Baked Beans

The Omnivore’s favorite recipe for baked beans starts like this:

Pour two jars of B&M brand Original Baked Beans in a large Dutch Oven.

Hey now! I thought this was supposed to be a recipe for baked beans!  How can baked beans be included in the recipe if the recipe is for baked beans?!  Isn’t that like using a word in the definition of that word?  Isn’t that some sort of messed up circular logic?!  That’s just not gonna fly.

I want baked beans.  Not doctored up canned beans.

These are not Boston Baked Beans.  I’m bound and determined to find a recipe for those, too.  These are tomato-y baked beans – that kind I once ate on an early morning in Manchester, England with my eggs and toast.  They are delicious (hot or cold!) and use common pantry ingredients.  A discerning bean eater will notice that I used chick peas, but you should use great northern beans, navy, cattle beans, or white kidney beans.  Do as I say, not as I do.

One Year Ago: Balsamic Green Beans and Tomatoes

British Baked Beans (6 servings, adapted from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook)
3 cups cooked beans
28 oz crushed canned tomatoes
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T agave syrup OR 3 T brown sugar
3 T molasses OR maple syrup
1 T vinegar
2 t dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Heat an oven to 350*.  Mix all ingredients in a large covered baking dish.  Bake, covered, for 1 hr or until sauce clings to beans.  Stir well.

This recipe can also be made in a crockpot, turned on high, with lid slightly vented to allow thickening of the sauce.  Cook 6 hours.

Per serving
Calories 216.3
Total Fat 2.5 g
Total Carbohydrate 43.2 g
Dietary Fiber 7.6 g
Sugars 11.3 g
Protein 8.2 g