Week 16: Baked beans attempt #1

Dismal failure, in my opinion.

The beans turned into mush, the flavour was all wrong, it just wasn't good. Although the kids did eat some of it, so maybe I should count this as a win? Ha.

I may have to give up on the whole cooking beans from scratch thing - I have been trying, and trying, and trying, using all sorts of different soaking methods (and not soaking at all!) and I just can't seem to get beans to come out cooked, but not mushy. They seem to go from just slightly undercooked to mushy in the blink of an eye.

So I think I'll cook beans from scratch for things where they are being pureed or mashed anyway, like bean dip or refried beans, but stick to canned for dishes where the beans are supposed to stay relatively whole. I just like the texture of canned beans better.

Not sure where I found the recipe, but here it is:

1 lb. navy or kidney beans
6 c. water
1/3 c. molasses
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 c. butter

Precook beans in boiling water for 2 minutes. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Then simmer for 1 hour until tender. Drain, reserving liquid. Place beans in crock pot. Mix 1 cup reserved liquid, brown sugar, molasses, salt and mustard. Pour over beans and dot with butter. Cover and cook for 6-12 hours on low setting.

I think the molasses was an issue for me, taste wise. I'm going to try and hunt up another recipe that doesn't use it, see if that's the flavour I didn't like.