No More Canned Bean
Cooking beans from dry may take longer, but we think it's worth it in the end. The thing with cooking beans from dry is that you can inject a lot of flavor into the beans.
I start off with some olive oil and garlic in a pan and then -- this is one of my secrets -- once the garlic starts to brown, I add rosemary for a nice rustic flavor. You can reuse this trick when you're trying to spruce up some canned tomato sauce. It will taste like you've been cooking it for hours!
However, you certainly can pre-soak beans if you like. They will cook faster that way. To do this, add one part beans to three parts water and soak them for 6 hours before you start cooking.
Whatever you do, make sure to pick through the Lima beans and remove non-bean materials before you start cooking. And don't forget to rinse the beans to wash off any "insect material."