Heh, your post wasn’t there when I opened the page, and I didn’t refresh before responding. It is one thing to have some good-natured fun with regional differences; it is another to have a stick up ones ass regarding their way of cooking. Chili and BBQ are probably two of the worst for the latter.
Mmmm, those look good!
cough coughpost13cough cough
Pretty close, anyway 
I know what I’m doing next weekend…
I like to make a spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage and add white beans to it instead of pasta. You could leave out the sausage and still have a flavorful soup.
Black bean and mango salsa (serve over grilled fish or anything you choose):
1 can Black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Ripe mango, peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces
¼ cup Red onion, minced
1-2 T Rice wine vinegar
1 tsp Olive oil, extra virgin
2 tsp Ground cumin
¼ cup Fresh cilantro, chopped
Mix all ingredients, adding cilantro at the end. Chill.
Now I’ve got a hankering for beans and smoked ham hocks.
My bean recipes are decidedly not fancy. In fact, they aren’t even really recipes, but just guidelines for cooking up healthy dinner relatively quickly.
My kids call one variation “glop.” Cook a cup of rice most of the way. Stir in a can of refried beans, salsa to taste, and some cheese (I prefer a couple of handfuls of shredded cheddar). I like to add a can of diced tomatoes and/or a can of corn sometimes. Salt, pepper, and whatever other spices you feel like to taste. Heat until everything’s the right temp. The husband won’t touch this with a 10 foot pole, but I think it’s tasty.
Another standard is to saute some chopped veggies (onions, garlic, celery, mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers, whatever - any combo you fancy or have on hand works) with whatever spices you like (basil? oregano? cumin? salt? pepper?), then add a cup of rice, two cups of water, and a bullion cube. Cook until rice is mostly done, then stir in a can of beans (black, kidney, chickpeas, whatever). This is a typically a “holy cow, I need to go to the grocery store soon” kind of meal for me, but I like it.
I just don’t understand the whole thing about chili not having beans. Then it’s just a pile of flavored meat, no? I don’t understand the point. Of course, I don’t eat meat, so I guess I’m not really the target audience for that kind of chili.
Spanish pork casserole. Fry your pieces of pork, drain off some of the fat and add a couple of good big chopped onions, garlic, herbs (you choose, I usually add oregano and rosemary), dried mushrooms and lots of smoked paprika (both hot and sweet) and black pepper. Fling in your beans, a can of tomatoes and a ton of tomato puree with some pork stock, throw it in the oven for a while, eat it. Occasionally shake your spoon at the rain pouring down the window. A pinch of sumac pops the flavour and is a taste most people won’t identify but will appreciate.
This recipe is deceptively simple. The end result is really really tasty.
Barbunia
Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 1/2 cups crushed canned tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
1 large Spanish onion, chopped
6 Tb olive oil
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 Tb sugar
2 15 oz cans pinto beans or white kidney beans, drained and well rinsed
Directions:
In a large pot, saute onion, garlic and carrot over medium high heat.
Add all other ingredients except beans.
Add enough water to make soupy (approx 6 cups).
Cover and cook over medium heat, 45 minutes.
When all the vegetables are tender, add beans and cook 15 minutes.
Serve cold or at room temperature, with lemon.
Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart
The more you eat, the more you fart.
the more you fart the better you feel
So then it’s time for another meal!
This is the Popey’s Red Beans and Rice recipe. It pretty good stuff!
Whatever you do with pinto beans, try with anasazi beans or cranberry beans. They are the same, but different. Likewise, where you use split peas, try yellow lentils or red lentils.
Black bean and sweet potato burritoes – bake several big sweet potatoes (oven, microwave, or crockpot). When they are cool enough to handle, split them and scoop out the insides. Saute an onion, garlic, and some chili powder in olive oil. When the onion is cooked down, stir in the sweet potatoes. Add some salt and pepper. Add a can or two of drained black beans. Let it all simmer together until the flavors mingle. Then wrap the filling in tortillas, adding cilantro, green onions, salsa, peppers, cheese, and/or sour cream to taste.
I make these all the time with soft white corn tortillas warmed up. They are incredible with Habanero hot sauce.
Don’t forget black-eyed peas. They’re not just for New Years, you know. 
I usually fix them with the trinity and a smoked pork hock. Generally, I do a pot of turnip greens and a skillet of cornbread for sides. If I’m really feeling ambitious, fried fruit pies (whatever kind of pie fruit I have on hand) for dessert.
I made some curried pumpkin soup yesterday, and added a can of refried beans (I mashed them up all the way with a fork) for protein. You can’t taste the beans, but it adds body to the soup. Ingredients: 1 can of pumpkin, about 1/2 a jar of curry simmer sauce, vegetarian stock base from a jar, milk, a can of refried beans, a little brown sugar (probably not needed), and water until it was the right consistency. I would have used coconut milk in place of the milk but I’d run out.
Black bean lasagna is very tasty. Also, sprouting lentils is super easy, very healthy, and makes a great addition to salads, sandwiches, etc.
Not quite beans but still legume - a version of Egyptian Koshari - based off of this or similar others. The basic idea is lentils with rice and macaroni with fried (I sometimes do grilled) onions and a spicy tomato sauce.
We do a pound of dried black beans almost every week and get a ton of meals out of it.
Easy peasy:
-Pick the gravel out of the beans (I find a rock about once every two months or so, so it’s worth picking through).
-Add about 2 quarts water.
-Add some salt and some diced onion and some crushed garlic (optional on the latter two).
-Partially cover and cook on low heat for about 2 hours, a low simmer.
We usually make them after dinner the night before. Next day we heat them up when we get home from work and make burritos. They’re much cheaper and much more delicious than canned black beans, and I do love me a good burrito.
Pot beans and refried beans!
Frijoles de Olla
1 lb pinto beans
1 half of an onion, diced
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
Wash and pick over beans, removing discolored and broken beans. Put in pot, add several inches of water to cover beans. Add diced onion. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Boil for two hours, occasionally stirring and checking water level. At two hours, or when bean skins having begun to break, add salt and stir. Cook for 30 more minutes, until beans are tender.
Frijoles refritos
Add several tablespoons of cooking oil (canola, corn, vegetable, but NOT olive) to saucepan. When oil is hot, add a ladleful of beans with broth. Mash beans and stir. Continue adding beans and mashing one ladle at a time. Mash to desired consistency. Cook longer for thicker beans, add broth to thin beans.
I love this pair of recipes because they’re so versatile. I usually use half the pot of beans to make refried beans. The frijoles de olla are great by themselves with pico de gallo, or in burritos, or as a side dish. Refried beans are great in nachos, with a fried egg, in burritos, in taco salad, and again as a side dish.
These recipes are also the result of a lot of experimentation. I used to listen to gringos on the internet and put garlic, cumin, lard, pepper, etc. in the beans and they never tasted right. Finally I asked a Mexican friend what she put in her beans and how she refried them, and these ingredients were the answer.
Here’s something a little different: “Chickpea of the Sea” (mock tuna made with chickpeas) Recipe: Chickpea of the Sea “Vegetarian Tuna Fish” Sandwiches | The Kitchn