After the Easter baskets are raided and the ham is consumed, it’s easy to just veg out for the afternoon.  But before you prop your legs up, grab your scraps from the freezer and throw your ham bone in a pot on the stove to make ham stock — the beginning of the most deliciously sweet boston baked beans!  This meal isn’t much to look at.  It doesn’t photograph well at all!  BUT it was a dinner my whole family loved!  If you’re a mommy, you know that it’s few and far between to get everyone on board to agree that a meal is amazing.  This is one of those.

I bought a ham bone from the Honeybaked store and this is how much stock and meat I got from it.

After you have made your stock following these instructions, this is how you get started on the baked beans.  I originally found this recipe, but after reading so many disheartening comments, I ended up changing it all around!  Here’s what I did.

Boston Baked Beans:

Soak 16oz. of small white beans overnight with a pinch of baking soda – if you use filtered water, soak the beans in that, since you’ll be rehydrating the beans.

In the morning, drain and rinse the beans.  Put them in a crockpot with:

1 small chopped onion

1 (6oz) can of tomato paste

1/4 c. maple syrup

1/4 c. molasses

2 T. dijon mustard

4 c. ham stock

2 c. of ham from the leftover ham bone

Cook all day on low in the crockpot, covered.  Salt to taste before serving

I served this with moist sour cream cornbread, slathered with homemade strawberry jam.  It was absolutely amazing!  I should share the sour cream cornbread recipe soon – it brings back sweet memories of growing up in a big family where beans and cornbread were a staple.  I hope you love this recipe as much as our family did!