use lean turkey sausage or another lower fat sausage option.
for this recipe i would use a relatively plain sausage.
you will get other flavors from the garlic, mustard and honey and you want to make sure all the flavors work together well.
of course you can use dried beans if you prefer and soak and cook them before using them in this recipe, but that is a lot of work.
using the canned beans makes this a very quick and easy dinner recipe. not quite a 30 minute meal, but everything comes together quite quickly and you can go off and do other things while it bakes away.
i would serve this recipe with 