kruizing with kikukat

Monday, May 6, 2013

Toaster Oven Food: Baked Beans

Last week's post was cole slaw, a wonderful accompaniment to barbecue.  This week's post features another terrific side dish for 'cue:  baked beans.

If you grew up in Hawaii, especially if your family hails from plantation days, I'm almost certain canned Pork & Beans was served at some time in your home.  I often had it with cut-up hot dogs (red, of course).  Sometimes it was served alongside hot dogs (yes, red again) in buns.  When I lived in Honolulu, my roommate used to eat it with mayonnaise.  As she ate the pork & beans, she would mix in small amounts of mayonnaise (Best Foods, of course).  She said she learned to eat it that way from her dad.  She grew up in Kona (Holualoa, specifically), so maybe thats Kona style.

Although I ate pork & beans, I never thought it was anything special.  I didn't learn how to doctor it up until I was an adult.  Once again, playing league tennis in Hilo afforded the opportunity to sample this dish at one of the after-match potlucks.  Since that time, this is the baked beans I've made.  A bowl of this has been taken on fishing trips to the southern part of the Big Island:  Honomalino, Kahuku Ranch, Kapoho.  It was requested by one of Mr. Dependable's friends, a fucking idiot who promised me a mu (bigeye emperor fish) in exchange for this.  I guess I'm the bigger idiot.  I made the beans and never got the mu.

Two weeks ago, I began a new posting category, "Toaster Oven Food".  These are dishes which I can prepare in my toaster oven (Cuisinart).  Of course, all of these dishes can be done in a conventional oven as well. This baked beans recipe will easily fit in a toaster oven.  You may need to play around a bit with the casserole dish/pan you use.  Its just nice to know you can do this without heating up a huge oven and racking up the kilowatts.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

     3 cans (about 15 ounces each) Pork & Beans
     1 small onion, diced
     1 portuguese sausage, diced
     1/2 lb bacon, diced
     1 tbsp instant coffee crystals
     1/2 c ketchup
     2 tbsp shoyu
     1 tsp white vinegar
     3/4 c brown sugar

Fry onion, portuguese sausage, and bacon.  Drain fat.  Place pork & beans in a large bowl.  Add coffee, ketchup, shoyu, vinegar, and brown sugar.  Add bacon mixture.  Stir well.  Place in a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish.  At this point, beans can be refrigerated overnight.  Bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes (45-60 minutes if refrigerated overnight).

Shaka continues to charm us with his antics.  The Help swears Shaka has been saying "hello" and making obnoxious burping sounds.  Most of his talking seems to happen in the morning, when I'm not home.  Aki is growing into his role as older brother.  He loves flying over to Shaka's cage in the morning.
Shaka
Crocodile Dundee stopped by on Wednesday afternoon with a package for me (courtesy of The Help).  It replaces the 2-waffle Krups Belgian waffle maker I've been using.  The Help thought it was taking too long to make waffles with making just 2 at a time.  His reasoning was that he could eat sooner with 4-waffles at a time.  We tested it out this weekend. . .recipes to come later.

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And for anyone out there keeping track, there are 15 days of school left in the school year...Zone adults have 18 days left.  I have 17 days left since I'm on personal leave today, preparing treats for BOTH Ds to take to a K-Kids potluck. D2 volunteered for cupcakes, and D1 decided to bring rainbow jello.

There will be big changes happening.  Soon it will be time to pack my stuff. . .


1 comment:

  1. I've possessed this toaster oven for 6 yrs from http://onlytoasteroven.weebly.com/. and it's the best toaster oven that I've actually owned. It's well-crafted, toasts and chefs really evenly. I love all the various conditions and on top of that, it continues clean. If any such thing must be cleaned up, the containers, etc. allow it to be quite simple! You receive that which you buy and this is actually the best toaster oven out there!

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