ALMOST Homemade Baked Beans
Let's be real . . . we all have a to-do list, or in my case a "wish-I-could-do list," that is a mile long. While I love these three day, holiday weekends, in reality it means that I have to fit five days of work into four and by the time the weekend rolls around there is no time to do it all. So I've come up with my own rules about breaking my personal everything from scratch rule. In order to call something homemade, it cannot be dumped from a can and presented as is. I think we can all agree on that, right? However if you use a can of pre-made food, in this case baked beans, and then add several additional ingredients to the point that know one knows you didn't slow cook the resulting bowl of bacon studded, tomato laced, multi-bean deliciousness, let's just call it homemade baked beans. You with me? And bonus . . . this budget friendly, picnic dish comes together in 15 minutes!
It gets tricky when people assume you soaked those beans overnight, slow cooked for hours, etc. Whether you share the truth is a personal decision (wink).
What we all really want is to serve something delicious and healthy to those we love right? So fry a little bacon, crush some tomatoes with your bare hands and blend it all together with good intentions.
- 28 oz can of your favorite baked beans
- 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- six slices bacon
- 14.5 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1/2 tspn cinnamon
- Fry bacon and reserve 2 tablespoons pan drippings.
- Add baked beans to a large pot with black beans and onion.
- Finely dice tomatoes and add to pot with juice from can.
- Crumble bacon and add to pot, along with reserved 2 tablespoons pan drippings.
- Add cinnamon to pot.
- Cook briefly until hot and onion begins to turn translucent.