BBQ Baked Beans (and a pre-bake sale announcement)

I posted my favorite recipe for BBQ sauce on the Fourth for Holiday Recipe Club.   Today I want to share a recipe for BBQ Baked Beans that we had to accompany those fabulous baby back ribs.

BBQ Baked Beans

5 slices bacon, cooked crisp (reserve fat)
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (or I actually used a small green pepper and two other sweet peppers from the garden.)
1 can pork ‘n beans, drained a bit with the lumpy fat removed.
(I know, I know, but these are the traditional base.)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 c. BBQ sauce
1/4 c. Worcestershire

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Fry bacon until crisp and then remove from skillet to drain.   Crumble.

Add onion and peppers to fat and saute until soft.    Spoon the veggies out on a paper towel to drain a lot of the excess fat.*

In a medium mixing bowl, combine BBQ sauce and Worcestershire.   Whisk.   Stir in beans, bacon, and veggies.

Barbecue goodness.

Place in a cooking dish and bake for 45-60 minutes.

*Tip:    Instead of wasting paper towels for draining fatty-fried stuff, I use newspapers, a tip learned from my favorite foodie uncle.   I know that someone will probably let me know about the dangers of printer’s ink, but it actually works a lot better than flimsy paper towels.   I usually still add them to my recycling bin when done and someone else will probably tell me that this screws up the recycling process.   Oh, well.   Do what you feel is safe and environmentally conscious.    Just don’t tell me to leave the fat out of this recipe!  🙂  (Them there’s fightin’ words!)

Honestly, though, I have made them sans the bacon, sauteing the veggies in olive oil and they are just as good.

Healthy eating!  🙂

Plug (serious stuff so please keep reading!!!):

Please check out Erin’s Colorado Wildfire Bake Sale!  

My dad lives in southern Colorado around La Veta Pass.   It is a beautiful spot but prone to wild fires.   A couple of years ago, he moved everything out of his house and put it in storage in Pueblo because they were told to evacuate.    Luckily, the house was not damaged at all.   But, as fire season starts up again, I worry.   (During my Happy Fourth phone call,  he said they were getting regular afternoon rains!   That is good news and those rains should keep the fires at bay.)     We also have family that lives east of Boulder and although they do not live in a forested area like Dad, they do live in an area that is surrounded by acres of grassland.   It still worries me.    This bake sale hit me in my heart because on any other given day, my family could be directly affected by wild fires.

Please help out and donate to the Red Cross’ Colorado Disaster Relief Fund  via this bake sale.

Eliot’s Eats is donating a batch of Nutella Cookies.   (If you are a Nutella freak, you will love these.  Not only do they have the lovely chocolatey goodness of Nutella, these little darlings also contain chopped hazelnuts!)

Bidding will begin at $15, with increments of $5 after that.  Everything will be done via email.  Please help spread the word about this great cause and let the bidding wars begin.      Please check out Erin’s site for all the details, more delicious looking goodies that are definitely bid-worthy, some great prizes for winning bidders and auction updates!