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I would suggest hummus too... but instead of eating it the traditional way, how about including itin a sandwich with grain mustard , or in a pastelon...

I am also new to the bean world myself and I love making this cocido with chickpeas. Eat it over rice and it's delicious.

Can always try him on Hummus - easy to make at home (lots of recipes on web) and extremely healthy.

How about a three bean chili using kidney, navy and pinto beans? Most men like to either make or eat chili, and if it hearty enough, your dad probably won't miss the meat. I used to make a white bean turkey chili for a church men's group that I used to cook for, and they seemed to really enjoy it, even though I used ground white turkey meat instead of ground beef. Serve with thick wedges of cornbread, and he won't leave the table hungry.

Give your dad your bean recipe and suggest that he add a cup of italian sausage or low fat keilbasa. (A cup is not a lot , but may satisfy him) I agree with you that you don't always need meat especially this time of year, but old habits are hard to break and a little meat might satisfy him. And if he eats this more often even with the meat it is so much better than lots of other meals he might eat.

I'm a southern girl..born and raised in Texas.. and my favorite southern style foods are chicken fried steak, biscuits and sausage gravy, real texas chili (no beans) it's gotta be meaty, bbq brisket, cornbread and pintos, hush puppies, ambrosia, pecan pie and I like an occasional crawfish boil :) And I love sweet tea :)

Okay I know no one is looking at this, but I thought of the cheapest and most fun dish.

Carmel corn!
1lb of popcorn is 99 cents. Popcorn has a ratio of 40-1. So lets say you can make 20 cups of popcorn with a quarter of the bag. Next you will need sugar 2 cups approx, salt, and baking soda, well you can look up the recipe. Its so cheap!

2 small boxes vanilla pudding + milk req. by directions
1 reg. sized container of cool whip
1 box graham crackers
1 can store bought chocolate icing (I like the darker, or fudgier kinds, but any will do)

Prepare the pudding and mix with the cool whip. Lay out crackers in a single layer, trying to fill in the whole area as well as you can on the bottom of a 9x13 pan, and spread half the pudding mixture on top. Carefully lay out another layer of crackers on top of that--they sort of float on there. Carefully spread the second half of the pudding mixture and float another layer of crackers on top. This layer it's important to make sure you cover as much of the pudding as possible with the crackers and not get any pudding on top of the crackers. You will use the icing to frost the top of this, and seal the pudding/crackers underneath it. You want to aim for a thick layer of icing, sort of gluing the crackers together to form an icing crust on top. You can refrigerate this overnight before the event, and in fact, it's best if allowed to sit overnight, because the crackers absorb liquid from the pudding and get soft. You want to let it chill for at least a few hours before serving. My MIL calls it "chocolate eclair" and it is so good, I started taking two of them with me when I took any, because it goes so fast. Cheap and ridiculously easy.

Probably too late, but get 2 boxes of dark chocolate brownie mix. Mix together with crushed Oreos and bake both boxes together in one 9x13 pan. Make sure to underbake them a little so they stay moist and fudgy. People will think they are homemade and will only set you back a few bucks.

Rice pudding!!!! served with a dollop of a nice jam or fresh fruit scattered over it!

if you're intp mexican fare... you can try CRISPAS with CAJETA.

Crispas are fried whole wheat tortillas and then sprinkled with cinammon sugar.

For the Cajeta - just take a can of sweetened condensed milk and submerge it in water and boil it for 2 hours. Trun upside-down at teh 1-hour mark. Let it cool off before opening the can.

Dunk crispas in the Cajeta... DELICIOSO!!! and cheap too. It's the sweet version of nachos with cheese...

i'm the only person i know who does this - if there is anyone else, please confess! i NEED my ice cream to be nice and soft and melty, but have no patience, so i always zap a cold bowl of it in the microwave for ten seconds to take off the chill. am i the only one?

I live in Illinois and kids usualy call it "soda". but older folk call it soddy or soda pop. my parents told me that in mass. they call it "tonic"

Ok, so this Upstater has very little experience with southern food. I think I'd like real fried chicken, but I've never really had it- at least not the kind someone cooked in fat in a cast iron skillet. I guess I've tasted greens once or twice, and I prefer my mac and cheese creamy, not baked.

See, what I've been doing all along is making sure there's enough for all you guys (y'all???) to enjoy :)