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.