We love beans. Our favorites are beans with ham hocks or a bean soup I make that has ham hock, kielbasa, onions, carrots and celery along with seasonings. At the end of cooking, it is thickened with a roux made of butter, flour and some of the soup broth. I usually serve our soup with french bread that has been warmed in the oven.

As a side dish, I like to serve greens of some sort, either sautéed spinach (DH's favorite) or turnip greens (mine). I cook mine with ham hocks generally, the only time I really like bits of ham. I will make a pan of cornbread too.

I cook mine with ham, onions, garlic. When making them for my Mom, I used to add a little chopped tomato, trying to pack all the nutrition into a bowl that I could ;0) Corn bread, or a soft roll, usually a tossed green salad. When I cook beans its more like a wash tub full, and I freeze some or share with someone who hasn't had time to be home to watch beans.

I cut up some ham in them, cook in a crockpot. Favorite to go with are fried potatoes or home fries.

My bean soup is made from a ham hock or left over ham bone, diced carrots, celery, and onion. Corn bread is great with it, absolutely.

I also love an Italian type bean soup without the hambone, with lots of spinach or kale, and chopped tomatoes.

With a ham hock, served with or over mashed potatoes or even a slice of white bread! mmmm...I remember soup beans and bread from my childhood especially.

Sue, don't give me the address, I will follow the aroma. I'm on my way.

The missus does not like beans. I do not like the way she steams veggies. It is a standoff. Not good. Fortunately, she was with me when the doc indicated that a weight loss program would be appropriate and that my cholesterol numbers were among the highest that might be submitted to Guinness.

Beans with almost anything are good. But, back to the original question. I like to make my own cornbread (not that stuff from mixes, but from a farmer's market stall). That is the perfect with any soup (beans or not).

I do pretty much as you do, Sue. Since I live alone I often freeze containers of the beans. I like the leftover cornbread heated and served with butter and honey instead of cereal for breakfast.

My mother would bake beans in her electric roaster. I think she used only onion, celery, salt and pepper to flavor them, but they were delicious. Wish I had some now.

Sue, your beans sound delicious, I make them similar but will often use some sausage as flavoring. I'll use ham as flavoring when I have a bone in ham left after slicing.

I also make a black bean soup, cooked longer so the beans are very soft, and I make that soup spicier.

Marilyn...I can't tell you what I like with soup beans as I'm the only one here liking them so I don't cook them but I can tell you I'd **like** to sit across the table from you and eat your soup beans lol.

I like the beans prepared exactly the way you described. I would add some crackers. A side dish of cottage cheese with black pepper goes well.

When I'm alone ( no one looking) I may top a bowl of beans with cottage cheese.

My beans are done and I have them in two containers in the refrigerator. I will give the bigger one to Amber tomorrow. I had to ride along with Amber to another town today to buy pet food, so no beans and sides for me today. I did taste them though. I too like bread with them and crackers at times. Cottage cheese sounds good as well as something crunchy. The trouble is by the time I fix everything I like I could not eat much of any of it. Right now I do not have freezer space.

Sue

jemdandy: You've given me the courage to admit that I too often put some cottage cheese in my serving of chili or sometimes beans. And if I eat only cottage cheese, it's topped only with black pepper.

We like sliced tomatoes, green onions, and cornbread or homemade any other kind of bread with beans.

Just cornbread.

Gadgets I love chili topped with cole slaw.

Learned soup recipes from my grandmother. Split pea or navy bean have pretty much identical recipes except for the beans?!? A real ham bone is optimal, but smokey turkey wings/legs will do... anything with a really smokey flavor. Bone iin pot, lots of celery/carrots/onions, bay leaf, S&P and a bag-o- bans of split peas. Then fill pot with water and simmer till "done". I don't remember her ever soaking them, just a 2-3 hour simmer on stove top till navy beans are soft and split peas pretty much disintegrate and become "Exorcist soup".

Don't remember any thing that was a go-with for pea or bean soup, but she would make home-made bread when she made "Canadian Stew". Have NO idea where the recipe came from or why/if it's Canadian. It was basically veggie beef soup in LARGE pieces. Big hunka beef... like for pot roast, browned in pan to start. Whole small onions and carrots & celery cut in 2 pieces. Some sort of potato something (sauce, paste, stewed), all covered with water and simmered till everything was cooked to death. OH, potatoes too, but they didn't go in until maybe last 20-30 minutes. All the meat and veggies got pulled out and served on a plate. The YUMMY broth in a bowl or mug. And the homemade bread (with butter) for dunking.

We always use pinto beans for "soup beans" and eat them with ketchup and chopped onion in the individual's bowl, cornbread on the side. Other types of beans, flavored all sorts of other yummy ways, are "bean soup." Maybe that's because "soup beans" comes from my DH's family, "bean soup(s)" come from mine.

Soup is it's own meal and doesn't get sides at my house unless it is salad.

My husband was raised on bean soup and prefers it with nothing but salt, pepper and sometimes with a little horseradish added to his bowl at the table. So that is often how I make it just for him. His mom served it with her home made bread dough that she fried in bacon grease. That is, wads of bun sized raw dough, fried tiIl browned and cooked through. The fried dough was called "scones" in his family.

I like a ham bone and onions added during the cooking. Navy pea beans are the first choice, but other "soup beans" are used too.

Tobey likes them made with lots of Hog jowl and onions, salt and pepper, served up with lots of yummy cornbread.

This has really made me crave bean soup, you folks often do this to me. Lol. Guess I'll pick up a small bone in ham and a bag of navy beans. I'll cut a large portion of the ham off for a meal for the family, but I'm making myself bean soup with homemade cornbread this week. Yummmmy