Kick’n Baked Beans and Kielbasa Sausage

This is a TWO day process with pre-soaking the beans and cooking time.

The night before, pre-soak 1 pound of Northern beans. So place them in a colander and pre-rinse them, removing any old beans or debris. Then place them in a glass bowl and cover with cold water covering about 1 inch over the beans. Then cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. I would not use canned beans as this may be too mushy.

The next day, cut up the bacon in small bite size pieces. Put it into a skillet over medium heat and fry it up with the onion. Once the onion is translucent and the bacon is cooked through, remove it from the heat. Drain off the grease.

Then cut the sausage on the bias (diagonally) into 1-inch thick slices. Add the sausage, bacon and onions into the slow cooker. Drain the water off the beans and add them into the slow cooker as well.

Then, add all the rest of the ingredients into the cooker and mix together. Set the slow cooker on low, put the lid on and cook for 8 hours. YUM! This is a meal in itself.

NOTE:
– Instead of a slow cooker, I made this in a cast-iron Dutch oven and set it in the oven at 250 F for 8 hours.
– Sparky Sauce has some hot spices and sweetness. It is made in Nebraska. I have no interest in the company.