Slow Cooker Baked Beans

I'm linking up with Lori's Friday Farm Girls @ Heart today.

Click on her button above to read more Farm Girl posts and to participate with us.

Time for a recipe!  This particular recipe combines my love of slow cooking with my love for homemade and my love for easy!  Okay, I know, you saw homemade and you saw baked beans and you saw easy and you rolled your eyes at me.

It really is just a few steps to make your own baked beans.  And it's easy, as with all homemade meals, if you think a day ahead.  I usually have an idea in my head for the meals I'm going to make during the week.  I also have a place on my planning calendar within each day's square where I write down the dinner I've planned--I usually jot down just a main dish, not necessarily the sides, which tend to be what I have on hand, such as salad, veggies, bread, or rice.

I knew we were going to have burgers on Sunday, because Lori's Bryan was coming over to hang out with my guys.  Baked beans is a nice complement to that meal, also nice since there probably would be leftovers, or highlights as we call them, for later in the week.  I soaked the beans overnight Saturday, then rinsed and simmered them Sunday morning.  I also placed all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan Saturday night, covered it, and left it on the stove to heat up the morning.  Sunday morning, after the beans were done simmering, I tossed them into the slow cooker with the heated sauce, turned it on low, and voilà!  Nothing more to think about until later Sunday afternoon.

Here are the easy recipe details!


Slow Cooker Baked Beans

3 cups dry navy beans, sorted to remove debris and bad beans
1 small/medium onion, finely diced (I purée mine due to onion-dis-likers)
6 tablespoons molasses
4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (less if using fresh from pepper mill)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup sucanat (original recipe called for brown sugar)
1/4 cup bacon drippings or rendered fat (rendered pork lard--the good stuff, not Crisco)

Place sorted beans in saucepan; cover with water and let sit overnight, at least eight hours.  Drain, rinse, cover with fresh water, bring to a boil, and simmer 1-2 hours or until tender.  Drain, reserving the liquid.

Arrange the beans in the slow cooker, layering the onion in-between.  In the saucepan, place the remaining ingredients and heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.  Pour slowly over beans in slow cooker.  Pour enough reserved bean liquid to cover the beans, and set the remainder aside.  Cover and cook the beans on low for about 8 hours, or on high about 4 hours.  Add more bean liquid if the beans dry out.

Remember, easy homemade is just a couple of extra steps away!

Yummy baked beans--made organically!!

Back to life,
Christine

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