I have a great recipe to share today. It’s revised. Yes, I am confessing here and now that I have a past.  It’s my “Middle-of-the-road Past”.  That makes it not quite so bad as my “Deep Dark Past”, but nowhere near as sparkling as my “Practically Pristine Present”.

You, see, I didn’t always eat healthy.  The Trim Healthy Mama eating plan wasn’t always a part of my life and I certainly wasn’t always a certified lifestyle coach who helped people get their health on the right track.

In the really olden days, it was donuts (lots of donuts), coffee (by the pot full, day and night), big block candy bars, bags of chips, soda, giant chocolate malts.  And I should perhaps mention that I could have been crowned the Bread and Pasta Queen – hands down.  Mysteriously, and for a long time, I never gained an ounce.  Little did I know, however, that there were wheels within wheels and not all bad eating habits turn into fat. I was not making the gut happy.  The hormones were cruel, nasty things and as far as pain and energy levels, I was too tired to cry.  No, wait!  The hideous allergies were taking up all my tears.

After I’d switched it all up and moved on to natural sweeteners (honey, agave, palm sugar) and whole grains and become a walking herbal concoction, I felt like I’d taken a giant step, only to find out later that it was a baby step with good intentions.

Then came my whole episode with a cancer diagnosis, which you can learn a little about here.

A high-quality whole food supplement helped immensely, but I really can’t think of a greater hormone disrupter than chemotherapy.  Then came the poundage.

Now, with Trim Healthy Mama, I eat lots of yummy food and keep my goal weight without starving myself all the time or just being plain cranky.

This recipe came about in a search for healthier, better tasting version of a canned “old stand-by”.  If ever a side dish needed to be re-thought, “pork ‘n beans” is at the top of the list.  The canned version focuses on the sauce, leaving us all short on beans and almost devoid of all pork as we try to keep everything else on our plates out of the path of the runny mess and avoid the two little squiggly, fatty pieces of pork that seem to have been dropped in just for show.  Finding pork and beans lacking, we often give them a miss, considering them a mere ingredient in other recipes which they also succeed in making way too runny.

Beans play an important role in our diets, but to be honest, most of us have a love-hate relationship with them.

What summer barbecue is complete without a huge casserole dish brimming with baked beans? What fall camp-out or retreat has ever been planned that excluded a pot of beans?

As members of the legume family, beans are cousins to lentils, peas and the like. Loaded with nutrients, we can count on them as a valuable source of protein, fiber, magnesium, iron and zinc. That means they can help us with fatigue, weakness, heart palpitations, loss of appetite and irritability.  Beans are a healthy carb and those make our hormones happy – oh, yes, they do!  The sugar in canned pork ‘n beans, however, makes our hormones very, very unhappy.

Beans have been found to contain anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory properties and in certain studies have clearly been shown to have a positive effect on those with coronary heart disease and to lower cholesterol.

Now, if we must, we’ll discuss the down-side of beans. Must we, really? Their reputation has been wrecked by the endless jokes directed at the poor, humiliated souls who succumb to digestive discomfort because of them.

Why, we all ask! Why?  It’s like this:   Beans contain their own natural sugars – stachyose, raffinose and verbascose – and we cannot digest those due to the fact that we are missing an enzyme that is required to break them down. Therefore, when beans reach the colon, the bacteria there ferments those sugars and need I tell you what fermenting substances do? They give off gas. That, dear readers, is the awful truth in a nutshell.

Beans have never really bothered me much. This mystifies Smuffy, who fluctuates between begging me to make beany recipes and then begging me to never do it again. I’ve always figured there must be some way to make it easier for him to eat his favorite foods.

The answer always eluded his mother. I remember sitting in her living room once after a meal. Smuffy, after offering to help his dad with a project in the yard, exited through the back door as though carried along by sheer self-propulsion. She turned to me, sighing. “I tell you what,” she muttered with a shake of her head, “I’ve raised five of the beaniest boys there ever was!”

I challenged myself to eliminate (if you’ll pardon my expression) the bean predicament or at least get to the bottom (goodness – there I go again!) of the problem.

I tried to convince Smuffy that one of the main issues lay in the fact that I’m a fabulous cook. I suggested that he limit his portions rather than eating four bowls at a sitting. This remedy brought about no results other than an eye-roll directed at me.

Then, of course, succumbing to advertising, we tried the tiny bottles of drops that you were supposed to add to beans upon consumption. No measurable results there – not that we were measuring! Is this blog post over yet?

Then, I had a revelation. My mother had seven children. She spent decades feeding us beans – lots of beans. I couldn’t remember any real issues with beans, but then she had always used dry beans, soaking them overnight. Another flash of the obvious came to mind. Each time I opened a can of beans for a recipe that called for draining and rinsing them, there were bubbles galore! Perhaps we’d been ingesting all those bubbles! Then, another realization hit me. The beans with the worst effects seemed to be “pork ‘n beans” – that meant they were not only canned, but never rinsed!

