How do you know it’s true love?
When your husband mentions you in every conversation, and in every note.
*******
About those beans.
It’s true.
I’ve made a project of baked beans and we are all suffering for it.
Yesterday the kids were sitting at the counter eating breakfast when Seth let one fly.
“Seth, you’re STINKY” Sarah said. He was highly offensive, and highly offended by her insult.
Later on that morning I myself was unfortunately sitting next to Seth, we were reading together, and he let another one fly.
The smell….was terrible. I had to fan the air before my nose while listening to his reading.
It was at that moment that I realized that our bean day HAD to be on Fridays to save the world. It’s all well and fine for me, I have no place to go, but my husband and my children have to be out there in the public all day long. I must save the public and protect the innocent.
About Rich. The morning after our bean dinner he was busy getting dressed for work when he woke me up with loud melodious toots. I began the day shaking the bed with laughter…..it was a wonderful way to wake up….me laughing and him making sarcastic remarks about beans.
I went through all my cookbooks and photocopied every baked bean recipe I could find.
“Boston Baked beans” (Julia Child recipe)
“Molasses Baked beans”
“Molasses and Rum baked beans”
“Baked beans”
“Best Baked beans EVER” (this is the only recipe I took which uses already cooked and canned beans, but it contains a grated raw potato and a bake for 2 hours, which fascinated me)
“Baked beans with Tomatoes”
“Navy Bean and Apple Casserole”
“Old Fashioned Baked Beans” (I made these on Monday)
and lastly, another “Baked Beans” (Tasha Tudor recipe, the only one with crumbled sausage in it.)
I put all the recipes in a folder.
You have to sort the beans just in case something besides a perfect dried bean got in the bag…I’ve only found one stone so far…you also pick out any bad beans.
It takes a very long time to bake beans and I can understand why many years ago it was the housewife’s dinner of choice on washing days. You can simply put the bean pot on the fire with minimal fuss and let them bake all deliciously sweet, caramelized, and soft. I also learned that the Puritan women would put them to baking on Saturday night so that they could be eaten on Sunday without breaking their rule of “no working on Sunday.”
I told my Mom about my project and she approved of it. She wrote to me, “Dad’s Grandma W made Great Northern baked beans with white sugar very plain, with salt pork on top, and your dad liked them. Uncle Arthur grew the beans. They ate them with macaroni and cheese. Dad wishes he had the recipe. I remember having the beans after we were married, when Uncle Arthur came to Grandma and Grandpa B’s house for the winter months. Grandma W also lived there, but she died a few weeks after you were born. I think I’ve been trying to make them like that taste memory all these years.”
Goodness, how delicious!
The next day I make a sandwich for lunch with leftover beans. I toast some rye bread and add a thick layer of reheated baked beans, plus a drizzle of molasses.
I have a huge favor to ask of you, dear reader. Search your mind, search your cookbooks, call your grandma/grandpa or your mom/dad or your aunt/uncle, FIND ME A RECIPE. I want all the baked bean recipes.
Please share, I would be so grateful and happy to add it to my baked bean cookbook!
(even if you have no recipe for me you can still say hello in the comment section, it’s more fun that way.) hugs
Good to be Home 
If you would like to get rid of the bad effects of dried beans, this website may be of help. It has really made a difference for David and me. I avoided beans like the plague before doing them this way. http://gnowfglins.com/2006/05/12/cooking-dry-beans/
A wealth of information that I will add to my baked beans cookbook and knowledge. Thank you, Audrey! xo
What a special post..LOL I have a friend who brought amazing baked beans to a potluck once. I am going to ask if she has the recipe and if so, I will pass it along. I LOVE baked beans, but can live without the “after effects”. 🙂 Have a blessed day and thanks for the laughs.
Oh I do hope you can retrieve the recipe! And just so you know, I read that if you eat beans on a regular basis your body gets used to them and you don’t get as many “after effects.” LOL
LOL!!! 🙂
Kara, THREE of these recipes came from those wonderful old cookbooks you sent me!!
