I made this without bacon. I used lean pork. Beans being high in protein this became our maindish. Some beans as FYI, no matter how long you cook they do not get soft. It is the beans not the recipe. I used the crockpot, soaked and cooked the beans before hand. I never measure anything. A habit my grandmother had. I too like thicker so the top went off for the last little bit. I also used Splenda and Splenda Brown sugar. With these changes we had a lower calorie, lower fat and higher protein meal. My family ate it up.