>> Oh yes!!! I love cooking beans with ham pieces. I also use different spice combinations every time I cook them.<<

Cool.

>> Lentils, from what the internet keeps telling me, can also be mashed and added with meat to make more or to even replace meat totally. I don't know how true that is - I haven't tried it yet - but everyone keeps saying that. <<

It's true. Lentils are also among the best ingredients for veggie burgers. It took hippies decades to figure out how to make veggie burgers that both taste delicious and hold together while cooking, but they did it.

One of my hobbies is devising different meatloaves. There are many possible fillers, including crackers, cornmeal, oatmeal, and legumes. Plus vegetables.

However, there's another approach to stretching ground meat for something like taco filling or hamburger that actually makes it better than plain meat. Add diced onion or diced mushrooms (half and half) or both (by thirds). This makes it more moist, tender, and delicious.


>> My favorite thing to do is to make a crockpot soup with beans and other veggies. <<

That works very well. You can also make curries in a crockpot. One of my favorites is Xawaash Chicken which uses butter beans.

>> These are all really great suggestions though and I want to start using them in different ways so yes, you are a big help! :D

You might like my Recipe tag.