The Baked Bean Debate

So, the Chargers were one game away from a Super Bowl opportunity and I thought, "Let's throw a party." After a few emails, our house was full and the french onion dip was made. I left the menu up to Tracy so my fancy self was shlepping over chunks of cheese and fried chicken. I think baked beans would match nicely. I found three recipes and one of them required eight hours of cooking. Really, eight hours! I don't think I am going to make that one. Ever.

Okay, imagine standing in a grocery store in front of tons of beans. Beans. What kind of beans should I choose...the recipe didn't say? Why does there have to be so many beans? We decided to check a baked bean can to determine that the white bean was the winner. As we were driving home, I started to panic. Remember Daryl Hannah in Steel Magnolias (use the right accent when you read the next part!)..."I was supposed to soak the beans overnight. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what will I do? I had everything ready to make 'bean and ham something.'" That's funny. But, not that funny because I am in the same predicament! Tracy hadn't brought all the groceries in before beans were flying into the pot of water. Paying attention to the quick soak version, the beans would be ready for half time. Not too bad. I told the beans to be good little beans and cook, cook, cook.

By the time the guests had arrived, the beans were on round two of the cooking process. I did enjoy that they could be left alone for awhile because I wanted to get into the game, enjoy the guests and, yes, eat the french onion dip! hee hee Apparently, everone else wanted to eat french onion dip because we went through a ton of it. Back to the beans, I mixed up the rest of the ingredients. As Sue and I were looking at it, it seemed too "tomatoey." The proportion was all tomato and only a little brown sugar and molasses. We decided to double the brown sugar and the molasses. When I poured in the molasses, it kind of poured a lot. Ooops. This recipe was doomed. Take that last comment as foreshadowing...no, really, I mean it. The recipe called for 7 cups of boiling water, but that would be too "liquidy." We, I mean Sue and I (I didn't want to take the blame, so I made her help with the decisions!), only put in 2. Once again, I was faced with a recipe that looked weird and, might I add, needed to bake for one hour on NO SPECIFIED TEMPERATURE...huh, did I say doomed? It was covered and in the oven.

Everybody enjoyed lots of snacks because, yes, you guessed it, the beans wouldn't be ready for a long time. Now, I could turn my focus to the game...Oh no, we're losing! The team needed my full attention and so did my forgotten Blue Moon beer. With a few screams and lots of jumping up and down, we were on our way to...nowhere. Ding. The beans were ready. Out came the fried chicken, amico mio pasta and the AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I forgot to put the onion in the beans!! In went the chicken and the pasta. I threw in a cut up onion quickly and then had a mini meltdown. Did I mention doomed? I told everyone just a few more minutes in my most Julie McCoy coy voice. I decided to add some cornstarch as well. It needed to thicken up and, based on the recipe, that was supposed to happen as it cooked, but that didn't have a specified time either. Really? Really.

Okay, enough stalling and enough onion seepage into the beans. Time to eat. Finally. Everyone started digging in. And, fortunately, the game was still on. Unfortunately, my Chargers were losing.

Everybody tried the beans (well, not everybody- Melissa hates beans and she gets a free pass because she's pregnant.) and here are there comments:
Mike- They taste fresh and healthy.
Wendy- I like 'em better than in a can although they're a bit too sweet. (Apparently, I shouldn't have doubled the brown sugar---that is surely Sue's fault!)
Tracy- The sauce is sweet and delicious...I had to spit out the beans cuz I don't like 'em.
Sue- I like the onion the best. (Jerk!)
Autumn- I like them. I've never had homemade baked beans. (She's the cutest!)
Janelle- I don't really like baked beans. (After tasting them quietly, she said, "Hmmm, good.")
Dave- Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. (But he had 2 helpings.)

By the way, the beans were good if you like Spaghettios (my verdict). Big picture, everybody enjoyed them and Mike took the rest of the them home. He's my new best friend!

The final score- Beans- 7 fans out of 11; Chargers- 13 and Jets- 17
Regardless of the beans or the Chargers, it was an amazing day with absolutely wonderful friends. I am smiling just thinking about it.

As it stands~
guests- 19
mistakes- 2
emotions- 3
meltdowns- 1, no 2, maybe 3
recipes- 1
recipes to date- 6

The Recipe~

Baked Beans
2 1/2 cups dried beans (used white beans)
7 cups boiling water (used 2 cups lukewarm)
3 1/2 cups tomatoes (used canned diced tomatoes)
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar (doubled, but Wendy said it was too sweet, go figure!)
2 tbsp molasses (doubled)
2 tbsp oil
1 large onion
1 tsp basil (OMG! I JUST realized that I forgot to add this! Did I say doomed?)

Cook beans as directed. Add all ingredients except onion and basil. Mix well. Put in bean pot. Place whole peeled onion in the center. Bake for 1 hour (started at 350 and then elevated to 425 degrees) covered. Remove cover. Add basil. Stir with a fork. Bake, uncovered, until liquid is thickened.