Oh, my!  It's been over a month since I posted last!

Well, let me see................ah.  If you don't have an Instant Pot, drop whatever it is you're doing and go get one!  If you're going to be doing Cheap Eats, that means using a lot of beans, and that means an Instant Pot will cut out a LOT of time and work!  You won't even have to soak the beans; just put them in the pot with about 2 1/2 times the amount of liquid and hit "manual' (or "pressure cook"; whichever one your model says) and adjust the timer to 70 minutes (1 hour and 10 minutes). When the time runs out, let the pressure go down naturally for 10 minutes then quick release the rest (the instruction manual will tell you how to do all this), and voila!  You have nicely cooked beans ready to eat (though you may want to spice 'em up a bit!) or be made into soup or whatever other dish you're making.

If you're just starting out on the Cheap Eats path, you may wish to go ahead and soak the beans overnight for the first month or so......unless you WANT to blow up like Aunt Marge from Harry Potter the the Prisoner of Azkaban!  Until your gut bacteria adjusts itself to your new way of eating, you WILL get gas, a LOT of gas, but it does lessen in severity in time.  I'm just letting you know ahead of time.

And now, it's time for my beans and cornbread dinner!  I'll give regular stovetop/crockpot instructions first and then instant pot instructions.   I much prefer the stovetop/crockpot method but if you run out of time, the IP version works just as well, to be honest :)  The stovetop method will work best if you have an hour or so to do the beans in the morning (on whatever day you have off)

The beans

I like large limas (some call them butter beans) or pintos for this, although any bean (other than garbanzos and lupins) will be just fine, even navy or great northern white beans.

1 pound of beans, washed and picked over.
1 large onion, diced.
3 cloves garlic, pressed.
2-3 teaspoons of the herb blend of your choice.
2 bay leaves
hickory smoked salt to taste (about 2 teaspoons) or 2 tsp of regular salt with a dash of liquid smoke.

Presoak your beans over night in enough water to cover up to the second knuckle on your index finger.  The next morning, drain them and rinse the soaking water off and place them in a pot and cover with fresh water and bring to a rolling boil.  Let them boil for 10 minutes (This is especially important for red kidney beans!  Read why here.).  After the 10 minute boil, cover and let them rest for 1 hour.  To have the least gassy beans possible, drain and rinse again, though you'll lose some lovely bean broth that way.  Either way, put the beans, onion, garlic, and bay leaves in the crockpot with enough liquid to cover by an inch or so and cook at low for 6-8 hours or at high for 4-5 hours.  If you like your beans on the firmer side with thin broth go for the lesser time.  If, like me, you like them almost mushy with lots of yummy "bean gravy" go for the greater time.  Either way, add the herb blend an hour before they're to be served. When they're done to your liking add the salt (and liquid smoke if you use it), and take out the bay leaves, and serve!

To make beans in an Instant pot, you don't technically have to soak them; just put the beans and bay leaves in the pot and cook at pressure for an hour then quick release and add the onion, garlic and herb blend and cook for another 10 minutes (it will take a lot less time to come to pressure this time because it's already pretty hot in there).  Quick release again and add the salt (and liquid smoke if using)

Options:  If you're using the stove/crockpot method, about an hour before you expect them to be done, add a couple diced potatoes or even a can of hominy.  If you're using the Instant Pot method, cook 5 minutes after the onion goes in and add the potato and cook for another 5 minutes. It's not exactly traditional, but if you're following the McDougall Starch Solution way of eating, it's perfect.  You can also just cook the potatoes/heat the hominy and serve along side of the beans, along with any other vegetable you wish.  Serve with a raw, greens based-salad of your choice and a hunk of Dimo's cornbread:

Dimo's cornbread

dry ingredients
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (pastry if you can get it)
1/4 cup of oat flour (just whiz some quick cooking oats in a food processor till they turn to flour)
1/4 cup of barley flour (you can up the oat flour to 1/2 cup if you don't use the barley flour).
3/4 cup of corn meal (yellow or white, it doesn't matter for the taste)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder (2 if you like your cornbread fluffier)
1/2 tsp salt (optional)

wet ingredients
1 egg, lightly beaten, OR if you don't eat eggs, one flax egg (1 Tbs of flaxmeal plus 2 1/2 Tbs water; let it sit till thickened)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of skim milk or unsweetened almond milk.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease an 8 x 8 pan
Mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk till well mixed
Stir together the wet ingredients and when well mixed, add to the dry ingredients and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour batter into the prepped pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serves 9 if you cut it in the tic-tac-toe way, 8 if you cut it in half, then quarter turn and cut each half into 4 pieces each.

As you can see with the whole wheat, oat, and barley flours this isn't exactly a traditional recipe (and the vegan version, with the flax egg and almond milk definitely isn't!), but they make a denser result (especially if you only use 1 tsp of baking powder) which is how I like my cornbread  Feel free to use just white wheat four if you wish.