Boston Baked Beans

Last fathers day my mother-in-law called over to the house and asked my husband what we wanted to bring to the picnic.  He said "Katie will make baked beans".

Um. Hello, I've never MADE baked beans.  I think those take a while to do!  And, this phone call was literally ON Fathers Day. So, I had about two hours to come up with "homemade" baked beans.

I managed to come up with something that everyone raved about, thanks to All Recipes, and some cheating.  Everyone loved the beans so much that I felt it was only right if I actually made them the right way the next time.

So, the second time I made them was for another family get together and even though I baked those damn beans in the oven for 12 hours (after soaking them of course), they were HARD and I made a freaking mess all over my oven because you have to keep adding water and it all spattered and well, not cool.

The third time I made them was this past weekend.  Slow cooker = life saver.  They cooked for 28 HOURS!  But they were very yummy.

Here is a photo of the third batch.  Nice deep reddish brown color, just like they are supposed to look.



At the end of the day though, I kind of liked the cheat beans the best!  But, everyone raved about the last batch I made so here are the recipes for both.

Boston Baked Beans, the right way... sorta.


Ingredients:

• 2 cups navy beans, dry
• 1 pound bacon
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 8 tablespoons molasses
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:
Rinse the navy beans and remove any rocks.  No one wants to eat rocks.

Pour beans in the slow cooker and cover with water.  Let them sit overnight.

In the morning drain the beans.

Take some scissors to your raw bacon and just slice it in small chunks and toss it in the slowcooker raw along with the onions.  You can cook it before hand, but it'll cook in 28 hours, trust me and it saves cleaning dishes.

Mix the molasses, salt, pepper, dry mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar in a bowl and pour over the beans.

Pour in as much water as your slow cooker will hold.

Turn the slow cooker on high for about 5 - 8 hours, then turn it on low for the rest of the time (it'll go overnight).  Cook for 24 to 28 hours, or until your beans are nice and tender.  Check the beans from time to time as you may need to add a bit more water to prevent burning - I did twice.

Boston Baked Beans, the cheaters way.


Six cans (16 ounces each) of canned navy beans, rinsed.
1 pound of cooked bacon, chopped.
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar

Pour your beans in a very large baking dish  Layer your bacon and onions on top.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a pot on the stove until the sugar dissolves.  Pour over the beans

Bake in the oven at 350 four about 45 minutes, or until everything is heated through.

Easy Banana Bread

I am big on making things from scratch.  It saves money, I know what goes into it and nothing tastes better than homemade.  But, as the title of this blog points out, I'm also pressed for time and sometimes dragging all of the ingredients out (if I even have them) and then cleaning it all up is a PITA.  Have you ever looked at the ingredients in a box of banana bread?  There are no bananas in many of them.  Krusteaz does have some in its ingredient list, but they are pretty far down on the list.  As a general rule though I like Krusteaz brand products and looking at the label on the Banana Nut muffin mix it's pretty good.  Sure, it has enriched flour but... I'd be using that anyway.  It also has wheat and barley flour as well as ground flax seed and that's a plus.

So, back to making it...




YUM.

What you'll need.

1 box of Krusteaz Banana Nut muffin mix.
3 eggs
1/4 cup of vegetable oil (you could probably skip this depending on if you used more banana or wanted to sub applesauce, I like the richness it adds though)
4 (around 16 ounces mashed if you want to measure) very ripe bananas mashed up.
1/4 cup of chopped walnuts (optional add, but I like a little more)

Directions:
Mix it all together in a bowl (adding the walnuts at the very end).  Bake according to the box directions.

Voila.  Banana bread, with real bananas.  The awesome thing about boxed mixes like this is that they are very forgiving, and that's saying a lot when it comes to baking.    You could alter this recipe a lot to suit your tastes.  Less banana, butter instead of oil, applesauce instead of oil, no nuts, use 1 tablespoon flax seed and 3 tablespoons water to replace an egg...    It's a lot like these pumpkin muffins using cake mix.

And by the way - if you ever find yourself with very overripe bananas but don't have the time to bake at that very moment, just toss them in a zip-loc bag in the freezer.  When you are ready to make the bread let them sit on the counter for a few hours and you'll be ready to mash them up.

