What's a holiday gathering without beans? If you'd like to go vegetarian, the beef and bacon can be omitted. You can also play around with the seasonings to make the dish as spicy as you wish!

These can even be a meal in themselves if you just want something easy.

These can be made ahead of time, and in fact really are best the day after cooking, after the flavors have melded a bit.

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb bacon (cut into 1 inch pieces)
1 cup chopped onion
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp. chili powder
2 16oz cans kidney beans (drained)
2 16oz. cans pork and beans
2 16oz. can butter beans
½ cup catsup
½ cup BBQ sauce
4 tbsp. mustard
4 tbsp. molasses
¾ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. black pepper

Directions

Brown ground beef, drain.

Brown bacon, remove from skillet and reserve about 1 tbsp. of the grease.

In the grease, cook onion and green pepper and cook till tender. Drain and add to beef and bacon.

Drain beans (except the pork and beans). Add all to the beef, bacon, veggie mix.

Combine sugars, catsup, BBQ sauce, mustard, molasses, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add to the remaining ingredients.

Either:

A.) Pour into 3 qt. casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour

or...

B.) Put into a crock pot and cook on low 4-5 hours (great for office parties, etc.)