Maple and Ginger Baked Beans

Baked beans made from scratch in the slow cooker. It takes a lot of time to cook, but not a lot of work. Use Yellow Eye beans if they are available in your area, and grade A amber maple syrup if you can.

Step: 1

Soak the dried beans in a large pot of water overnight, then drain. Refill the pot with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer until beans are tender, about 1 hour.

Step: 2

While the beans are cooking, mix together the maple syrup, molasses, brown sugar, ginger, mustard powder, salt, pepper and water. Set aside.

Step: 3

Place onion wedges into the bottom of a 3 quart or larger slow cooker. Place salt pork cubes over the onion. Drain the beans, and transfer to the slow cooker. Pour the maple syrup mixture over the beans. If there is not enough liquid to cover the beans, add a little more hot water.

Step: 4

Cover, and cook on the Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or cook on High for 5 to 6 hours. If cooking the beans on High, you will want to check occasionally in case they need a little bit more water. If the beans are too juicy for your liking, leave the lid off for the last 30 minutes to steam off some of the liquid.

Per Serving: 384 calories; protein 13.9g; carbohydrates 62g; fat 10g; cholesterol 9.8mg; sodium 289.7mg.

The most obvious way to pick a side dish is to caught at your main dish (pasta, chicken, seared tofu) and pick something different. When you’re making pasta, go for a simple vegetable . Making steak? Go for more light. If you’re making stir-fry with rice, it must not a best idea to also make a rice salad.

One make sure is also can apply to cooking process . You don’t want to push more often your oven by scheduling three dishes at once in there, or be rounding four pans on the stovetop . But often you can make a dish do double-duty .