No beans need soaking....just cook them longer.
Or you can cover with boiling water....soak for 10 minutes and drain.
The lentils will tend to fall apart before the black beans are quite done....but I have used mixes of 8 beans and 6 beans abd probably other blends and just put them in a pot with some cut up onion and a ham hock and they are wonderful!
Linda c

It depends on how long you cook them if they will fall apart. I sort of like when they disolve into a mash but I use most of mine in soups. Lentils I've had good luck cooking in the microwave. Cover them with water and nuke for 10 minutes, cover with water again, and nuke another 10. That makes a nice firm lentil that might do well in the salads you are working on.

Last week I made a navy bean soup with nothing but a drop of liquid smoke and a shake of black pepper for flavoring... very good! Just tired and didn't feel like chopping an onion or carrots or dealing with ham.

: )
lyra

I'm not a fan of mixed dried bean mixtures for just the reasons you brought up - some end up partially cooked and others turn to "mush".

I "cook" beans (as well as oatmeal, rice and other grains) in a Stanley Thermos (see link below) to save on utilities. I keep cooked "firstovers" or leftovers in the freezer. You can easily make a "mixed" bean container. When you have some cooked leftovers, just keep adding it to the container in the freezer. I do the same thing with leftover vegetables to be added to soup.

Other links with more information:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2275972_cook-thermos-save-energy-money.html

http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2008/09/vacuum-bottle-cooking-cheap-wholesome.html

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooking with Stanley (thermos)

All great help! I used a bit of everyone's advice and wound up with 3 burners going with beans!

I cooked the 3 kinds of lentils separately along with some other smaller grains I can't name or say. The red lentils were split and disappeared during cooking.

The adzuki beans were cooked separately because I was afraid they would turn everything pink (rightfully so!)and they were an in-between size. The other small red beans, garbanzo and navy beans were cooked together and kept their color.

I froze most of them and used one batch of larger beans in soup and tried to make a cold salad out of the lentils, smaller beans and grains. Overnight, they became too salty! Am adding more cooked beans to them to dilute the salt. I added pressed garlic, chopped sweet onion, vinegar, lemon juice, oil and herbs but I'm not impressed yet. I'll have to keep working on getting the taste balanced better.

If you have a favorite dressing for a cold bean salad like this, please share!

The beans I love sow ell, were sold by a group as a fund raiser....they were a mix of red and green lentils, split peas, both green and yellow, navy beans, garbonzos, baby limas, black beans, kidney beans, canollini beans....and a few black eyed peas.
The directions said to wash well and put into a pot with a certain amount of water ( think it was 2 qts for 1/2 a pound of beans) with a ham hock or 1/2 pound of diced ham and one small onion diced.
Cook for an hour and add a 16 oz can of canned tomatoes, broken up and the juice of half a lemon and simmer another hour ( maybe it was longer) until the beans were done.
Yes, some were mushy, some were not, but it made a wonderful wonderful soup! Thick, beany, hammy and flavorful!
Linda C

Lentil lesson:

Lentils come in various sizes and colors. Brown and green ones are larger than the redish-orange variety and the brown ones hold their shape better and are generally the lentil of choice for using in salads. If you substitute brown ones with green ones, cook them for less time. The redish-orange ones readily fall apart.

I love the tiny green French lentil - wonderful texture and a slightly spicy flavor.

Another thing going for lentils, they have no sulfur and so produce very little (ah-hem) "wind". ;-)

-A Q&E dressing is just good old bottled Italian Dressing and the ever-popular McCormick SALAD SUPREME. It's my go-to for many salad variations.

-Citrus Dressing
1/2 c. oil
1/3 c. fresh grapefruit juice
1/3 c. chopped green onions
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

-Cumin Dressing
(I use this in Black Bean Taco Salad.)
2 T. lime juice
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. freshly ground pepper

-Grainlady