Beans the musical fruit

Hear you are having a party this weekend, what better to share with your friends than to treat them to some tasty fiber goodness. Baked beans can take on many incarnations. I like mine a little sweet, a little spicy. Some people put ground beef or smoked sausage,etc... in them. If you decide on YOUR own to get freaky with it, then by all means then do. However, my recipe is a little bit more simple. I can not make it spicy when I prepare them around here, but since your crowd is on the adult side, I will include a little more flavor.
 Here is the supplies you need:

• (3-4) 15 oz can of baked beans, prefer Van Camps, but Kroger has worked as well. Make sure it is not a freaky flavor, just plain beans
• Brown sugar, dark if you have it
• Green bell pepper
• Yellow or white onion
• Cinnamon
• Ketchup and/or favorite bbq sauce
• Bacon
• Can or jarred jalapeno pepper

I hate when my beans get messed up due to weird texture,gross! It is not a make a day in advance thing to me, but it can be a "prep" ahead of time thing. So first let's decide how to cook them. On a weeknight, I take these ingredients and prepare this on the stove top. On a cookout day, when I am bouncing between the grill and kitchen, it is a oven baked dish. I will start with the stovetop method, and tell you what to modify to cook it in the oven.

Preparation

First step is chopping. You need to dice half of the onion and pepper into a small dice. Save the other half for later use. Set to the side, and take about four slices of bacon to chop into small pieces. Now, preheat saute pan over medium high heat. While the pan is heating, begin to open the cans of beans. Once the pan is hot, begin to cook bacon until brown and crispy, not black and crunchy. Take the bacon out to drain on paper towels. You only need about one tablespoon of the bacon grease, pour off the rest. Cook the onion an pepper in this oil. Add salt and pepper at this point.If you want to add jalapeno, add it at this point. I would add about a tablespoon. Once they are done, add the brown sugar. Start with 1/2 cup, it will liquefy quickly, do not let it burn or turn into hard candy. Next, add ketsup, I do not measure,but I will guess about 1/2 cup as well. The bbq sauce should be about 1/4 cup. Stir, and taste the mixture without burning yourself. Add a few dashes of cinnamon and taste again, it should have a certain heat in the background that  make you say hmm, what is that, not taste like a Red Hot.

Cooking

This is the base of how I season my baked beans if you are going to complete it all on the stove, now you are going to need a bigger cooking vessel unless you have any pans as big as mine. Add the vegi mixture, the beans and stir. Taste again. If it missing "something," now it is time to make adjustments. More sugar, a little more bbq sauce, even a little water to thin out the sauce. Once it looks and tastes like you want, add the bacon, and the stove top preparation is complete.

The oven variation is this. Follow everything the same except transfer everything to a baking dish, including the bacon. Cover, and bake on 350 until hot and bubbly, not burn and dried out.