Five Minute Pork N Beans

Five Minute Pork N Beans
Dorcas Annette Walker

Continuing through the month of June I am going to give recipes catering to the fellows that are some favorites of my guys and are easy to make. Since my husband is a hardy meat eater most of the recipes will feature some kind of meat. I have to confess that I didn’t have a written recipe for my Five Minute Pork N Beans until now. I had to make up a batch of my pork and beans in order to write down the exact measurements. Throughout the years I have tweaked ingredients around -with my family member’s critiques- until I achieved what I remembered of my grandmother’s homemade baked beans- she also didn’t use a recipe.

I’ve made baked beans from scratch for years, but it is a long process as you have to first soak the beans, then cook them, flavor the beans, and finally bake them- unless you skip the cooking time and add more hours of baking. Since I often found myself running short on time when my kids were small I figured that there had to be a way of using canned beans as a shortcut without sacrificing the taste of homemade baked beans so I began to experiment around. When my daughter, who only goes by exact measurements as she cooks, got married and wanted my recipe for pork and beans she was quite frustrated when I told her that all you had to do was pour in some catsup until it changed the color, add a dab of mustard, sprinkle on some brown sugar, pour in some syrup until it tasted right, cut up the hotdogs, and bring to a boil. My son also wanted more precise instructions when he called me the other day so I decided it was time to write down a recipe for my pork and beans.

My Five Minute Pork N Beans dish is perfect for picnics or family reunions, but is also great year round with its old fashioned taste of homemade baked beans. You can add fried hamburger or bacon for an extra special meat lover’s delight or pop the pork and beans into the oven baking for a couple of minutes to produce a crusty top. Five Minute Pork N Beans is good to eat hot or cold and make great leftovers- if there are any left over. You might want to double the recipe. Preparation time for my Five Minute Pork N Beans is only five minutes and this recipe serves six.

Five Minute Pork N Beans

2 (16 oz) cans of pork & beans (any brand)
1 (12 oz) pkg hot dogs (any brand) cut into ½ inch pieces
¼ c catsup
¼ c brown sugar
¼ c dark syrup or molasses
1 tsp mustard

Mix all the ingredients together in a large microwaveable bowl. Heat in the microwave for five minutes. Stir and serve. You can garnish with bacon bits if desired!

Weekly tip: Whenever measuring brown sugar for a recipe always pack the brown sugar firmly in the measuring cup!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com