Homemade Baked Beans

Add the following in a crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours
1 1/2 cups of dry beans (I used 1 cup kidney and 1/2 cup black because that is what I had)
3 cups of water (I also added 1/2 cup pork stock cause I had it-- completely optional)
1/2 onion grated
1/2 green pepper chopped
2 cloves garlic grated

The Flavorings: I searched a lot of recipes and sort of made my own up, feel free to adjust to suite your tastes. After you add these ingredients let them meld together for about another hour and then enjoy.
1/4 cup brown sugar (some recipes used white sugar, molasses, or honey)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup BBQ sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (some recipes used 2 tbsp, but I cut it to just one to keep it sweeter)
dash of salt
2 tbsp mustard (I used Dijon)
5 pieces of bacon cooked and crumbled (again, just added cause we had it)
Splash of Honey Jack Daniels... yummmm

I'd take a picture, but honestly they just look like baked beans. Getting to play around with the flavorings was the fun part of this recipe :)

White Bean Chicken Chili

We recently borrowed a crock pot from friends of ours (they have 2 and were so sweet to lend us one) and I was so excited to make my first crock pot recipe- white bean chicken chili! I found the recipe online at http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotchicken/r/bl118c19.htm and changed it a little bit- it turned out AMAZINGLY delicious. I will definitely make this again, and it was pretty easy. Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:
* 1 lb chicken, cut up into small chunks (I actually baked the chicken first and broke it into smaller pieces. It ended up pulling apart and being so flavorful by the end- just an option).
* 1 cup chopped onion (I used a whole onion and stuck it in my Tupperware Quick Chef to chop it up)
* 1 can chicken broth (I used a 15 oz. box of broth)
* 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely (I used 2 tbsp. from a jar of minced garlic)
* 2 tsp Cumin seed- ground will not withstand long cooking as well (I didn't have any, so I skipped this)
* 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
* 3 -15oz cans white beans (great northern or cannellini), drained and rinsed (I used great northern beans)
* 1 or 2 chopped red, green or yellow bell peppers, or combination (Kyle and I aren't big pepper eaters, so I chopped up one yellow pepper)
* jalapeno chili peppers, fresh, jarred or canned, optional or 'to taste' (we used some chile peppers- not too hot- from a can. Didn't do a whole lot, but did add another flavor.

Prep:
In a 4 or 6 quart crock pot, combine the chicken, onions, broth, garlic, (cumin) and oregano.

Let cook awhile on low (approx. 3-5 hours, depending on your schedule)
Then add drained beans.

Add the bell peppers and jalapeno peppers no earlier than the last hour or hour and a half before serving or it'll get mushy.

Top each serving with shredded Monterey jack cheese and or broken tortilla chips if desired (we also put some sour cream on top).

Thanks to 'boathoff' for sharing online so that we could try out this awesome meal. Mmm mmm we'll be making this one again and hopefully you'll be able to try it, too!