> wrote in message
...
>I just add some bbq sauce to pork and beans. I add chili powder to pintos
>and red kidney beans.

Sorry, but, ugh.

I do actually like pork and beans although they are not my favorite form of
beans. And I grew up eating baked beans that are made with them. My mom
didn't cook a lot from scratch although she did make navy bean soup with
dried bean. Her baked beans were good but I knew no different back then.

Then I had baked beans at a potluck that were even better. The woman that
made them showed me how she did it. She actually started with B & M baked
beans and added more stuff to them. This is not how I like to cook! I
won't say that I never do things like this because sometimes we just need a
super quick meal and there isn't time to do more but... I would not do this
with baked beans because I already know that they need to bake for hours and
hours to be good.

Even though my mom and the other lady started with a finished product, they
still cooked their beans for many hours.

I knew there had to be something better.

When we moved to Cape Cod, I found dried beans called Buckeye. They looked
like a larger black eyed pea but without that mealy texture. I followed the
recipe for them that came on the package. Told me to cut through an onion
but leave it intact, then put it in the pot, I guess so you got the flavor
but not the actual onion in there. I did try it that way the first time but
then couldn't bring myself to discard the onion like it said so I cut it up
and mixed it in. The recipe also had an insane amount of sweet things in it
but I wasn't diabetic back then.

The end result was so delicious that I have been experimenting ever since.
I prefer to make my baked beans with dried beans but as in my reply to Dave,
I can't always find dried white beans when I need them so I may use canned
but just plain beans. I have actually ordered navy beans online. They are
just that hard to find, although I have a feeling that the new Winco will
have them in bulk and I should get some the next time I go there.

I have also made bean/corn chili. The original recipe calls for three
different kinds of canned beans, a can of corn and a jar of salsa, dumped
together and heated through. Although it is a tasty meal, it isn't to me
what chili should be. I do doctor it up by adding chili powder and some
other things. I also can't remember the last time that I made it. Husband
and I will both eat it but daughter prefers what I think of as a more
traditional chili with dark red kidney beans and ground beef. I realize
that Texans will disagree and so will sf who likes pintos in her chili. I
love pintos but unless I am making the quick recipe that I mentioned, I
don't think they belong in there.

Most of the time when we eat kidney beans, they are straight up from the
can. And when I say this, I do not mean that I eat straight from the can,
over the sink. I mean that I open the can, dish out and eat. I often put
some on tossed salad. Or in a pasta salad. I just love the taste of them
and they are probably my favorite bean.