We celebrated the 4th of July on the 5th at my parents' home; they live just a few miles from us. They decided to grill hamburgers & called me to consult on what we would eat. I had spent much of Friday in the kitchen cooking, one of the things I made was a veggie burger of sorts. So I was put in charge of bringing our veggie burgers, whole wheat buns & baked beans. I am sure my mother was not excited at the prospect of me bringing the beans...no bacon in them. She is quite picky & the last time I brought homemade baked beans, her serving went uneaten. This time I was determined to make some beans that tasted like what she was used to. (I must admit, my other recipe is a little different, they are white beans & the sauce isn't very dark. Remember we are from the south & are used to sweet, thick, dark baked beans.)

I found a recipe that claimed to be "The Best Baked Bean Recipe Ever". It sounded promising, so I gave it a shot. I only made a few minor changes (what's new!)...I added a green bell pepper, substituted pinto beans for the kidney beans, 2 T. prepared yellow mustard for the 2 t. dried mustard, used sugar in the raw instead of brown sugar & used mostly BBQ sauce with a little ketchup instead of all ketchup. Okay, maybe that was more than just a few changes, but they were all minor! I must say these beans were delicious! The addition of veggie crumbles really made them feel like real southern "meaty" beans. I am attaching the link below of where I found this recipe. (I haven't quite figured out to make a word highlighted & be able to click on it & it take you straight to a different website & Sean is not here to help me--he is definitely the computer-go-to-guy, along with being the eye behind my photos--thanks so much, Bay!)

http://viewfromthemountain.typepad.com/david_sobotta_weblog/2005/12/the_best_baked_.html

My parents live on the Choctawhatchee Bay, so our cookout took place on the pier yesterday. My brother, his wife & my 2 nephews (5 & 2) were there, along with my mother-in-law & my aunt. They all had regular burgers, Sean & his mother had my veggie burgers, I just had a bun with melted cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle & onion. My parents had made potato salad, we my beans & my aunt brought a relish tray for the burgers with some delicious homegrown tomatoes.

Sean had to work last night; he is a jazz pianist/vocalist & plays at local restaurants. Some friends of ours from Pensacola, Florida (about an hour & a half away) stayed with us last night. They are both musicians & had a late gig & didn't want to drive back home. They were telling us about a vegan restaurant in Pensacola that they had just discovered call End of the Line (it is by the railroad tracks). They called us today to say there were eating brunch there & how fabulous it is. They have a regular menu with sandwiches & such, but for Sunday brunch & on Thursday nights they have a set menu. The invited us to drive over Thursday to try it out--we are really excited! We don't have any vegan restaurants here in the Santa Rosa Beach/Destin area.

I think Sean did take some pictures of those veggie burgers, I will post them soon. Oh, I made another batch of the banana muffins. This time I had several bananas on the counter about to go completely bad, they were very soft, so I threw them in. The muffins are so moist & delicious! They taste like banana bread! Some nuts would have been delicious. Speaking of which, I think I will go heat one up right now!

Labels: baked beans, End of the Line Cafe, Fourth of July, vegan blog, vegan food, veggie burger