Here's another delicious bean-based baked dish, this time using ground beef. Mixed with the tomatoes, other vegetables, and topped with cheese, this savory casserole should delight anyone who likes beans. (You do like beans, don't you?)?

• 1 28 oz. can pork and beans
• 1 16 oz. can kidney beans
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1/4 cup bacon drippings
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 4 oz. can mushroom bits and pieces
• 1 16 oz. can tomatoes (stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes... It might be fun to try Italian- or Mexican-flavored stewed tomatoes, too.)
• 1 10 3/4 oz. can tomato soup
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• dash cayenne pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Melt the bacon grease in a skillet and brown the ground beef in it. Drain off grease. Add the green pepper, onion, and canned mushrooms (drained). Cook until the vegetables are soft and slightly brown. Add the tomatoes, tomato soup, beans, salt, and Worcestershire sauce.

Pour into a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Top with grated cheese. Bake covered at 350 degrees F for 1 hour, removing the cover a few minutes before the end to crisp up the cheese topping. (I might be tempted to put this into a bean pot, but that would limit the amount of surface available for cheese topping, so I think using the casserole dish would be preferable. Darn; I love my bean pots.)

Serves 8.

Editor's update on May 7, 2002: I made this other night and found it to be as good as expected. My wife gives it an A-, I thought it was about B quality, our daughter stirred salsa into it and used it as a dip for tortilla chips, and our grandson (age 4) adored it. He was appalled to discover when he got up the next morning that Grandma and Grandpa had taken all the leftovers to work to have at lunch. It tastes like a cross between a thick chili and a made-with-tomato-soup shepherd's pie. We were unable to crisp up the cheese topping, however, because the cheese had melted down into the mixture. It was still good.

This article, in slightly different form, appeared previously on my Bean Lovers' site on Suite 101 (it's still there).

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