Tuscan Baked Beans

This past week it has been cold. Let me say that again. BRRRRR…chatter, shiver…BRRRRR! I am not built for cold weather guys. My simple theoretical equation for this short coming is as follows. Melanin = Blood Flow. Therefore, negative 1 million on the pigment scale = zero blood flow and ice running through the veins instead. Or as my little brother Blaine has so kindly put it lately “Gingers have no soul!” Ha, Ha, Ha-larious knucklehead! If you weren’t a foot taller than me and 80lbs heavier I’d thump you. If any of you can tell me where my sweet brother picked up this lovely little line I’ll give you a high five. Y’all have heard me talk about my brother before right? Blaine is a sophomore at ECU. Besides being a former Captain of Defensive, lacrosse playing behemoth he’s a perpetually happy, giving young man. I just love him to pieces guys!

Eighteen years may separate us but we’ve had some fun times together throughout the years. He’s helped the boys choose a winner before with Red Monkey Productions and he also likes to play around in the kitchen with me some when he’s home on break.  Now that Blaine has his own apartment at ECU he’s been asking me to post some recipes that are delicious yet easy. Basically he wants some Go To College Grub recipes that he and his buddies can make, while still satisfying their budding palates. I had a better idea. My suggestion was to teach Blaine a few kitchen tricks when he’s home on break and then he could try two recipes a month on his own. The best part of the suggestion was for him to share his cooking adventures with you guys. Guess what? He liked the idea.

So out of that conversation during Christmas break was born a new addition to Tickled Red’s Food Fun. A couple of Friday’s each month Blaine will be sharing his venture into culinary education. He has dubbed it Food Hall Fridays-Campus Eats. You guys don’t mind revisiting your days of youthful college shenanigans with Blaine do you? Cool! Seeing as how he’s new to blogging I told him that I would write the introductory post and then he could take it from there.

We started Blaine’s first cooking lesson with some warm, savory Tuscan Baked Beans for you guys… seeing as how I’m a soulless, melanin deprived, ginger haired chic. Yeah, I said it. Not to mention what all American collegiate doesn’t like baked beans? What makes this version of baked beans college friendly is that you don’t need to use dried beans. Soaking them over night and then cooking them for hours the next day. You could even skip the baking step if you’re in a dorm room with a hot plate and no oven. Wait, do you guys still use hot plates in dorm rooms or did I just date myself? Oh well, either way simmering vs baking will simply increase the cooking time some. Which will work out perfectly if you’re stuck in your room cramming for exams.

This first thing that Blaine did was to saute some garlic and sage leaves in olive oil, then he added some delicious plum tomatoes.

Oh, and of course some finely chopped fresh leeks were put into the pot.

Then he stirred the sauce, softly crushing the whole tomatoes with the spoon for a bit. His sweetheart of a girlfriend Kelsey was watching. Possibly waiting to see if he burnt the sauce.

Next was my favorite part, cannellini beans. I’m a bean nut y’all! You’ll catch them on my plate nearly every day of the week.

See gorgeous, nummy beans! Blaine stirred everything together, then popped the pot into the oven for about 20 minutes to bake the beans until they were soaked through with the savory tomato sauce.

Awww…would you look at those savory beans all smothered with tomatoes, leeks and a hint of sage. Great job Blaine! Talk about an easy, quick side dish that will be fantastic for you and your buddies to make during game days back at ECU. Go Pirates!!

I can’t wait to see what my little brother comes up with next and what he’ll write. Now that I think about it, I’m slightly scared {shiver}. No big sister cracks knucklehead!

We hope that you give our savory version of baked beans a try and as always have fun playing around in the kitchen.

Enjoy!

Shari-Tickled Red & Blaine

Psst…Blaine needs a nickname too don’t you think ;D

Tagged as: Baked Beans, Bush's Beans, College Eats, Fast & Easy Dish, Food Hall Fridays, Healthy Recipes, Side Dishes