Dad's Barbecue Baked Beans

• 3 large (28 ounce) cans baked beans (Bush's or Van Camp)- drained
• 1 lb bacon- diced
• 1 cup sweet green bell pepper- diced
• 1 cup celery- diced
• 1 cup yellow onion- diced
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, any flavor (I prefer Bull's Eye)
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Cayenne pepper sauce, to taste

1. Fry the bacon until crisp over medium heat in a deep pot, like a dutch oven or a stockpot, stirring periodically to cook evenly and keep from sticking. Remove with a slotted spoon or spider and set aside in a bowl, keeping the rendered fat in the pot.
2. Sautee all the vegetables together in the bacon fat until the onion is translucent. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the bowl with the bacon. Pour any remaining fat out of the pot and discard.
3. Add the bacon and vegetables back into the pot and turn down the heat. Add the drained beans and the sugar, barbecue sauce, ketchup, and mustard. Add the pepper and/or the cayenne pepper sauce, if using. Gently stir to mix, heat through. 

* If you're preparing the beans to eat right now, they just have to get hot. BUT if you have time or can prepare the beans ahead of time and heat them later, my preference is to use the bacon fat to grease a 9 by 13 dish and bake the beans at 275 degrees for an hour to heat them. If you prepared the beans in a dutch oven you can bake them in that.