Homemade Beanie Weanies

This was a fun meal to do, making it from scratch and using better ingredients than what comes out of the can. I got the idea from Homesick Texan, and I modified her recipe by using my crockpot instead of baking it. I have the type of crockpot that the inside ceramic can be removed and put in the oven if necessary. I believe that I used a little too much water, but since I was gone for the day, I didn't want to come home to dried out beans. We brought this to a friends house, and everyone ate most of it up, including my husband, who is not a big fan of beans. I will put this recipe in my folder of winning recipes - it was a great crockpot meal!


Beanie Weenies from Scratch
-adapted from Homesick Texan

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pinto beans
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 pound of salt pork, diced
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 3 T chile powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup of black coffee
• Pinch of baking soda
• 8 hot dogs (I like Schweigert Old-Fashioned Coarse Ground Weiners), sliced into ½ inch thick slices

Directions:

1. Soak the beans in a pot filled with 8 cups of water overnight, or do a quick soak by boiling the beans in 8 cups of water for 2 minutes, then covering the pot with a lid for one hour.
2. Heat olive oil in skillet on medium heat and saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes.
3. Add onion garlic mixture to crockpot and stir in molasses, chile powder, cayenne, mustard powder and brown sugar. Add the soaked beans and stir in coffee, baking soda and diced salt pork. Add enough water to cover beans with 2 inches of water.
4. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours. Test bean done-ness and cook longer if necessary.
   
5. Preheat oven to 400. Uncover pot, remove ceramic, and add hot dogs and put in oven uncovered for 30 minutes - 1 hr until sauce has thickened (if the inside of your crockpot cannot be removed, then try just uncovering the lid, and cook uncovered on high for 1+hrs.)