July marks National Baked Bean Month. Sometimes I wonder if anyone loves baked beans as much as I do. (The jury’s still out.) This classic dish can be prepared to recipe specifications or ‘jazzed up’, in a variety of ways. Really, it’s just a matter of taste.

You might be surprised to learn that beans are good for you. Recent studies have shown that including beans in your diet may reduce the chance of heart disease and certain types of cancer. The USDA recommends that all of us eat three cups of beans, per week.

I prefer to bake beans in my crock pot… especially during the summer months. I can start them in the coolness of the morning. They slow cook all day without heating up my kitchen.

Why not celebrate National Baked Bean Month, by adding them to your menu this week? They’re quite simple to fix and require just basic ingredients, all of which you probably have on hand.

Lately, instead of starting out with dry navy beans, I used canned beans and add in my extras. Bush’s Grillin’ Beans is my current bean of choice. I mix-in additional ketchup, brown sugar, onions, green pepper and bacon that I have diced and partially fried.

(If I bake beans in a traditional oven, I arrange uncooked strips of bacon on top instead of dicing and pre-frying.)