Time: 20 minutes

When my oldest son was little, he refused to eat and was slipping off the doctor’s scales for size and weight. But, he would eat food if we made it interesting. So, brocolli would be trees that dinosaurs (apatosaurus, to be exact) would eat, cabbage rolls would be egyptian mummy food, and well, cowboys on TV are always sopping a big chunk of bread in some type of bean dish from a tin plate… hence, this breakfast, lunch or dinner dish that we’d make for him. Needless to say, he thinks of it as normal breakfast food and still likes to have it from time to time – he is nearly 20 years old! You can also simplify this a lot by just heating up a can of your favorite beans with cut up hotdog in the microwave, but we like the extra black beans, bacon, chipotle pepper and onion! The extra 10 minutes to fry up the bacon, onion and peppers (if you want to add green pepper), is worth it! As well, this heats up well and stays well in a thermos for school lunches! AND… he did not grow up to be a cowboy, or a dinosaur!

Music Selection: “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings

Ingredients

1 – 28 oz can of your favorite baked beans

1 – 14 oz can black beans, drained

1 cup diced onion

8 strips bacon, diced

Optional: 2 minced chipotle chili peppers in sauce or diced green or red peppers

4 – 5 beef or pork weiners (about one per person), cut into ½ inch rings

4-6 slices sourdough bread

Butter for toast

Optional: grated cheddar (about 2 cups) for bread

4-6 eggs (over-easy fried or soft-poached)

Directions:

In large saucepan, fry the bacon and onions until the bacon is crispy and onions are browning. Add in the baked beans, black beans, chili peppers and weiners. Continue to heat on low.

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In meantime, fry or poach eggs (we like to have soft poached eggs with this dish).

Also toast bread and smother with butter OR put some cheese on each slice of bread and broil in oven until cheese melts.

Serve the beans in a bowl and eat with the eggs and toast. This also goes great with strong coffee or a cup of fresh orange juice!

Tip: on a busy or cheat day: Heat weiners and a large can of baked beans in the microwave (skip the onion, bacon and chili pepper). Serve with toast and eggs, if you have time for both!