Beans & your favorite add-ins?

[cheles2kids]

I'd love to hear from others who cook beans from scratch and what seasonings you like to add to yours?

Here are a couple of mine:
Pinto beans-Dried onions, cumin, black pepper & salt
Black Beans-Cumin, Diced Jalepeno, cumin, diced onions & green peppers, red pepper flakes & a can of rotel
Red Beans-Diced onions, Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning

I've seen mention on other sites about actual pinto bean seasoning, has anyone ever used one of these and do you think they are worth the investment?

Would anyone else like to share their favorite add-ins?

[cheles2kids]

Anyone?


I can't believe no one eats beans here?
C'mon folks, come out of lurking and give me some ideas! Tehehehehe!!!:D

[Sara]

I'm hoping for some answers, too. I bought tons of dried beans. They're all displayed in glass jars on my counter. Sitting there and waiting for me to come up with something delicious other than soup. LOL Let me tell ya about my split pea soup experience. Man.

I know not a bean, but it's in the jars and so the reason I'm sharing this is because I'm not a bean pro either. LOL

OK. I've never made split pea soup before. I'm not a big fan. But it sounded good. So...I start it up and am soooo proud of myself. I mean you would have thought I was the original inventor of it or something. Well, I should have stopped messing with it. It turned out like pureed baby food. No lovely little chunks of goodness. Nope. It looked terrible, the texture was off and I am not sure I'm willing to try again.

This is how I feel about beans, too. Like someone that cooks them ALL the time needs to coach me or I'll screw it up. I want to make a bean and bacon soup, but since the split pea incident, I'm holding off. LOL

My cooking weak areas.