Wow everyone, thanks for all the suggestions and links! Will be planning next week's menu around BEANS! :) I went to Panera today and had the black bean soup. I always though it looked nasty, but though I'd give it a shot. Very impressed, very tasty and filling!

And, along the lines of beans ...

Today for lunch, I took VERY lean ground beef, added lite sodium taco seasoning, a can of black beans and about a cup of water. When the water was just about absorbed, I added one whole chopped tomato. Once it was all done, I served it with a little bit of 2% cheddar cheese. Wow! Yummm! And super fast to make.

Today I took cyndi's homemade refried beans spread them in a casserole dish sprinkled with chillie powder, cumin, salt,a nd pepper and placed in the oven for 10 minutes. I then sauted some frozen green, red, yellow peppers, black olives, a can of green chillis. I topped this stuff on top of my beans and sprinkled with 2% cheese. Baked until cheese was melted. I had some leftover shrimp so I put the cheese stuff on my plate topped with shrimp, pico de gallo(fresh tomatoes, onion, jalepenos, cilantro, peppers) and a bit of sour cream. Was really really yummy.

Tonight we are having tacos so I will use my bean stuff as a base fro my taco. I will not eat a shell. I don't care for hamburger meat. I like it sometimes, but not all the time. So I didn't add it to my bean stuff.

Tammie