Pioneer Beans

Pioneer beans is an old-fashioned recipe.  To me, it is comfort food.  This recipe doesn't take long to prepare and have cooking on the stove. 

The original recipe does not call for draining the liquid off the lima beans and kidney beans and this is the way I wrote it.  It seems that nowadays, most recipes call for draining away the liquid from the beans, but for me, it depends on how long they will be cooking. The liquid just gives the beans a better taste.  However, some cans of beans are more liquid then beans. For those, I do drain away some of the liquid.  If you do drain the beans, don't throw out the liquid right away. You can pour some in to the dish as needed.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. hamburger
1/2 lb. bacon, cut into pieces **see note below
1 onion, chopped
1 can lima beans
1 can pork and beans
1 can kidney beans
1 c. plus 2 Tbs. brown sugar
2 Tbs. molasses
1/4 c. mustard
1/4 c. catsup

Directions

In a large cast iron skillet,  brown the hamburger, bacon and onion. Drain off excess grease.

Add the lima beans, pork and beans, kidney beans, brown sugar, molasses, mustard and catsup together.

Simmer for at least, 20 minutes. Or you can bake the beans in the oven in a covered pot.  I usually bake mine at 190° to 200° if they are going to be cooking for 7 to 8 hours. 

Serve with corn bread and honey. 

**I will often fry the bacon first and drain off the bacon grease into a heat proof cup or bowl.  Allow the grease to cool and then put in a canning jar with a lid.  The bacon grease gives your meals a great taste and bacon grease keeps a long time.