Happy Baking!

Sweet potato side

I always have spice packets in my house, always.  They come in handy in so many ways when I am making dinner on the fly.  Onion soup packets are a favorite of mine and they make this side dish heaven, it's perfect along side a perfect roast chicken.




Even with my horrible photography skills, don't they look heavenly?


What you need:


About 2lbs of sweet potatoes, peeled cut into 1" cubes.


A tablespoon or so of olive oil.


1 packet of onion soup mix.


Directions:


Put everything in a bag and toss.


Lay it out on a sheet pan, bake at 350 for about an hour, stirring once.

Spanish Rice

This is my made up, on the fly Spanish rice. And, I use it to make a lot of different meals, which I will post about.

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 1 medium onion, chopped (I like onions so I used a large one)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 can black beans
  

Directions

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add rice, green pepper, garlic and onion and cook (about 5-10 minutes) stirring occasionally, until rice is golden brown and onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until rice is tender.


So... what can you do with this rice?

Well, you can use it as a side dish obviously and make Fajita's

Or, you can make a really simple and easy casserole. I use the leftovers to make a southwest chicken skillet casserole. I've never written down exactly what I do so I don't think a new entry is in order but basically...

Southwest Chicken Casserole

Take your left over rice and add 1/2 a cup to 1 cup of sour cream. Mix it up in a skillet. This isn't an exact science just mix it up to taste. Then add a can of corn to the mix. Then add some chicken. I usually use leftover chicken from another recipe but you could just grill some up real quick too and season it with taco or fajita seasoning or whatever you want. Then I warm it all up in a skillet and serve. It's pretty darn good.

Stuffed Peppers

Another thing you can do is mix the leftover rice with hamburger meat, a can of tomatoes and a can of corn. Stuff some bell peppers with the mix. Mix up some tomato sauce with a bit of brown sugar and pour that over the top of the peppers. Bake them in the oven at about 350 until tender.

Burritos
Obviously you can also make burritos with the rice. I just mix the rice with refried beans and cheese and heat. Roll mixture into tortillas and top with sour cream and diced tomatoes.

Chicken and Spanish Rice Soup

Any other favorites for using up leftover Spanish rice? Share them in the comments!

Sweet Cornbread

I made this cornbread to go with my Colorado Chili and I also made 2 loafs of Cuban Bread because I don't usually like cornbread too well but my husband does. I liked this cornbread :)

Ingredients

* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup honey
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup butter (softened)
* 1 cup milk
* 1 cup water
* 2 cups cornmeal
* 2 cups flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Mix sugar, butter, eggs, milk, honey and water together in a large bowl.

Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl: cornmeal, flour,baking powder, and salt and then add wet ingredients while stirring. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Grilled Pineapple

This is divine. The original recipe I read said to serve these over vanilla ice-cream but we ate it along side our steak, salad and corn on the cob. Deon looked at it and made a face and I asked him to at least try it, for our sons sake. He did and then asked to have part of my share.

1 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch slices (Okay, I cheated and used canned, worked fine)

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix everything but the pineapple and then coat the pineapple with the mixture. Put on a hot grill and cook about a minute per side.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Dressing

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Salad

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup grilled fresh corn kernel or 1 can corn, drained
• 3/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup tomato, diced
• 1/2 cup sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh basil and/or parsley or basil, finely chopped
  

Combine salad ingredients and then whisk the dressing mixture and pour over the salad. Combine until mixed.

Wilted Lettuce

Someday I want to have this blog made into a recipe book for my son, for our grandkids and such. I think it would be a really really neat gift. So, I'm going to start including some of our "secret" family recipes. The first is my Great-Grandmothers recipe for wilted lettuce. My Dad RAVES about this. It is pretty darn good and since it's a "salad" you can pretend it's healthy.

4 cups shredded lettuce
6 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup water
salt
1 small onion, minced
1/4 cup vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
pepper

Brown bacon in frying-pan. Remove bacon. Combine with lettuce and onion. Combine venegar, water and bacon fat. Heat to boiling. Add seasonings and sugar. Combine with lettuce mixture. Serve at once. You can also add a hard boiled egg (or two).

