Baked Beans - Fun with Food Friday

 
Welcome to this week's Fun with Food Friday! (ALERT: Read to the bottom for extra bonus entries opportunity!)
Michelle at The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a First Second Time Mom is still taking a little break as she just graduated college and is enjoying well-deserved celebrations!
Please check my archives for more delicious recipes!
Melissa H. kindly responded to my pleading on Facebook for somebody to please send me a baked bean recipe, (and got 10 extra entries into the dish liquid giveaway for her troubles!)
Incidentally, this recipe comes from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, which I just won in a giveaway from Exodus Books! Yay for me! ;-) I had this book on my birthday wish-list, and now I can already cross it off!

BAKED BEANS (this recipe serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups small white beans
• Warm filtered water
• 2 TBSP lemon juice
• 2 medium onions
• 2 TBSP butter
• 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 3 TBSP naturally fermented soy sauce (I didn't have this, so I just used regular)
• 3 TBSP vinegar
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup molasses
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 TSP salt
• Pinch of red chile flakes

Directions:

Cover beans with warm water.  Stir in lemon juice and leave in a warm place for 24 hours.  In a flameproof casserole, sauté onion in butter and oil.  Drain beans, rinse and add to casserole, with enough water to cover them.  Bring to a boil and skim.  Add remaining ingredients, cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 6 hours.  Serve! 

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I had to do things a little differently, since I was planning on taking this to my brother and sister-in-law's house after church for lunch, and needed to have it prepared and cooked ahead of time.

I probably should have cooked it all as directed and then just warmed them when we got to their house, but I didn't think that far ahead, so I went with using the crockpot instead. The beans ended up a little crunchy, so I want to try it again properly.

(So they weren't exactly baked beans. More like crockpotted beans. That sounded iffy though, so I still called 'em baked beans.) 

* * * * * * * * 

I soaked the beans...not for the full 24 hours, but since I was going to be cooking them for almost 24 hours, I figured they'd be alright with a little less soaking time...I think they could have used the full 24 hours, and I'm sure there is some health/digestive benefit to soaking them longer first.

Instead of boiling the beans first, (I didn't want to make another pot dirty...I'm lazy, I know,) I just rinsed the beans and put them into the crockpot with more water. I should have at least poured boiling water on them, but it was late, and I wasn't feeling quite that clever. I believe this is why they turned out a little crunchy!

I didn't have any onions left in the freezer, (ack!) so I actually had to get some out and chop them up! At least I have my handy-dandy chopper thing-a-ma-jigger to help me out.
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Even though it didn't say to, I added the garlic in with the onions when I was sauteing them.

Sorry, Sally Fallon, I didn't have any naturally fermented soy sauce, (??) so I used what I had!

This was super quick and easy to throw together! If you had your onions pre-chopped and sauteed in your freezer, (like I usually do!) this recipe would take almost no time at all!

These were the first baked (crockpotted) beans I've ever made, (shocking!) and I was pretty pleased with my success! The flavor was great, and left-over they'll be great, (when they'd had a chance to cook more!)
We'll definitely be making these again...and maybe next time I won't be such a rebel and actually follow the directions...

**********************We'll be doing this again next Friday, and we need your recipes!

To encourage ya'll to produce your tasty gems, I'm offering 10 extra entries into any ONE giveaway of your choice for each recipe you submit, (you can send me as many as you like!)


Just send the recipe(s) to mamachocolateblog@gmail.com and add the 10 entries into the appropriate box on the giveaway entry form.

If you have a blog post about a favorite recipe, I'd love it if you'd comment with a link to it!