Ten easy steps to making your own, healthy Baked Beans

Are you trying to eat healthily? Need comfort food? Worried about added sugar and other additives in commercial brands of beans?

Here is a simple recipe to make your own.

I never weigh or measure for this. A mugful of dried beans should serve 4 

Step one: Start the day before. Put dried beans into a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak.

Step Two:

 Drain, cover with fresh water and bring to the boil. Turn heat down and simmer till soft.

(It is possible to by pass the first step and cook from dried in a pressure cooker - that needs a bit of practise with the timings!)

Step Three:

Gather all your ingredients together 

 Chopped onion, carrot, celery leaves if you like, Sundried tomatoes (optional)

Tinned chopped tomatoes ( in the summer you can use fresh) Tomato paste (optional), dried orange peel, bay leaves.

Olive oil

A splash of vinegar ( any type)

Salt, pepper

teaspoon of sugar - optional

Step Four: 

When beans are soft drain - reserve the cooking liquid. (Do not do this for red kidney beans)

Step five: sauce the onions in a little olive oil. If you wish caramelise them by adding a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of vinegar. ( Leave this out if you are trying to cut out all sugar - but it does help bring out the flavour.)

 Step Six:
Add the carrots and mix with the onions, then add the other ingredients. Adjust to your taste - add a spoonful of tomato puree  if you like things very tomatoey, leave it out if you don't.

Step Seven: If you need extra liquid add a little of the reserved water from boiling the beans. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes.

Step Eight:

Add the beans, return to the boil and then simmer for 40 minutes alternatively put into a casserole dish, cover and bake in the oven at a bout 180 C. (the longer and gentler the simmer the better the flavour will be!

Step Nine:

Adjust seasoning to your taste

Step Ten:

Serve and enjoy. This will be even better the second day!