Baked White Kidney Beans - Crockpot Style

I had this package of white kidney beans. A year or so ago, I picked them up thinking that I'd make baked beans. Once I got home, my lovely wife informed me that I should have bought navy beans instead of white kidney beans. Chagrined, or at least a bit wistful, I stuffed them up in the macaroni cupboard and forgot about them. This weekend, when electricity is cheap, I decided to see what damage I could do with them. The result was probably the best baked beans that I've ever made. Here's what I did. 

Friday night, I put the beans in a big bowl and covered them with water. They swelled quite a bit but still weren't soft so I drained them and put them in the crockpot with some new cold water. This was about five on Saturday afternoon. Cranking the crockpot up to high, they stewed unti around 9 Saturday night. They were still white but now they were soft. 

I drained the beans, saving the hot water, and put in a can of diced tomatoes. Then I cut up a couple of onions, added the following to two cups of the hot water: 

one cup of molasses

1/2 cup of brown sugar 

2 tsp salt

4 tsp of dry mustard

All of this was mixed up together and poured into the crockpot with the beans. I mixed it up a bit and headed to bed with the crockpot on medium or low. Mine only has two temps, high and low. The beans were still white. 

By 9 Sunday morning, the beans were a nice medium dark brown and smelling really good. Around noon I turned them off, letting them cool a bit. By 2 pm they were ready to taste. 

Sometimes the navy beans are still a bit hard, even after the soaking and cooking. These kidney beans are nice and soft. They are also very, very tasty. Try it! You'll like it!