Baked Beans

It's snowing here today. Not just a few flurries. It is hardcore snowing. Blizzardish even. I mean, it is Wisconsin and it can snow in June for crying out loud, but I'd rather it wasn't snowing.

I'm taking on the roll of nap monitor today. You know, like a hall monitor in a high school, I am nap monitor. I am here to make sure naps are taken. Kendall napped for a little bit this morning. Now Avery's napping and then, because her nap was too short this morning, Kendall will nap again this afternoon. It's a nap time cycle. I dislike days like today. I had plans. Plans to finally put away the one hundred baskets of clean clothes that are sitting in our bedrooms. My least favorite household task is to put away clean clothes. I'd rather clean bathrooms than put away clean clothes. We all live out of laundry baskets until I reach the point where we have run out of baskets to put more clean clothes in. It's a problem.

But you aren't here to listen to me discuss weather and to complain about putting away laundry. You are here because you want to know about some beans. I made these beans for the first time last summer. They were beyond delish.  I got the recipe from, who else, the Pioneer Woman's website. Just like when I came across the recipe entitled "The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever." I had to make these when I saw "The Best Baked Beans. Ever." And just like most of the recipes she makes, I halved it because I don't need enough baked beans to feed eighteen people. And let me tell you folks, she did not disappoint with that title. So heeeere weeee go.

Take a half a pound of bacon and cut the strips in half.

Fry them in a pan until they JUST start to cook. Basically, we are just rendering some of the fat off of the bacon to start the recipe off right. What is bad about bacon fat? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Add some onion and green peppers to the drippings. Saute those up for a few minutes.

Mix together the good for the sauce. That's just some BBQ sauce, brown sugar, cider vinegar, and Dijon mustard. You can use whatever kind of BBQ sauce you would like. I have made these beans three times and every time I have used a different BBQ sauce and every time they turned out just as delicious.

Open two small cans of pork and beans. Yup, that's right. Just plain ole' pork and beans. You are thinking, really, canned pork and beans? Fo sho, homie. Don't doubt it. Go with it. I'm not foolin' ya. This is legit.

I got mine at Wal-Mart because they were only $.46 a piece. Now, if that's not a deal, I don't know what is.

Dump your beans into the pan. Stir it about.

Add your sauce. Stir, stir, stir.

Dump your beans into a baking dish. Throw the bacon on top of the beans. Well, don't throw the bacon, per say. Gently and strategically place them on the beans.

Look at that. Bake these suckers at 325 degrees for 2 hours.

I do not have a picture of the final product. So close your eyes. Imagine this: the bacon has crisped up to perfection and dripped it's delicious goodness into the bubbling sauce and surrounded every single bean with oodles of salty tastiness.

Am I making you hungry yet?

Yes? Well, here's how to make 'em, if you want to...I know you want to.

Baked Beans

Ingredients

4 slices bacon, halved

1/2 onion, small dice

1/4 green pepper, small dice

2 small cans pork and beans

3/8 cup BBQ sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/8 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Do it

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Fry the bacon until it just starts to cook. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Saute the green peppers and onions in the bacon drippings, until tender, about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the BBQ sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and mustard.

Add the beans and sauce to the pan with the sauteed vegetables. Stir until combined.

Pour into a baking dish. Top with the bacon slices. Bake for 2 hours.

Go to thepioneerwoman.com if you want the whole recipe or for some other tasty goodness. Enjoy.