Rosie's Baked Beans and a Celebration

Our Fourth of July dinner was a traditional feast this year, with Nathan's hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad, deviled eggs, and baked beans. Dessert was homemade Heath Bar ice cream. In other words, a total pig-out.


In the early 1970s, a wonderful gal named Rosie shared with me her baked bean recipe (she also taught me to crochet), and I have never been interested in any other recipe.

Rosie's Baked Beans
4 slices bacon (nitrate-free Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Bacon imparted a wonderful smoky flavor to these beans)
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 – 1 lb cans pork and beans, undrained
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar

In a large skillet, fry bacon till crisp. Drain, reserving 2 teaspoons grease, in which onions are sautéed till tender. Mix remaining ingredients into skillet, along with crumbled bacon. Pour into lightly greased baking dish and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Dessert could not be easier--into my Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream Maker, I placed whipping cream, milk, half and half, sugar, crushed Heath Bars.


The perfect end to our Fourth celebration was the arrival of nature's own fireworks in the form of a noisy, windy thunderstorm.