Now that the kids have associated summer gatherings and cookouts with baked beans, I think I have come up with a nice homemade version. In fact, I think I'll take pre-soaked beans to our next camp-out. I would love to try cooking these over the campfire all day long.
(They were steaming in the photo. I had just taken some out of the crock pot)
I simply rinse and soak a 1-pound bag of navy beans (or great northern, or a mix of both) the night before. Rinse again the next day and place in a crock pot. I add (and this is not exact, but eye-balling) enough water to cover beans, about 1/4 cup sorghum molasses, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 onion diced, 1 tsp. salt, and a bit of dried mustard (maybe 1/2 tsp.?). That's it. I think regular mustard would work as well too.
I cook them on high until dinner time. Maybe about 8-10 hours. No tomato in this, no bacon or other pork. My one daughter does not like bacon at all. You can add it if you like.
Why the crock pot? It frees up the oven for other foods to cook.
Note: You can jazz these up in any form, but I found that if I add anything tomato based early, it actually prevents the beans from cooking (tomato, vinegar, etc). It will take forever to soften the beans. I've always salted my pinto beans at the beginning, and they have cooked well, but now I see that I should not add the salt until about 3/4th of the way through the cooking process. I guess I still have a lot to learn.
Our sugar snap peas are exploding. Once again I am pickling some. Hubby loves them this way. They are an awesome quick snack. Instead of a chili pepper we used a jalapeno pepper (just what we had in the garden).
~For the recipe: Pickled Sugar Snap Peas
I had to laugh yesterday. My older brother saw my yearning for camping and offered his place - an all primitive area. I was tempted to text him this morning and say, "start mowing, we are on our way," but we can't.
The steering went out in the mower, and the grass is growing. Hubby's to-do list is longer than yesterday's. A trip to recycling is much over due, the garden(s) still need more weeding done, and the coop needs cleaned.
I am however, going to look at the campgrounds and book a reservation today. Just doing that should get the kids excited too. Pretty soon, July will be gone and school starts in August around here.
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