Taste & Create - Barbecue Beans

I almost forgot about Taste & Create this month - luckily I looked on the the website soon enough to realize that the post is due today! So here is my submission to this fun blog event.

I was paired with a blog called Caviar and Codfish. I knew right away that this month would be ... interesting. Such a title told me in no uncertain terms that the author, Robin, is by no means a foodie tightwad, and that many of her recipes would call for ingredients that I do not have on hand and will not go out and buy. Everything looked incredibly delicious - and incredibly pricey! But I gamely went about searching her blog for something that I could cook without going over budget.

And I found it in this recipe for barbecue beans - one of Robin's favorite recipes. I know, I did a bean dish for the last Taste & Create I participated in too. What can I say? I love beans!


Barbecue Beans
1 teaspoon oil
1 onion, diced
2-4 cloves garlic, depending on their size, minced
1 can (15 oz.) Navy beans, drained (I used a bag of frozen pinto beans I cooked earlier this week)
1/3 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup mustard
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
a few drops of hot sauce, or more to taste

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook 3-4 minutes (I took the liberty of adding some diced carrot here for extra nutrition). Add garlic and cook until tender and onions are translucent. Add beans, BBQ sauce, mustard, and maple syrup (I added sliced olives too; I love olives!). Cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Uncover, add cider vinegar and hot sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings if you want. Serve with white or brown rice (I served it with some of the sourdough I just made).

The beans turned out deliciously flavorful. I loved the sharp and tangy bite, and the maple was a wonderful touch.