BBQ Beans

I swear there is nothing cheaper per serving than dried beans. It's also pretty healthy. In fact a serving of Northern Beans has over 50% of your daily fiber serving, as well as 8 grams of protein, all with very little fat. In a quest to find healthy and cheap, you should not over look dried beans.

Naturally it is not convenient as canned beans, but it is a minor trade-off.

Ingredients:
1 lb bag of dried Great Northern Beans
1 bottle of favorite BBQ sauce
12-16 cups of water

Directions:

You'll need to soak the beans. There are 2 methods, the overnight soak and the quick soak. Some swear by the overnight soak as the way to get the best tasting bean. To my unrefined palate, I cannot tell a difference. If you're planning ahead, do the overnight soak; it's easy, with very little work. If you're like me and don't plan that far in advance, the quick soak is the way to go. Don't worry, it is still easy, but has a little bit more work than the overnight method.

Regardless of what method you use, you'll need to rinse and sort through the beans to remove any pebble or weird looking bean.

Quick Soak: After rinsing and sorting through your beans, place the beans in large pot with 6-8 cups o hot water. Bring to a rapid boil. Once you reach a rapid boil point, boil for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. It's okay to let it stand longer if you forget about it. Drain and rinse beans again.

Overnight Soak: After rinsing, place the beans in large pot with 6-8 COLD water. Place in refrigerator or on counter covered overnight.

For cooking, there are two methods, stove top and the slow cooker (a.k.a. crock pot). Again, what method you use depends on time and how involved you want to be.

Stove Top: Combine 6 cups with your soaked beans in a large pot. Simmer gently with lid tilted until desired tenderness is reached, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Slow Cooker: Add soaked beans in slow cooker. Add enough water to barely cover the beans. Place on low for approximately 8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

Once your beans are done cooking, drain the water and add favorite BBQ sauce. Let bean sit for 5-10 minutes in sauce, then serve. For better flavor, let the beans sit overnight and reheat the next day; however, this requires planning.