I’m so glad you told me that. 🙂 I just added my contribution to the recipe collection, below. The notifications for WordPress that tell me if someone replies to my comments won’t load for me, so I’m glad I came back here to check. I’m so glad you are getting some use out of those books! 🙂
So funny! I love to try new recipes. There is a great movie coming out this weekend that I think y’all would love called Woodlawn. Have y’all heard about it? Great movie produced by some great friends here in Alabama. Your boys would like it cause it’s a football movie about a high school in Alabama in the 70’s. Hope y’all have a great weekend!
Liz, thank you for the movie recommendation! It sounds perfect for my family! Hope y’all have a great weekend, too!
Do you remember the apple bean bake recipe you posted once? I love those and take them to pot lucks. I also love my mom’s baked beans which are very easy: 2 large cans Bush’s baked beans with onions (the green can), add ketchup (squirt in a circle around your casserole dish-twice, a generous amount of brown sugar (mom uses a cup. I use less), put bacon on top. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. They are really delicious! My children call them “dessert beans” because they are sweet and a treat. My mom was always asked to bring these to family gatherings and events. Have fun with your bean project!
From, “The Best of Amish Cooking,” by Phillis Pellman Good
Baked Beans
1 lb. dried navy beans one small onion, minced 8 slices of bacon or 2 cups ham, cut up 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1/2 Cup brown sugar 2 Cups tomato juice 1/2-1 cup water from cooking beans, if needed.
Soak beans overnight (8 cups water to 2 cups of beans). Cook 2-3 hours in soaking water until beans are nearly soft. Drain (save water for cooking other vegetables, since it has nutrients from the beans).
Add rest of ingredients to drained beans.
Bake at 325 degrees for 2-3 hours. If mixture becomes dry, stir in 1/2-1 cup soaking water.
Makes 8-10 servings
Oh my oh dear this post was a hoot. I just laughed… So funny and thanks for sharing….well at least how many miles away too. 😉
Thank you for sending me the recipes today, B!
I have quite a few bean recipes because I LOVE BEANS! They are my favorites. Someone told me recently that rinsing beans well cuts down on the gas? I don’t know if it’s true. Tell me later what you think. I’ll send you recipes soon. You’ve tasted my mother’s baked beans recipe; I used to take it to the 4th of July (or was it Labor Day?) picnic’s at Jude’s sister-in-law’s house every year.
That was 4th of July, & I can’t wait to get your recipes! I also read that when you do a presoak overnight with the beans and discard the water and rinse them it also cuts down on the gas. Miss you!
Always a delight to read your post!!
Glad you enjoyed, Annie. 😉 hugs!
LOL sorry I don’t have any recipes 🙂
LOVED your post! So real! We eat a lot of dried beans, But I never make baked beans…. I pressure cook mine so it takes ALOT less time. I don’t always remember to soak them so if I pressure cook them we can still eat them. I like liquid smoke,, a little brown sugar, salt cayenne pepper and garlic in my beans. Then topped with salsa. tomatoes, chopped onion, cilantro, and Jalapeños.
That sounds SO good. I have a pressure cooker! It’s still in the box b/c I’m scared to use it. Isn’t that a shame. You’re inspiring me to dig it out of storage and see what happens. Thanks for the recipe…we use fresh cilantro a lot in our mexican dinners. Yum!
Yes I forgot to add the cilantro , we eat fresh salsa on a lot of things!
So for the pressure cooker, you would love it if you tried it, it saves so much electric, or propane . For white rice once the thing pops up it only takes two minutes with under pressure turn it off and let the pressure come down and you have rice in a big hurry!! Beans 8 min. after it the pressure thing pops up, sometimes longer if you have a bigger bean . But I just put it on a couple more min. and dinner is on!!I’m so excited I just bought another one at a flea market for $6. I use one almost every day, some times twice a day.
I think EVERYONE should use a pressure cooker! A lot of people are scared of it, but before it blows up the rubber thing on top would pop out first making them safe to use, I think it was scary before they had that on top! Try it you’ll like it!
Mmmm, I love beans! I make them at least once a week, sometimes more. I think your system does adjust to them. We don’t notice much gas anymore.
A friend of mine says adding some vinegar cuts the gas. But I agree most with the lady who said if you eat them on a regular basis your body doesn’t react quite as badly. Love this post.
Cowboy caviar. Look it up. A quick mix and dump recipe with beans. We love it with blue corn chips
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