Old Fashioned Baked Beans for the Holidays

When I started to have Easter at my house every year, I wanted to serve baked beans with the traditional ham.  I set out on a mission to find baked beans like I remembered from my childhood.  Beans that are flavored with bacon, thick with brown sugar that has caramelized from long, slow baking, and that have that perfect balance between the sweetness of the sugar and the tanginess of the ketchup and mustard. It took several batches of beans, and a few disappointing recipes until I settled on this one.  It is a little bit sweet, and gooey, and bacony, and thick, and I just love it!  The canned beans just don’t compare to making your own baked beans at home.

It is super simple, too.  The hardest part is frying up the bacon, and chopping the onion, but once that is done, you just throw everything together. Having a good baked beans recipe really comes in handy.  There are so many holidays where they make the perfect side dish, just like the 4th of July coming up. And they are a great accompaniment any time you want to bar-b-q.  You can also make them earlier in the day if you want, and keep them in the refrigerator until time to bake them.

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays.  I think because even though we live in a big city, on that day, everyone comes out of their houses, finds the nearest fireworks, and sets up their lawn chairs next to each other.  Strangers talk to each other while their children run around and play on the grass nearby.  It feels like we live in a small town just for a little while.  And, even though there will always be disagreements over how our government should do things, during the fireworks, everyone is smiling and happy and seems  focused on being thankful for the freedoms and blessings they enjoy, proud of their country that has provided them,  just for a few minutes.  Seems like a pretty great holiday if it can accomplish all that in such a short amount of time.

Old Fashioned Baked Beans

• Servings: 10
• Time: 2 hrs
• Print

Old Fashioned Baked Beans

• 3 lbs. canned pork and beans (drain most of the juice)
• 3 Tbsp. prepared mustard
• 3/4 c ketchup
• 1 c brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 c molasses
• 5 ounces cooked, crumbled bacon (plus more for garnish)
• 2 tsp. liquid smoke
• 3 Tbsp. onion, diced

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Coat inside of a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, place pork and beans (drained), chopped onion, and cooked, crumbled bacon.  Stir gently to combine.
4. In a separate, medium-size bowl, stir together, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, and liquid smoke.
5. Pour ketchup mixture into bean mixture and stir gently to combine.
6. Pour bean mixture into prepared casserole dish.
7. Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour 30 minutes.
8. Serve immediately.  Refrigerate any leftovers.

Recipe from https://cookazido.wordpress.com