Blessings, Darlings!
Sorry for disappearing for a month - was out of town, then business-busy, then I think I had a problem with gall stones. I'll be discussing that with my doctor later.
But now back to Monday's Wellness posts!
You can tell if I'm working on either my finances or my wellness by what I cook. Transforming dried beans into wonderful dishes is one trick that works on both.
Beans are full of fiber, both soluble and insoluble. These not only keep your bowels regular but the soluble fiber helps lower your cholesterol. Apparently bile and dietary cholesterol bind to insoluble fiber in the digestive track and you poop 'em out rather than absorb them. And the fiber makes them very filling.
Beans are low on the glycemic scale, and thus great for diabetics, prediabetics, and anyone who wants their blood sugar as steady as possible.
Beans are high in protein, so help fill that dietary notch, and they have an assortment of the B-complex vitamins in them (unless you cook them with baking soda, which breaks some of the b-vitamins down. Baking soda keeps the color strong in red and black beans).
And beans are cheap. I can buy a pound of dried pinto beans for a dollar, and split peas cost even less. One pound dry cooks up to about 3 pounds, quite a lot of food for one dollar!
So last week I was lazy and just grabbed a can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans off the shelf, tossed the beans into my blender, added garlic, tahini, lemon juice, hot sauce, and some olive oil then blended 'till smooth. Instant hummus. My husband even loved it! We had it with fresh broccoli florets and carrot slices as the main part of lunches.
Today I've got 2 gallons of chili on the stove. My chili is three parts tomatoes to two parts beans to one part meat and one part red peppers/onions. I also make it soupy rather than stew-like, because it's good and we can easily over eat it. This will be lunches this week.
I have a bit less than a cup of leftover pinto beans. I'm considering tossing them into the meat I'll be cooking for tacos for dinner tonight, altho' I know my husband will NOT be happy with that. Or maybe I'll make refritos out of them, which he and the spawn will more happily eat.
Frondly, Fern
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