BAKED BEANS

I like baked beans once in a while, but only my mom's recipe. I spent a whole hour looking for it this morning, thinking I would adapt it to cook in the oven for six hours instead of doing it over two days in the slow cooker. I'm not organized enough to do this over two days!

So basically, the beans get boiled for two minutes, then the rest of the ingredients get combined with the beans and they go in the oven for four hours. I guess you're supposed to add water after the four hours and bake the beans uncovered for another two hours, but I didn't add the extra water, and only baked them for another hour and they came out perfect!

We had them for dinner with homemade pretzel rolls to mop up all the good stuff! The only thing I regret is not having hot dogs to chop into the beans! Would have been so good. We might have to eat the leftover beans on top of hot dogs later this week!

Baked Beans
recipe from my mom, method adapted from Betty Crocker

2 cups dried navy beans (1 lb) sorted and rinsed
10 cups water
8 slices of bacon, sliced into thin strips
1/2 cup chopped  onions
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup chili sauce (heinz)
2 tsp dried mustard
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt

Heat oven to  350 degrees F.

In an ovenproof 4-quart Dutch oven, heat beans and 10 cups water to boiling. Boil uncovered for 2 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Cover and bake 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

If too dry, add up to 3 cups water. Bake uncovered 1 to 2 hours longer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender and desired consistency.

*And yes, I put ketchup over my baked beans, and pretty much everything else. I apologize for not getting a picture before the ketchup, but really, it doesn't look much more appetizing without the ketchup.