Sweet Baked Beans

This recipe is a hand me down. In the early 90's my mother-in-law and her best friend and neighbor came to pageant together. They really changed the face of munch and mingle. It used to be everyone in the campground would bring their dinner left overs and would share because fridge space was such a premium. Then these two women (with the help a couple more, including my mother-in-law's sister-in-law, who was also at pageant) decided they wanted a little something more substantial that was not so sweet after a performance. Especially as families began bringing more and more desserts because there were not any leftovers and they felt the need to bring something. So they started bring soups-every night. So this recipe is in grateful tribute to those ladies-first who created great food, but also helped evolve munch and mingle so I can only bring food once and not have to fix it daily!

Colleen Ewell's Beans
4 cans pork and beans
2 cans pinto beans
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can black beans
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp white vinegar (although I have used half as much Balsamic and it was yummier)
4 Tbsp liquid smoke
1/2 cup ketsup
1 lb ground beef-browned and drained
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled (although I have put it in raw if I am cooking them all day)
1/2 chopped onion (although I have used dried from food storage-also thrown in dried carrots, dried celery, dried mushrooms, and dried green peppers)

Cook hamburger and drain. Mix all ingredients together in a crockpot and cook on low for the day (or put in at lunch time at the hill and by munch and mingle, they will be good.)
Serve with tortilla chips or with a spoon.
Enjoy!