Honey Baked Lentils

With summer BBQ season right around the corner, I wanted to work on a recipe for Honey Baked Lentils. I had seen a recipe in one of my old cookbooks, but it called for too many steps, and ingredients I didn't have. Then I remembered that my mother used to make us very yummy baked beans by adding brown sugar, ketchup, and yellow mustard to canned Pork and Beans. So I came up with this easy version of Honey Baked Lentils.

Honey Baked Lentils

1 lb lentils- sorted and rinsed and cooked according to the package directions (this takes about 45 minutes )

When the lentils are done cooking- add in to the lentils the following:

1/8 c. yellow mustard
1/8 c. molasses
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. honey
1/2 c. ketchup
1/8 c. of your favorite honey BBQ sauce (optional)
1/4- 1/2 t. liquid smoke (optional)

Stir in the ingredients and give it a taste- you may prefer a touch more sweetness, or a little more mustard. Then pour into a casserole dish and bake at 375 F. for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I cranked up the oven to 400F. for the last 20 minutes to bake the cornbread and the lentils did just fine.

This is a wonderful side dish for a BBQ- tonight we had it with cornbread and grilled sausages (any good beef or polish sausage would be great). Of course butter and honey were out for the cornbread as well. Very yummy, and lentils are so quick to cook up compared to other beans. Lentils are a great pantry item to keep on hand.
Children who don't normally like beans are sure to enjoy this sweet dish, hope everyone gives it a try.