Dinnertime

This is what we had for dinner. The original appears to have been in Gourmet magazine, as referenced here.

"Best in the West" Bean Bake
Prepare/Bake time: About 2 Hours

1. The recipe creates 20 side dish portions. We cut it in half and made a good 5-7 portions.)
2. Recipe calls for an oven-proof kettle. We used a frying pan, then the oven proof casserole.

1 pound ground beef ...........................Oven Proof Casserole
1 pount chopped bacon ........................Frying Pan
1 chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup bottled barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 16oz cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 16 oz cans butter beans or lima beans, rinsed and drained
2 16 oz cans pork and beans

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In the frying pan, cook the beef, bacon, and onion over moderate heat, stirring occasionally to break up any lumps, for 15-20 minutes or until the beef is no longer pink and the bacon is slightly crisp. (We cooked the bacon separately on a griddle while the beef and onion were cooking in the frying pan, then mixed them together in the pan to finish cooking.)

3. Transfer the mixture to a sieve and let drain.

4. Place the drained mixture into the casserole.

5. Add the ketchup, barbecue sauce, salt, mustard, molasses, chili powder, pepper, beans (and pork and beans, if desired). Stir until combined well.

6. Bake the mixture, covered, for one hour in the middle of the oven.

Pretty damn good -- and with hot garlic bread, superb.