Crock Pot Boston Baked Beans #secretrecipeclub

Oh my goodness snow! I am writing this post early, early on Saturday morning. There is nothing like a jolt to the system than to wake up to an unexpected 12 inches of snow coming later in the day.  A few lessons here....don't wake up at 4:30am and immediately check your phone at the weather forecast.  Count your blessings that you are only getting 12 inches.  

I am not the biggest fan of snow.  I like it on Christmas eve and Christmas day and that is all.   I am thankful the storm is falling on the weekend and my family is all together.  We have food. We have a fire.  But I still don't like snow. 

With the forecast as it is I immediately started freaking out about losing power. Knowing this is a pretty likely scenario I wanted to finish off this post so it would be all ready for Monday as this is the Group D posting day for January in the Secret Recipe Club.  This month for the Secret Recipe Club I had Karen from Lavendar and Lovage.

Karen has an absolutely fabulous blog. Her pictures are beautiful. Her recipes are sophisticated yet totally accessible. Not to mention her posting some super comforting ones lately which were so tempting on cold days. Chicken and Pearl Barley stew anyone?  

Karen also spends lots of time in France.  I am missing my days in France more and more. I am secretly plotting a way to be able to pick up and spend some time there once Miss O gets a bit older. But we aren't here to talk about France.

I chose her Crock Pot Boston Baked Beans recipe, because we have been talking about Baked beans for such a long time. We stayed home for Christmas this year but one of the things we would have enjoyed had we gone home for the holidays is Mr. J's Mimi's baked beans. They are so good and always a treat. It is one of those recipes you want to make sure you get your hands on. I know she makes hers in the crock pot so when I spotted Karen's recipe I wanted to give it a try.

After a few quick conversions and a trip to the store for the beans this recipe came together super easily. It takes a bit of planning just to soak the beans the night before. However I whipped everything together in the morning before work.  And like magic we came home to a yummy smelling house and dinner was pretty much done. We had ours with Kielbasa. 

Brown on brown is never great to photograph so don't let the pictures fool you. This is a really great recipe. Not quite Mimi's but close and that is saying a lot. 

Crock Pot Boston Baked Beans

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours, largely unattended

Keywords: slow-cooker side beans American winter

6076444

Ingredients (serves 8-10)

• 1 bag dried Navy beans
• 2 onions, peeled and very finely diced
• 4 thick strips of bacon
• 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 6 tablespoons molasses (or black treacle)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

Put the beans into a large bowl and cover with water to at least 4" above them, and soak overnight.

Next day, put them into a large saucepan with fresh water and boil them for 10 minutes. Drain them well and spoon them into the crock pot/slow cooker.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix well with a wooded spoon.

Put the lid on the crock pot/slow cooker and set the temperature for low and cook for 8 hours until the beans are soft. It is also OK if the beans cook slightly longer.

Serve the beans as side to ribs, beef, bacon, ham or on toast for a hearty snack or light lunch. To be truly New England you could also eat with eggs as breakfast.

Powered by Recipage

An InLinkz Link-up

Chili with Ground Beef and Beans

Happy Friday! This week seemed to last forever. But now it is almost done. Eight hours of work and then the weekend.

I am not a huge fan of chili. In fact until we made it for dinner the other night, I don't think that I have eaten chili for over a year. However sometime around the Super Bowl I started getting some chili cravings. I think it was all of the posts I was reading.

It was clearly destiny to have chili in my future.  I don't really have a chili recipe. Add meat, beans and tomatoes and there you go.  Del Monte was on sale at the grocery story so this one is made up of seasoned diced tomatoes.  The flavor came out excellent.

We had this as chili the first go around and then used the leftovers as a nacho topping.  Those were some of the best nachos we have made in a long time. 

Chili with Ground Beef and Beans

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: saute soup/stew winter

6041544

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 1Tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 fresh jalapeno, sliced
• 3/4 LB ground beef (lean)
• 1 can Red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can Del Monte® Chili Style Diced Tomatoes
• 1 can Del Monte® Diced Tomatoes with Zesty Mild Green Chilies
• 1 can Del Monte® Petite Diced Tomatoes with Zesty Jalapenos
• 6 oz tomato paste
• 1 tsp chili powder
• salt and pepper

Instructions

In a large, soup pot or dutch oven, add 1 Tbsp of olive oil and heat on medium high. Once the pan is warm add onion, green pepper, and garlic. Cook until just soft.

Add ground beef and cook for about 5 minutes or until the meat turns brown. Stir as the meat is cooking to break up the into small pieces.

Add diced tomatoes including juices, fresh jalapeno slices and red kidney beans. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Stir until all ingredients are well combined and then add the tomato paste. You can add more or less depending on how thick you like the chili. Continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Add chili powder, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with sour cream, plain yogurt, or shredded cheese.

Powered by Recipage

Huevos Rancheros

Yesterday I told you how it was Derby day today. But guess what? There is another celebration going on as well, Cinco de Mayo. Now this is my kind of day. For the past month I haven't been able to get enough of the spicy Mexican stuff. 

I have been eating salsa at the very least most days.  We had tacos, enchiladas, and nachos.  All of these meals led to us to have plenty of leftovers. This had me thinking that I wanted to create something different with all of those extras. 

There are all sorts of ways to make Spanish black beans but some of the recipes take a bit of time to cook.  If you are in a pinch try what we did.  Take one can of black beans drained and rinsed, then add one mini can of chopped green chilies.  Easy peasy. Delicious.

We had some leftover enchilada chicken, tortillas,eggs and potatoes.  Layer them all together and you have yourself some huevos rancheros.  The perfect way to start off Cinco de Mayo.

Black bean and corn salad

I like beans. I am not a bean fanatic. There has to be a right proportion of other foods to beans ratio for me to really enjoy a bean dish. Too many beans are just no good. The dry mushiness in your mouth gets gross I think. However, if this ratio is met I tend to love bean dishes.

Lately I have been really into black beans. We have some variation of Mexican meals at least once a week. I don’t think Jordan enjoys these meals with the same intensity as I do but we make do. Anyhow, while eating out recently have been partaking in lots of black bean salads.

If you think about it I would assume they are fairly simple to make and the ingredients are quite inexpensive. So I set out on a mission to find a good black bean salad. My search led me to the trusty food network site and this recipe by Guy Fieri.

Black Bean Salad
Adapted from Guy Fieri
Food Network

Ingredients
2 cans black beans, drained, about 30 ounces
1 (15-ounce) can corn, drained
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup can crushed pineapple
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch ground cumin

Directions
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Picture from Food Network.com