Slow Cooker Baked Beans are chock-full of bacon and beef, sweetened with molasses and then simmered until thick and sweet.

If you’ve been reading this blog for long at all, you might notice that I very rarely name anything “the best.”

Best Baked Beans Ever

There are many foods that we love and that we make over and over, but for something to be labeled the best baked beans ever, I feel like it needs to be a “wow” food.

You might be thinking that these are just crockpot baked beans, how amazing can they be, right? Well, they are pretty darn amazing as it turns out.

Three different beans with ground beef and bacon are simmered and slowly cooked until thick and sweet. The flavors and textures in this recipe for baked beans are just perfect.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

Our friend, Tony, brought these beans to a barbecue at our house two years ago and they blew me away.

These beans are so tasty, so full of meat, so sweet and hearty, I  might have “accidentally” tucked a container of Tony’s leftovers deep into my fridge and then forgotten to give them to him at the end of the night.

Later, I asked him if he’d please send me the recipe. And lucky for all of us, he was happy to share it. I’m a believer in baked beans with meat now and I’m confident that you will be as well, just as soon as you taste them.

Baked Beans with Ground Beef

There’s something extra special about a simmering pot of baked beans when there is plenty of meat in the mix. Hearty enough to be a meal on their own, these baked beans with meat make for a spectacularly memorable side dish at any barbecue.

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this recipe:

• ground beef
• bacon
• bacon drippings
• kidney beans
• white beans
• Pork & Beans
• onion
• light brown sugar
• ketchup
• molasses
• yellow mustard

Read more

This spice and herb crusted pork roast is packed with flavor and a surprising kick from the peppers and the salt. Pork Sirloin Roast makes a delicious dinner any night of the week.

Pork Sirloin Roast

This is one of the best pork roasts I have ever tasted and it turns out incredibly tender and juicy every single time. After cooking sirloin pork roast this way countless times now, there is nothing that I would change about this recipe.

It tastes impressive enough to serve to company and no one will guess just how easy it is to make. While it does require oven an hour of cooking time, most of that time is hands-off while it roasts in the oven. After mixing the spices together and rubbing them on the pork, you can go about your business while the roast cooks.

The kitchen smells so good whenever this roast is cooking. Every time we make this it takes all my self-control to wait 15 minutes after taking it out of the oven before tasting it.

Every member of my family loves this roast. The first time I made it, I wondered if the combination of spices in the rub might make it too spicy, but even my toddler ate a large portion.

I shared the last bit of it with him for lunch the following day and we were both very happy. This simple pork sirloin roast recipe was a favorite from the first time we tasted it.

Pork Sirloin Tip Roast

I’ve made this recipe for pork sirloin roast countless times now over the past 10-15 years. It is one of our favorite ways to roast pork.

Side note: if you aren’t buying the 4-pack of these 2lb Costco pork roasts, you’re missing out on a heck of a deal.

Wondering just how easy it really is to cook these roasts? Let me show you.

How long to cook a 2 lb pork roast?

Baking this roast in the oven for just about an hour at 350°F results in tender, juicy meat that slices easily. This is by far one of the best roast pork recipes I’ve ever made and we never seem to get tired of it.

If you cook your roast from room temperature, this should take ju

Glazed Orange Bundt Cake

Fresh orange flavor is packed into every bite of this tender glazed orange bundt cake! We use fresh orange juice and zest in the cake, syrup and glaze for bold, bright bursts of refreshing orange flavor.

I have been testing and testing an orange bundt cake recipe in every way you could imagine; I’ve made it with butter, with oil, with sour cream, without sour cream, ricotta, whole oranges, orange zest, orange juice, different glazes and then list goes on. And this is finally the recipe of all recipes.

Listen, in extensive research I found so many people insisting that bakers make the cake with whole oranges and you know what? IT’S NOT THE BETTER WAY. I wanted it to be so bad, but it led to a more dense, heavy bundt cake.

And while yes, it technically wasn’t dry, it also wasn’t light and melt-in-your-mouth moist, so I’d rather have a cake dry out two days later than start out so heavy and not as orangey all due to that white pith holding me back.

What Ingredients Do I Need for Orange Bundt Cake?

This cake recipe is broken into 3 different parts — the cake, the syrup and the glaze. Plan on using about 10-12 oranges depending on how big and juicy they are for all the fresh juice, zest and peel you will need. Here are the ingredients for each part:

Cake:

• Sugar: just regular granulated sugar
• Orange Zest: You’ll need about 2 oranges to get the zest you need. Zest adds so much bold orange flavor and rubbing it with the sugar releases the natural oil in the zest to produce even more flavor.
• Fresh Orange Juice:  You’ll need 6-8 oranges to get all this fresh orange juice. You could also buy a really high quality orange juice if you want to instead of juicing oranges. Make sure it doesn’t have added sugar or the cake will end up overly sweet.
• Eggs: gives the cake structure
• Vanilla: adds flavor
• Almond Extract: adds flavor, if you aren’t an almond extract fan, just omit it
• Vegetable Oil: all cakes must have fat, and oil keeps the cake nice and moist
• Flour: just regular all purpose flour, and you’ll want to sift it into the batter
• Baking Powder: leavening agent that helps the cake rise
• Baking Soda: another leavening agent to help the cake rise and be fluffy
• Salt: enhances all the flavors

Orange Simple Syrup

• Oranges Peels: you’ll need the peel of 2 oranges and they add so much natural orange flavor to the syrup
• Fresh Orange Juice: you’ll need 3-4 oranges for this step to get the juice you need
• Water: the base of the simple syrup
• Sugar: adds sweetness and thickens the syrup

Orange Glaze

• Butter: unsalted and softened
• Powdered Sugar: adds sweetness and thickens the glaze
• He