Chipotle Beenie Weenies!

Tonight's Daily Plate is whimsical, if nothing else. We had a couple of packages of Hebrew National brand 98-percent fat free wieners. So, I got to thinking about my childhood and the infamous canned franks and beans which were something akin to eating lumpy wallpaper paste. I'm happy to say that beenie weenies made from scratch are a hundred times better than the canned stuff.

The recipe is easy enough. I used dry cranberry beans, since that's what I had on hand. Most recipes call for navy or small white beans. I was limited on time today, so I used my pressure cooker for the beans. I rinsed a 28-oz package of beans and placed them in the pressure cooker. I covered them with water about two inches above the beans. I sealed and brought the cooker up to pressure and then turned it off and let it sit for an hour. Then, I drained the water off and filled it again, this time with 8 cups of water. I brought the pressure cooker back up to pressure and cooked the beans for 10 minutes. 15 would have been better because the beans were slightly too firm after 10.

Meanwhile, I diced a small chunk of ham, half a large onion and two cloves of garlic and sauteed them in a little olive oil. Then I sliced all the wieners into small slices. Once the beans were cooked, I quick released the steam from the cooker and opened it up. Once again, I drained all the water off the beans and then added: 3/4 cup ketchup; 3 Tbs. yellow mustard, 3/4 cup maple syrup (I used real maple syrup, but imitation will work just fine); 2 Tbs. packed brown sugar; 1 Tbs. molasses; and 2 tsp. chipotle pepper powder into the beans. I stirred them up and then cooked them an additional 20 minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent them from burning on the bottom. The results were very tasty!