Cranberry Sauce

We had an early Thanksgiving at the in-laws yesterday and my mother-in-law made the BEST cranberry sauce ever. If you still serve yours out of the can, cutting along the indentations, you need to stop. Just stop. Collaborate and Listen. Just kidding. But seriously, please don't plop the canned stuff out onto your Thanksgiving table next to the perfectly cooked Turkey and yummy walnut topped sweet potatoes. Just don't do it. They are SO easy to do.

2 cups orange juice
2 cups sugar
2 bags of cranberries (I believe they are 12 ounces)

Wash and rinse the cranberries. Combine the sugar and orange juice in a pot until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cranberries and cook over medium heat until the cranberries pop. My mother-in-law brings hers to a boil and then removes from the heat. Pour into your serving dish and allow to cool in the refrigerator. They will set as they cool.

I'll post my weekly meal plan later this evening.

Corn Pudding

This is a favorite in our family, total comfort food.

1 stick margarine
15 1/4 oz canned corn, drained
14 3/4 oz canned cream-style corn
7 oz pkg corn muffin mix
2 eggs, beaten
8 oz sour cream.

Melt margarine in 13x9 baking dish in a 350 degree oven. In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. When margarine is melted remove baking dish from oven. Pour corn mixture directly into baking dish with the margarine; combine thoroughly.. Bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes. Makes 8 servings.

Mesa Corn Pie

This is a warm yummy side dish.

11 oz can creamed corn
2 cups milk
1 cup corn muffin mix
1 cup shredded cheese
4 1/2 can diced green chiles3.8 can sliced black olives
2 T butter.

Pour corn into a greased 9x9 casserole dish; add milk. Stir in corn muffin mix, Cheddar cheese, chiles and olives; mix well. Dot with butter; bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

For all you WW fans, this is 4 points a serving. I must have made this in the middle of my last WW diet because I had the points written on the card :)

Oriental Salad

I served this along side pulled pork sandwiches and paired it with Baked Beans (Bushes with some mustard and brown sugar added in). I served Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip as a sweet.

1 lb. Package Coleslaw
1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
2 Packages Oriental Ramen Noodles (mash up in package)
4 ozs. Slivered Almonds
**Mix above ingredients together in a large bowl

3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Veggie Oil
1 Oriental Ramen Seasoning Packet
1 tbls. Vinegar
**Mix above ingredients,note-the mixture with be really thick

Dress before serving. or if you make it right away just make sure to keep it stirred up.

Hashbrown Casserole

INGREDIENTS
1 (2 pound) package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/2 cup melted butter
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups crushed cornflakes cereal
1/4 cup melted butter

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, combine hash browns, 1/2 cup melted butter, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, chopped onion, Cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Place mixture in a 3 quart casserole dish.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, saute cornflakes in 1/4 cup melted butter, and sprinkle the mixture over the top of the casserole.
Bake covered in preheated oven for 40 minutes.

Ginger Glazed Carrots

2 cups sliced carrots (I used frozen)
2 tsp ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter or margarine.

Steam carrots until tender (I did it in the microwave) add ginger, grown sugar and butter, mix well and enjoy! These are a great side dish for Bourbon Chicken

Almond Green Beans

2 Cups Frozen Green Beans
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Steam green beans until tender. In a separate saute skillet dry saute almonds over medium high heat until toasty brown. Remove from heat and add almonds to green beans. Season to taste with the rest of the ingredients and enjoy!

Glazed Carrots

Ingredients

1 lb carrots cut into 2 inch sticks or baby carrots (are even better!)

to taste salt

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add carrots and just enough water to cover them with 1/4 tsp. salt.

Bring to a boil.

Cover, then cook carrots for 15 minutes or until the carrots are tender-crisp; drain well.

Return the carrots to the saucepan.

Mix in the butter or margarine, the sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt and the nutmeg.

Return the mixture to the heat and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the carrots are glazed.

Transfer glazed carrots to a warmed bowl and serve.