Best BBQ Beans for all your summer cook-outs (recipe from last Saturday)

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beans/bbq-white-beans-with-peppers/

This is my new recipe that I'm obsessed with and I just might start making it by the gallon. In fact I've got the dry beans at the house that have been soaking and I'm going to go turn them on at lunch to start cooking :)

Changes:

I used cooked bacon instead of ham (delish)

Deli mustard instead of yellow

red/purple onion instead of yellow

Just a regular green bell pepper

no chili powder or oregano

Also, I didn't read the directions of the recipe until the day of my BBQ so I obviously didn't want to let them soak in the fridge overnight. But had there been any left over, I'm sure the flavor would be even better after it soaked overnight. I just put them in a small crockpot and cooked them on slow for about 2 hours. OH SO GOOD. I could have skipped the BBQ chicken and just eaten beans and corn for dinner. My friend Jennifer did such an awesome job on these :) I just found the recipe and ingredients and she did all the work.

Enjoy!

Megan

Kidney Bean Kalmata Olive Hummus

This recipe was sparked by the fact that I had everything to make hummus except garbanzo beans and I was craving it. I had kidney and black beans on hand, and I figured the kidney beans would match the nice purple of the kalamata olives and I went with it.

Ingredients:
1/2 can Kidney Beans (use garbanzo or any other beans if you wish)
1 TBSP Tahini (Ground sesame seed paste)
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives (or more if desired)
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
Garlic (to taste), fresh is best, powder will also work

If you use all of the juice from the can of kidney beans, you come up with a rather runny, however smooth hummus. I think Garbanzos are a little bit drier and so you can use all the juice. If you want to play with the texture a little bit, drain and reserve the liquid and add as much or as little as you need. Another option is to use juice from the olives for more flavor. The reason I used 1/2 a can of beans is I wanted to try some different flavors of hummus to keep my palate guessing :)

Dump all ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add Garlic to taste and blend again. Dip with tortilla chips, pitas, or fresh veggies and enjoy!

Makes: approximately 1 1/2 cups of dip.