boston baked beans better homes and gardens

I just spent 20 minutes in my backyard and I now have 5.3 million mosquito bites all over my body. They love me – a lot.

Jim and his dad are putting a fence in our backyard this weekend so we were outside measuring where the fence posts will go. There are certain jobs that I would really like to just hide from and determining fence post placement is at the top of the list now. Right behind purchasing a car and taking out the garbage. I just don't think a woman should do those jobs:-). I wish I could say I was just kidding, but I'm not. Mowing the lawn is up there, too. Actually I would mow the lawn but I have allergies so I have always gotten out of it. To be honest, it's not that I don't think a woman should or could do those jobs it's just that I don't like to do them so I happily let Jim take care of them.

There are certain things that Jim doesn't typically do and making baked beans from scratch is one of them. He also has absolutely no clue where the girls clothes go or who belongs to what clothes. I mean clueless. Totally. Its ok though, because I think it works well to separate duties in the household. It works for us anyways.

He does do the dishes and cleans the bathrooms so I'm REALLY not complaining.

So back to these baked beans. This is just a good basic recipe and if you have never made beans from scratch before I recommend starting out with a recipe like this. This isn't a hard recipe at all, but it just takes some pre-planning because you have to soak the beans overnight (you can do a quick soak method, but I don't.) Then, on the day you are baking the beans you need about 3 and a half hours to let them cook. But the rest is easy. After you have made them a time or two you can tweak the recipe however you want. I stir in some chicken broth and BBQ sauce at the end and they turn out just how I like them. You know I love Trader Joe's and their Barbecue sauce is my favorite. It has lots of flavor and a great kick to it. Just perfect.

This is a great side dish for summer picnics and people will definitely taste the difference. My daughter Taylor told me that if she had to pick a smoothie or my baked beans that she would pick these beans. They freeze pretty well and reheat well, too. Enjoy!

Source: Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook

Old Fashioned Baked Beans

1 lb dry navy beans
1/4 lb. salt pork or bacon cut-up
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup molasses or maple syrup
1/4 brown sugar I used a bit less
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Soak beans overnight. Drain and rinse beans. Place beans in a dutch oven and cover with 8 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook covered for 1 to 1.5 hours stirring occasionally. Drain beans reserving liquid.
In a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish place the beans along with the onion and bacon. Stir in remaining ingredients along with one cup of the reserved bean liquid. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours or until beans are cooked through. Stir occassionally and add more liquid as needed.
**When beans are done cooking I usually add in a little barbeque sauce for some extra smoky flavor and some kick.**