Cowboy Beans & Cornbread

My office has a Friday tradition during the cold months of the year. In previous years, it was called “Soup Club”, but this year it’s morphed into “Crock-pot Club”. The idea is simple. Everyone who ‘joins’ agrees to bring a crock-pot full of yummy food twice during the fall/winter (there’s a schedule). In exchange each member can eat free lunch every Friday during the club’s run.

It’s fun. It breaks up the monotony of sack lunches and vending machine food. An added bonus is that the recipes are collected and dispersed, so it’s a nice way to get a lot of new ideas for yummy soups, stews and casseroles. Also, who can refuse home-made hot food when the wind turns cold?

Today was my turn to bring something from home. I brought Cowboy Beans and home-made cornbread (this is a family favorite in my house).

Cowboy Beans

2 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 large (28oz) cans of baked beans (drained)
1/2 c Ketchup
1/2 c Barbeque sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
4 TB Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp Tabasco Sauce

Sauté onion and pepper in large skillet or Dutch oven. Add ground beef and brown. Pour off excess fat. Add remaining ingredients. Stir

Add all to slow cooker and cook for minimum 1 hour on low. Stir frequently.

Serve with sweet country cornbread. The recipe I use is from Sylvia’s Soul Food Cookbook. I blogged about it once before HERE.