Friday, August 20, 2010

Stove Top Baked Beans


Today was more hectic than I expected it to be between checking on my folks, doing some things for them and trying to get caught up here. My day has been a blur.

We had run out of beans a few days ago so I needed to make some and opted for great northern. While they were cooking the idea of baked beans came to me because I haven’t made any in years. In times past I would used more molasses as well as brown sugar. This version is healthier but just as good I think. I have added some somewhat unconventional flavors to give the beans a more modern taste. Here is what I did:

Stove Top Baked Beans
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 lb great northern beans, cooked until tender
1 yellow onion, peeled and finely diced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
6 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
½ cup red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons molasses
approximately 1 cup water (or what is necessary to create a cooking liquid approximately the texture of cream to simmer the beans in)
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard, but any mustard will do
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground allspice berries
stevia, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cook the onions and garlic in the red wine vinegar, tomato paste, ½ cup water, liquid smoke, and Dijon. Add the beans to the cooking liquid with the remaining water and the spices and stir to combine. Simmer until the beans absorb the flavor, turn a darker brown and the liquid becomes thick almost the consistency of ketchup. This took about an hour on a very low flame. Add stevia and black pepper to taste and refrigerate until needed.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving

Calories - 241.47
Calories From Fat (4%) - 8.92

Total Fat - 1.07g
Saturated Fat - 0.27g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 216.14mg
Potassium - 1069.97mg
Total Carbohydrates - 44.72g
Fiber -13.58g
Sugar-  4.27g
Protein - 14.74g

Comments:

These are really good, not your traditional baked beans but very tasty. They have an intense smoky flavor from the molasses and liquid smoke. The tomato paste and molasses give the beans richness. Of course they are sweet and a little spicy. Overall they are just good. Since I have not made baked beans in ages I am surprised by how well these turned out. Both Dan and I really enjoyed this dish.

Food since my last post:

Somehow I lost track of what I had for lunch today. Either skipped lunch (which may have occurred) or just forgot to photograph it. Clearly I had too many things going on today since I don’t remember. ;-)


For dinner tonight we had a salad of shredded romaine, marinated mushrooms, walnut parmesan and crispy dehydrated leeks. To accompany the salad we had quinoa topped with the beans and a few diced tomatoes for temperature variation (cold tomatoes on hot beans). It was a very filling meal. So filling in fact that neither of us have room for dessert. Who said that? LOL ;-) Oh well, there is always tomorrow. I am going to get my fresh pineapple slice with cranberry orange granita sometime this weekend if I have to have it for breakfast.

Tomorrow:

We have plans tomorrow that were made so long ago that I had completely forgotten about them. Thankfully my hubby had updated his electronic calendar. I will fill you all in on the details after we get back tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a great Friday. Talk to you again soon.

14 comments:

  1. Those beans sound really good...I bought liquid smoke for the first time ever about a week ago...this may be the virgin voyage for my liquid smoke cooking adventures. Looks delish.

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  2. Rose,

    Thanks! :-) Since you are new to liquid smoke you should know that I always start with a 1/4 teaspoon and add it in 1/4 teaspoon amounts. Liquid smoke has much more flavor that anything else I use except maybe sriracha.

    I hope you are having a good evening,
    Ali

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  3. This sounds great! Especially when it's too hot to put the oven on- like today. And I just happen to have all the ingredients- Yum!

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  4. Oh thanks for sharing. Jason has been wanting weird comfort foods like this lately. He's tasked me with making healthy versions of things like mac n' cheese too. You just reminded me that I forgot to pick up liquid smoke. Adding that back to my list now ;-)

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  5. In my quest to become a better cook, quick question: why do you allow the onion and garlic to stand? (This is one of my mistakes - I always just throw everything in together at once because I'm always in a hurry.)

    Baked beans - that's something I need to try making.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Baked beans...one of my fav foods! Thanks for posting!

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  7. Lea,

    These turned out really well, almost decadent. Both Dan and I liked them. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

    I hope you are having a good Saturday,
    Ali

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  8. Heather,

    I think we all get those comfort food moments, Jason isn't the only one. I made a healthy mac and cheese a while back with the cashew queso and added veggies to the pasta. It worked out well but was still in the comfort food zone.

    hope you are having a great Saturday,
    Ali

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  9. Jenny,

    There are chemical reactions that take place after the onions (thiopropanal sulfoxide) and garlic (allicin) are crushed or minced. But these reactions take a little time to happen and will not occur once they have been heated. Since I learned this I never cook the onions and garlic without allowing them to stand for 10 minutes. To make that happen I just chop those first and set a timer and then come back and start cooking. It is a bit of a pain at first but once you get used to doing it you just know to start a little sooner. I hope that made sense.

    Ali

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  10. JL,

    I had not maked baked beans in ages because of the amount of sugar in traditional recipes. However the two tablespoons of molasses and stevia worked great. I hope you like them as much as we did. :-)

    Ali

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  11. The beans look like they turned out great! I am glad you and Dan enjoyed them :-) I totally would have plopped them on top of my salad, lol...but I know I am weird :-)

    I hope you are having a good day today, whatever your plans were!

    Courtney

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  12. Courtney,

    We were very happy with how the beans turned out. The leftovers will be turning up on salad, you aren't that weird, LOL.

    hope you are having a great weekend,
    Ali

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  13. These baked beans sound great! I haven't had any baked beans this summer, and it's about time.

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  14. Sarah,

    Clearly you need to correct that situation immediately, LOL.

    thanks for the compliment,
    Ali

    ReplyDelete

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