Here are my conclusions after much research and experimentation.

1. Never use canned beans! What could be more simple that measuring dry beans into a bowl and adding filtered water? Soak 8 hours or overnight, then POUR THE SOAKING WATER OFF, add fresh water and salt and simmer the beans until desired tenderness. The added advantage to this is that you’ll have control over the doneness. Canned beans are always extremely overcooked and by the time we get them into our soups or casseroles and cook them even longer, we tend to end up with mush.
2. Need “pork ‘n beans”? No problem! I’m giving you the super easy recipe today. The canned version is loaded with syrupy goo that your doctor and your body would rather you didn’t have anyway, so just stir up a batch of your own!
3. Watch what you eat with beans. Do eat lots of greens, making your insides a happy place. Don’t eat sugars or things that turn to sugar such as bread or white potatoes. Use high-quality stevia (at least 95% pure) and other natural sweeteners in bean recipes.  If you want a great bean recipe that needs no sweeteners at all, you can make a big skillet full of my fabulous chili con carne (recipe coming soon.)
4. Since digestion starts in the mouth, savor your beans by chewing them well. This is also a little easier to do when you start from scratch as we are today because your beans won’t be overcooked and mushy like canned beans are.
5. Rinse. Rinse. Rinse! Never cook beans in the water you soaked them in. Wash them, rinse them, soak them, rinse them again, add fresh water and salt, then cook your beans according to package directions and your personal preference as to doneness.
6. Forgot to soak your beans the night before or before you left in the morning? There is usually a quick-soak method on the package, that will work if your schedule permits.
7. Use fresh beans. Their effects increase along with their shelf life, so buy them when you need them from a store that keeps its inventory moving. I know it’s tempting to keep dried foods around forever, but it’s not a great idea if you’re trying to lower the risk of after-effects.

Let’s get started with easy homemade Pork ‘n Beans:

After doing lots of research, I began with a “clone” recipe from www.palatablepastime.com for Campbell’s Pork and Beans, but it changed drastically as I went along! Theirs was designed to remove high-fructose corn syrup. Mine is designed to be less “beany” and healthier all around.  Thanks to Sue Lau for getting me off to a great start!

This recipe is equivalent to a little over four cans (11-15 ounces each) of beans. You can cut the recipe in half if you like, but they are super easy to divide into containers and freeze. Since they are way yummier than the canned version, your family will probably eat more than you expect.

You can use chunks of pork, but I prefer bacon. Who doesn’t? I always bake my bacon – no mess in the kitchen and it turns out perfect every time. I fix the whole package and layer it between paper towels to freeze. I recommend baking it slightly less crispy than you normally enjoy it. Then, when you use it in this recipe or heat it in the microwave to enjoy with breakfast, it will come out perfect!  Keep in mind that adding lots of bacon straight into the recipe will make it a crossover (XO), but adding one slice of chopped bacon to your own serving will keep this an “E” for you to enjoy.

Everybody’s busy! The bacon and the beans can be prepared a day or two ahead of time, making this a “throw-together” recipe!

Hearty, Healthy Homemade Pork ‘n Beans

Ingredients:

8 slices uncured bacon, baked on a broiler pan in a 200-250 degree oven for about an hour.

1 pound navy beans, rinsed, soaked 8 hours or overnight, rinsed again and cooked in salted water until tender. Drain and rinse again in warm water.

1 – 2 cups water

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup molasses

¼ cup raw honey

1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder

1 ½ teaspoons onion powder

1 ½ teaspoons sweet or smoked paprika

1 ½ teaspoons Celtic sea salt

3 Tablespoons arrowroot powder shaken in ¼ cup cold water

Prepare the bacon and beans as directed.

Mix all ingredients in a large saucepan and simmer until flavors are blended (5-10 minutes). Add arrowroot and water mixture and return to a soft boil, stirring constantly until sauce reaches desired thickness (1-2 minutes).

Makes 8-12 servings or the equivalent of about 4 (11-15 ounce cans).

Enjoy! But if you eat them all, you’ll need to be prepared to make another batch, because we’re about to take those Pork ‘n Beans and create a slow-cooker masterpiece!

Click below for your free printable of the recipe and bean tips!

Searching for luscious fall soups? I have two ultra-simple recipes you’ll love! Try Creamy Leek Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, a “Golden Ladle Winner” and if you’re like me and can’t get enough pumpkin right now, check out my Zesty Pumpkin Soup which comes with a bonus recipe for Billy’s Biscuits that is guaranteed to please.

Questions? Comments? If you make the soup and/or the biscuits, let me know how you liked it!   Scroll back up to the title of this post and “Leave a Comment”. And why not SUBSCRIBE, so you’ll receive an email reminder each time Midwest Storyteller has something new.