Baked Beans

Because cookout fare was on sale this week at the grocery store I went with a dinner of turkey dogs (buy 1 get 1 free), baked beans, corn on the cob (12 for $2), and watermelon ($3.99 ea) for dessert.  All was delicious, and now I have enough leftovers to cover my lunch for most of the week.

Baked Beans

This was my first attempt at making baked beans from scratch, and I was super pleased with the way they turned out, just the way baked beans should be... sweet, tangy, and slightly smokey.  Next time I would leave out the bacon though, it didn't seem to add much flavor, and Jeremy isn't a fan of fatty meat in his food.  Because I like to make everything more nutritous I added the carrot, green pepper, and celery into this recipe, but for a more traditional dish they could all be eliminated (although they are really good in here).  More ketchup could be used instead of the BBQ sauce, but I happen to like the combination.  I did this in the slow cooker, because I haven't been very interested in heating up the oven lately, but this dish could easily be cooked at 350 for 1 hour, although I'd probably saute the veggies before mixing with everything else if I was cooking it this way.

-1 lb navy beans, cooked according to package directions
-1 onion, chopped
-1/2 green pepper, chopped
-1 stalk celery, chopped
-1 carrot, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, chopped
-8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
-3/4 cup ketchup
-3/4 cup BBQ sauce
-1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-2 Tbsp yellow or dijon mustard
-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
-1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Coat slow cooker with cooking spray.  In bottom of slow cooker whisk together ketchup, BBQ sauce, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, cayenne, and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Cook on high for 6 hours (or until veggies have reached desired tenderness), remove lid during last 30 minutes of cooking to thicken sauce.

Shannon