Baked beans

To go with our barbecue chicken tonight -- and I must add here that if you like barbecue, try Stubb's sauces! -- I decided cornbread and baked beans were in order.

Homemade cornbread is a cinch, but I'd never made homemade baked beans until today. Suprise! Also a cinch! It's one of those things that I now will probably never buy again. The add-ins are minimal, so even if you're having a cookout for lots of people, you can make this dish for very little money.

I browsed through several recipes for baked beans and found there's a wide range of possibilities. You can use different kinds of beans and choose from ingredients such as brown sugar, maple syrup, or even corn syrup; molasses, barbecue sauce, or ketchup; soy sauce or worcestershire; you name the condiment, it can fit in there.

Lots of the recipes had bacon as an ingredient, but I wanted to keep this vegetarian, so I left it out. Here's what I came up with, and I think it tastes delicious. (The color is not typical of baked beans, though, so if that bothers you, add a little B&B Kitchen Bouquet or something to darken it.)

Baked beans (serves 6-8)

3 small cans (15 ounces) navy beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 large onion)

1 teaspoon dry mustard

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

1-1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup light brown sugar

a splash of lime juice -- I added this in the middle of baking because the beans tasted so sweet to me; you could just cut down a little on the sugar

1.) Combine all ingredients in a baking dish. Stir to mix well.

2.) Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring once while cooking.