And if you don’t have bacon fat, you can use any sort of fat you have.  If you have to make bacon fat, just add the bacon, too.

You’ll have to forgive the pictures.  This recipe is from my backlog and was originally cooked nearly a year ago.  I haven’t made it since, but this should not deter you from trying it.  Chances are, you don’t have over 1000 recipes to try to cook through and write about. (But I kind of want baked beans now, but I’ll settle for a piece of the Pear Gingerbread Upside Down Cake instead.)

The Recipe:

Baked Beans

Baked Beans

1 can lima beans (drained)
1 can kidney beans (drained)
1 can white navy beans (drained)
3 onions chopped fined
1 clove garlic
3 TB bacon fat
1/2 cup catsup
3 TB brown sugar
3 TB vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper

Mix and cover pot.  Cook at least an hour.  Remove cover and cook another 15-20 minutes.

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For more great bean recipes (because I know that’s what you want) try 4 Bean Salad, Sour Cream Lima Beans, and Bean Salad.  

 

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Bean Salad: The Bean Stalks at Midnight

I know, I know, we’ve been down this territory before.  How many damn variations of bean salad can there possibly be? But look at how pretty this one is.

You see those pretty bits of red?  And that gorgeous green.  Everything glistening with the dressing.  It’s a lovely bean salad made even more lovely by being served in my grandma’s dish.  These are the things that I really like.  A simple salad, beautiful colors, plenty of fresh veggies, flavors that mix and blend.

Can I just go down this sentimental path for a second?  I am writing this blog post about my great-grandma’s recipe, photographed in my grandma’s dish, while sitting in my other great-grandma’s chair.  My daughter is sleeping in a bed with her head resting on a pillowcase that my mom made.  Just think about how absolutely special that is.

Back to beans…and peas.

I absolutely did not use canned peas in this recipe.  I can’t stand canned peas.  Canned peas are terrible.  For my taste, they are overly sweet and mushy.  I opted for thawed frozen peas.  They have a little more tooth to them and the color is nicer.

Pimentos. If you have never bought these before, they are in the pickle/olive area of the grocery store and come in a little tiny jar.  I had no idea that these were also called cherry peppers, I assumed that was something different.  (The church ladies at our old church made the best canned stuffed peppers out of these.)  I did a quick internet search because I wanted to confirm that these grew upside down, but got lost and never did find that answer.  If someone knows, let me know.

Flavor.  Basically this can be as fresh or as processed as you feel like.  My half and half mixture was pretty decent.  The recipe says that the recipe keeps for weeks.  If you are using fresh/frozen beans, I’d err on the side of caution.  Regardless, I don’t think this salad will last that long.  It’s not the Mixed Veggie Salad.