Frontiertom is having some computer troubles, mailed me some recipes, so I'll post these for him. (To make it easier on me I copied these and pasted here from where they were posted once before after one of "the gatherings". Most of the new guys probably haven't seen these.) I've had both of these and they are good.
Ranch Beans:
3 large cans B & M beans (this part is crucial, they have to be B & M beans)
7 Slices of bacon
1/2 lb. pork sausage
2 - 3 stalks of celery (diced)
2 nice size green peppers (I usually cut these into about half inch wedges, then cut the wedges into 4 - 5 pieces, kind of chunked)
1 large onion
1 lb. ground beef (I usually use lean ground chuck)
1/2 - 1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup brown sugar
Brown ground beef with onions, celery, fresh dried Parsley, Chef Paul Veggie Magic and Meat Magic, Mrs. Dash, Lemon Pepper, and Goya, to taste, then drain. Brown sausage with green pepper, Chef Paul Pork Magic, then drain. Cook bacon and chop. Now dump all ingredients into crock pot. Add any kind of seasonings you like, (I usually add a little bit more of all the seasonings I use), and the garlic. Cook slowly for several hours. (I cooked the beans I brought to "The Gathering", over night, then transported them to John's, and put them back on when I got there that morning.)
Freezer Pickles:
8 cups pickle cucumbers sliced thin (I use a small hand Mandolin Slicer for the pickles, it makes them nice and uniformly sliced.)
1 onion sliced thin, I like a little more onion but, it is a personal judgement (I use my food processer for the onions)
1 tbsp. salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
4 - 5 nice size containers (I use quart size Ziplock Containers, they are plastic, and kind of like jars with a screw on lid on them.) Teddy uses the large sized cottage cheese boxes.
Mix - cucumbers, onion and salt. (I sprinkle the salt over my cucumbers and onion, then mix it up fairly well. Make sure you taste your pickles at this point, they are really good but, don't eat them all like this! Ha! Ha!) Cover them here, and refrigerate for two hours. At this point I mix my sauce. (Tip: if you refrigerate your vinegar, you want it at room temperature, so that your sugar disolves! If it is cold it takes forever for the sugar to disolve and your mixture to get clear!) I stir the sugar and vinegar for a bit, then I leave it for about a half hour, then stir it some more and leave it for a half hour. Do this about every half hour for two hours. By the time your pickles have been in the refrigerater two hours your sauce will be clear and ready to use. Now, take your pickle out of the refrigerator and rinse them real good! (I usually just fill up the big bowl (large green tuperware bowl) I use with water while the pickles and onions are still in the bowl and then drain them in a big colander, and I do this two or three times.) Now, here you have to have your containers. Fill your containers about 3/4's full with your pickles and onions. Remember that you have to leave room for your contents to expand in the freezer. Now pour your vinegar mixture over the pickles in each container until it covers the pickles. Now put them in the freezer and thaw them out any time you're ready to have them. You can also leave one box in the refrigerator to use right away if you want. After about a day, they are ready to eat.
Here's a photo from the first "Gathering", at least I think this was the first one.
