Franks & beans, that is. See what I did there?
Honestly, this post is more about the beans than the franks. I used SmartDogs http://www.lightlife.com/product_detail.jsp?p=smartdogs They're the ones Kaia prefers, so I tend to have some around the house. I fried them on a pan, then cut mine up and mixed the slices in to my beans. The kids ate their franks and beans separately.
So, this latest adventure started because I had been craving baked beans for a few days. I guess I could have gone and bought a can, but I had dried beans on hand and, on further inspection, all of the other ingredients to make my own. Because it has finally decided to get hot here in the LA area, I didn't want to actually "bake" them, so I guess they are just beans. I have decided to call them "Barbeque Beans" for two reasons: 1) You might wish to enjoy them at a cookout (AKA: "barbeque") and 2) They are cooked with barbeque sauce. (BTW, you can just make the barbeque sauce and use it for other stuff.)
I started making this yesterday in my crockpot, and it would have worked (I've done it successfully before) if my crockpot had not turned out to be on the fritz. As it stands, I cooked them for 6 hours on high, and the beans were still not soft enough to eat, so I put them in the fridge for the night and started them up again in the crockpot this afternoon. The darned thing just would not get hot, so I dumped them into a large saucepot and finished cooking them on the stovetop. If you cook them in the crockpot, 2 hours on high + 4-6 on low should do it (or 8-10 on low, which works well if you want to throw them on before work and come home to a hot meal in the evening). As I said, the crockpot has always worked for me. Alternately, you could just cook it on the stove. It should take about 2 hours (after the soaking period), and you will want to keep it covered, stir occasionally and add water if it starts to look too thick.
And now, the recipe:
Barbeque Beans
1 lb dried beans (navy, small white, great northern, large lima or a combination)
water sufficient to cover beans twice
Sauce:
1 medium-sized sweet onion, diced
4 strips vegetarian bacon, diced
2 TBS canola oil
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup mild picante sauce or salsa
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes (with juice)
juice of one orange
1 TBS prepared mustard
1 TBS balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp. garlic powder
chipotle pepper sauce to taste
3 cups water
salt & pepper to taste
Rinse and sort beans. Place in a large pot. Cover twice with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, then turn off and let soak for 1 hour while you prepare the sauce.
In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Add diced onion and bacon. Cook over low-medium heat until onion is translucent and bacon begins to crisp. Add remaining sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Transfer sauce to crockpot*. Drain and add beans when they have finished soaking. Add 3 cups water and stir gently. Cover and turn heat to high. (Okay, now you can go back and read all of my notes above about cooking. Basically, in the crockpot, it should be about 2 hours on high, then 4-6 on low, or 8-10 on low.)
*if you chose to cook this on the stovetop, return the beans to the large pot, add the sauce and water, bring to a boil, stir, cover and simmer for about 2 hours, or until beans are tender.
I thought the perfect compliment to beans (besides franks) would be corn muffins. I am still working on perfecting my recipe, but this is what I did today:
Corn Muffins
2 eggs
1 cup water or milk substitute*
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs together with water or milk substitute. In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Add egg mixture, oil and honey; stir until smooth. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Makes 9 muffins.
* I used water this time, but I think I will try using the coconut milk beverage Justice and I like, or maybe almond milk. I also think they could be a bit moister, so I may up the oil by just a bit. Split and smeared with a little dairy-free margarine, they were pretty good (think I will mix up a little dairy-free honey butter to have with them in the morning).
