Beans and Day-4 Vegan Kickstart

Err, actually I'm on Day-3, not Day-4, I cheated on Day-1 (it was New Year's for pete's sake).

Anyway, beans, beans and more beans. Here's what the USDA says about beans:

"Dry beans and peas are the mature forms of legumes such as kidney beans, pinto beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, and lentils. These foods are excellent sources of plant protein, and also provide other nutrients such as iron and zinc. They are similar to meats, poultry, and fish in their contribution of these nutrients. Many people consider dry beans and peas as vegetarian alternatives for meat. However, they are also excellent sources of dietary fiber and nutrients such as folate that are low in diets of many Americans.”

Here's what I've learned about cooking beans so far:

1. Soak them in a lot of water overnight.
2. Rinse them with lots of water.
3. Cook them in lots and lots more water for a hour or more.
4. Basically if you don't have lots of water, you're going to have bad beans.
5. Alicia Silverstone, author of The Kind Diet, says that cooking beans with bay leaves and skimming off the foam on top will make you fart less. Alicia Silverstone's book shows her eating beans with her very hot boyfriend/husband/lover/paid model, so I'm going to believe anything she says when it comes to farty beans.
6. Paula Dean does not have any bean recipes that don't call for ham, ham grease, bacon, or some form of chicken, turkey, cow, rabbit, squirrel, or deer. I'm guessing that neither Paula Dean, nor any of Paula Dean's friends are vegetarian .
7. Don't fill your crock-pot all the way up with beans and then leave the kitchen. Beans expand when they cook.