I have made baked beans at home at least once, on the stove top, and they turned out pretty well. But, that has been a while ago.
I got in the mood to make another “mess of beans” at home, and have just put them on. I found the following recipe online, which I modified, and will note the changes below.
Instead of using the already prepared Bush’s Grillin’ Beans, I substituted one 15 oz. can of Cannellini beans and one 15 oz. can of Great Northern Beans. I used garlic powder instead of raw garlic. I didn’t have any Dijon mustard, so I used regular yellow mustard. No brown sugar, so I used some Splenda and some Agave Nectar. I did add some molasses for flavor. I think my previous beans had included molasses.
If I had some jalapenos, I probably would have sliced them up and added them as well. Which reminds me of Floyd Lewis and his “Beans of Death”. I think I had his recipe once, but maybe not. The only things I remember distinctly were the beans, strips of bacon and the jalapenos. They were sweet, and hot… and delicious!
Floyd was a “good guy” whom I met at Enon Chapel Baptist Church. He worked at Marine Federal Credit Union as an administrator or manager. Floyd’s life ended horribly. He and a few others from MFCU had flown in a small plane to Charlotte for some type of training. On the return flight from Charlotte, their plane experienced difficulties and crashed and burned. He was burned so badly that there was no viewing of the body. I think I was living in Fayetteville, NC at the time of his death, and drove all the way to Jacksonville where there was a “viewing” (not) at Jones Funeral Home.
Two employees and one member of the supervisory committee of the $288 million Marine FCU here died on June 6 in a plane crash. Supervisory Committee member Gregory Russell, 51, was piloting the plane when it crashed. On board were Floyd Lewis, 49, CFO, and Devonnya Greenfield-Burks, 35, accounting supervisor. The three were on their way home from a Federal Reserve meeting in Charlotte. The plane went down near the Monroe, N.C. airport. “It’s just such a loss. We lost three members of our credit union family,” said Wendy McGill, vice president of marketing for the CU. Russell was a pilot in the Marine Corps. for 20 years.
FAA Accident Report (basically crash caused by pilot error, but I think it was probably equipment failure that couldn’t be determined after the crash):
The connection that Floyd and I had, or one of them, was that we both had said, “No” to God at some point in our lives. For Floyd, God had wanted him to be a minister, and Floyd hadn’t followed that direction. Floyd was active in church, was a leader, I believe a deacon.
I’ve noted when visiting the MFCU headquarters on Bell Fork Road (maybe that is Gum Branch Rd.) that there is a short hallway, back where the bathrooms are located and on a wall are the photos of various staff members that have died. Floyd is noted on this wall, as are several others (Ben Marsh, ) that I knew from either MFCU or Enon Chapel.
These baked beans turned out well also. Playing with the spices and the BBQ sauce could make them more distinctive.
Bill Gibson, II 