Good Eating Tuesday: Baked Beans w/ Smoked Kielbasa

I tried this Pinterest recipe recently:  Baked Beans w/ Smoked Keilbasa!

I rate it as very tasty and a step up from just ol' beans & wieners  with lots of smoked kielbasa slices and rich homemade  barbecue! But it's makes a lot, making it ideal for potlucks or pitch-ins or anytime you want a crowd pleaser!

Since we're only two people, I reduced the recipe to just enough for two meals for two people. I felt the recipe deserves at least 2 kielbasas, especially since the full recipe calls for 3 (16oz) cans of baked beans, so 1 kielbasa hardly seems enough.

I've adjusted the recipe to 2 kielbasas. You might even like 3, if you want a meatier meal.

(photo is my own)

Baked Beans w/ Smokey Kielbasa

Ingredients:

2 slices bacon, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 smoked kielbasas, sliced

3 (16oz) cans baked beans 

1/2 cup ketchup

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons yellow mustard

Optional if you like it really spicy:  1/4 to 1/2 teapsoon hot sauce or red pepper

Directions:

You may make this recipe and:

1) Simmer it in a pot on the stove top 30 minutes

2) Cook it in a slow cooker for 4 hours on Low 

3) Or bake it in a Dutch Oven in a 350 degree oven for 45 to 55 minutes. 

Cook the bacon, then remove to save to add later.

Cook the chopped onion in the bacon drippings or in a little olive oil is you choose to skip the bacon drippings.

Then add sliced kielbasa slices and garlic and cook until browned.

Combine this with remaining ingredients in whatever you're using to cook the casserole in: pot on stove, slow cooker or dutch oven.

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What is a Dutch Oven?
Dutch oven nowadays refers to a large thick-walled cooking pot with a tight fitting lid. It can be ceramic, enameled metal or iron or plain cast-iron.

Historically, the Dutch developed cast iron cooking vessels in the 1700's and an Englishman, named Darby, actually created an iron pot with a fitted lid he gave the name,"Dutch oven."

 Paul Revere is credited with adding legs to the bottom and designing a flat lid with a ridge for adding coals on top.
When fireplaces were the cooking medium, Dutch ovens made life easier.

The Lodge Company, founded in Tennessee in 1896, is famous for their cast iron Dutch ovens available today.