Baked Beans

We had a some friends over this past Saturday for Memorial Day weekend. It was nice. I enjoy spending time with friends, and it's fun to see the kiddos playing together. We've known everyone since before they had kids and now it's cool to see everyone as parents and see the kids interact. This water slide kept them entertained for a while:

We had typical BBQ goodies: Hamburgers, hotdogs, bratwurst, macaroni salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, fruit, drinks, and apple pie. Everything was DELICIOUS! So I decided to post a couple of recipes. Today I'm posting the beans and in a couple days I'll post the apple pie. I didn't take a picture of the finished product because by the time they were done baking, everyone was here and I didn't think about taking a picture.

Here's the recipe (you can halve it, this was for 14 people):

2 large cans of baked beans (28 oz)
1/3 plus half of 1/3 of a cup (6 tsps) of brown sugar
1/3 plus half of 1/3 of a cup (6 tsps) of BBQ sauce
1 tsp of mustard
1/2 of a large onion, chopped and sauteed
8 slices of bacon, crisply cooked and chopped

Mix everything together and put it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.

I didn't have two big cans, so as you can see I just used two small cans and one big can.

Sautee your onion.

Add beans and bacon.

Next comes the brown sugar.

Add the BBQ sauce.

Add the mustard. I don't know how much I actually used. I just squeezed some in. Don't forget to add this. I've forgotten it before and it tasted a little off. I heard someone say before that leaving out certain ingredients is like a harp in an orchestra. You don't really notice it's there when everyone is playing, but when it's not there, you can tell somethings missing. Mustard is the harp in this recipe :)

Here's where you stick it in the oven and bake. If you halve the recipe, use 1/3 C of brown sugar and BBQ sauce. It works. But if you doubled the 1/3 C to 2/3 it's too much in the double batch, did that make sense?

Sorry for the weird measurements. I squeeze the sauce into a 1/3 measuring cup and then fill it up again halfway. I suppose I could say 1/6 of a cup, but who says that? I don't know. Maybe Queen Martha?

These beans are always a hit. There are hardly ever leftovers. Enjoy!

Apple