Trying new recipes: Cachupa - a dish from Cape Verde

I am learning Portuguese. This means I come in contact with a wide variety of people. One friend of mine recently mentioned not being able to get Cachupa due to the quarantine. I never heard of it and told her I would learn to make it. After hours of research, I think I have a recipe that I can make. I'm using most of the ingredient list from a recipe suggestion from this friend, but also making a few substitutions. 

The recipe comes from: https://afrotourism.com/travelogue/recipe-wednesday-cachupa-celebrating-in-cape-verde/

Caveat: I'm cooking this with a crockpot. It is not traditional. However, I am too busy to be babysitting food on the stove. 

Here is what I am using for this recipe: 

Ingredients: 

2 cups of hominy corn (I could only get the broken pieces, I am sure this would be so much better with the whole corn)
1 cup large dry lima beans
1/2 cup dry stone beans (after my research I've determined any small white bean will do, so I'm using small navy beans)
1/4 cup dry red kidney beans
1 package of salt pork (skinned)
2 links of chorizo sausage (gluten free)
2 links of andouille sausage (gluten free)
1 small cabbage cut in quarters
1 acorn squash (peeled, seeded, and chopped into about 2 inch pieces)
I only have an elephant garlic head- so just one clove (It was so huge I sliced it with a mandoline!)
2 ripe tomatoes (I'm using roma tomatoes)

1 large onion (halved then I sliced it with a mandoline.)
2 bay leaves

1/2 c. olive oil (I eyeballed this)

The night before, I rinsed all my corn and beans and then soaked them overnight. I sauteed the sausages and pork. Then I sauteed the onions and tomatoes in the same pan to get "extra flavor". 

That morning, I threw nearly everything else in the pot (except the squash and cabbage) and let it cook in the crockpot on low for probably 6 hours, then I added the squash and let it cook for a few more hours. 

This was A LOT of food. The beans and corn expanded and was so full, the cabbage couldn't fit. I had to remove (ahem, eat) some of it first before I could add the cabbage. 

Photos: this was BEFORE I added the cabbage. 

Here is what the final result looked like:

Thoughts: 

I definitely would make it again. 

I also never had lima beans like this. I always had the green lima beans when I was a kid and hated them, but this, this was delicious.

Things I would change to make it better/healthier: 

1. Use more Chorizo - it wasn't spicy enough. I was afraid that the chorizo would be too spicy. But I was wrong.
2. Get rid of the Salt Pork, it was very oily. Bacon might be better, but I think just more sausage would be best. 
3. Use more salt and pepper. It was good as it was, but I think more salt and pepper would really help it along. 
4. Halve the recipe, it made so much food. And you can only eat one thing for so long before you can't eat it anymore. 
5. Add more squash, the squash kind of melted into the sauce, which made it more delicious but also I think that it would have been nice to bite into some of the squash.