Category Archives: Food

Food, health, pulses

Why do I love Pulses?

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It’s obvious that I do from my first post on the subject. But why do I love them? Because they are healthy, cheap, taste good and quite often easy.

They are cheap. You can still find them in supermarkets for under $1 a pound for dry beans, which can be up to 16 servings. Even canned beans are incredibly cheap per serving compared to any other form of protein. Both canned and dried beans will last in a pantry for ages, so they are a worthwhile investment. You really can’t beat the price, and adding a pulse based meal or two to your menu will reduce your shopping budget substantially. There’s a reason why financial experts say you need to eat beans and rice while getting debt under control.

The easiest way to make a pulse is to pop open a can, rinse, and top with your favorite vinaigrette. You can’t get much simpler than that.

They taste good. There are so many ways to cook them even if you or your family professes to hate them, you’ll find one or two recipes everyone will love. And there are so many varieties of pulses, you may find one or two types that make all the difference.

And they are healthy. You’ve heard that before, I am sure. They are one of the highest fiber foods easily available, and fiber is key to weight loss, digestive health, reducing certain cancers, controlling blood sugar, and more. And with most first world countries saying people need to eat 25-38 grams of fiber a day, beans (with 7-14 grams of fiber per serving) are a good way to get extra fiber in.

In addition to fiber, beans are full of complex carbohydrates, which provide long term energy and reduce strain on your insulin level (they have a low glycemic index). A breakfast or lunch with beans will keep you going through the day better than one full of sugars.

Beans are also a protein and nutrient dense food. Canadian researches have learned that Canadians who eat more pulses have more nutrient rich diets overall.

And while you may have heard that protein in beans ‘isn’t complete’, in our modern world it is both not necessary to have complete proteins at every meal, and it is quite simple to ‘complete’ a pulse’s protein. You just add nuts or grains. Most cultures already have a grain accompaniment to traditional bean dishes, and that’s an easy addition.

Food, pulses

BEANS! (or pulses)

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I love beans whoo hoo hoo

I love beans how ‘bout you?

High in fiber low in fat-

Hey I bet you didn’t know that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZWQMvHNOnI

And Brax sums up how I feel about beans. Well, pulses, actually, pulses being the dried forms of peas, beans, lentils and chick peas (the fresh versions being slightly different).

And I am not the only one who loves pulses. The World Health Organization and the governments of both Canada and the USA want people to eat more beans, every week. There is currently an active challenge to add pulses to your diet — three ½ cup servings a week.

Three servings a week.

That is a pretty reasonable goal. My family would have to drop our beans every week to reach it, but if you want to add more pulses to your diet, I will be happy to share with you my love of pulses.

 

Food

Candy Beans

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Candy Beans are very possibly the least healthy way to eat beans ever, and a favorite way to eat them in our house. Our son has a little dance he does when he finds out they are for supper, and if I ask what bean dish anyone wants, this tops the bill.

What follows is how I make them in my Instant Pot

, which I purchased many many years ago because it was advertised on the back of a bag of beans. It makes making beans faster and easier. These beans can be cooked on the range, in the oven, or in a slow cooker as well. They can even be cooked next to a campfire.

Ingredients:

1 pound of white beans of your choice. Navy, Pinto, Lima— I have tried them all. The Instant Pot is supposed to allow you to skip soaking, but that’s up to you. They don’t come out right for me without soaking, unless I add a lot of time to them. I would soak with any other type of cooking. The photos show unsoaked beans.

That’s homemade sour cream on the right and brown sugar in the middle. The Teriyaki container to the left of the sugar is molasses. The other day our son opened a container and was shocked to find what was in it was what it was labelled.

1 stick (1/2 cup) melted butter. Oh, it gets worse. You want it melted so it mixes in well with the beans. If you are doing this in the oven, you can just stir it in. In the Instant Pot, I merely set it to sauté as I’m prepping everything else.

1 Tablespoon powdered dry mustard

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt (I did use salted butter as well)

1 chopped onion (something healthy!)

1/4 pound chopped bacon Honestly, I have completely forgotten to put the bacon in occasionally, and have heard no complaints.

Now for the much less healthy stuff. Yes, worse than the above.

¼ cup molasses

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sour cream I have on occasion replaced this with yogurt to make this marginally healthier. It came out fine.

Mix these in. Now, you need to add water, but you don’t want the result too soupy. If you have presoaked beans, barely to cover in the Instant Pot ought to be enough. In the oven, crock or range, just keep adding water until the beans are ready.

I set the beans to the ‘bean’ button (or crock on low, or in a 325 oven) for 40 minutes, (or crock for 10 hours, oven for 6 hours) and let it naturally release pressure. You want the beans to mush with the back of a spoon.

 

That’s it. Serve with steamed or pressure cooked brown bread and you have a good, tasty, filling meal. That’s not a bit healthy. But still full of fiber!