Wholesome Wednesdays: Legumes

If it were a normal December, I'd be saying things like "brrrr, it's soup weather!" But La Nina is messing with my plans. That's not keeping me from making yummy soup though. I had some good friends over for a simple yet delicious meal of bean soup last night and was inspired to write my praises for legumes, those sometimes gassy forms of near complete protein.

Bean soup with tomatoes, peppers, onions and herbs from the garden, homemade chicken stock, free range chicken sausage, adzuki and black beans, smoked paprika, chilly powder, salt and lots of time.

Dried beans are a wonderful source of protein and they store so well. They can be kept in attractive lines of mason jars on your counter, or be stowed in conveniently shaped plastic tubs in the cupboard. They store for years and take very little effort to rehydrate into delicious concoctions of hummus, falafel, chilly, soup, or just about any yummy side or main dish you can think of. When paired with rice the amino acids chains form near complete proteins, making the ole 'bean and rice' simple meal a vegetarian's go-to meal for healthy, vegetarian protein.

Legumes pack in so much punch, in fact they can be hard to digest. This difficulty is also caused by the stachyrose and raffinose present in legumes, which are not ingestible by the small intestine, and pass down to the colon instead. Flatulence is also caused by a sugar –- oligosaccharide which cannot be broken down. Soaking beans overnight and discarding the soaking water can help eliminate the presence of these pesky elements. Combining the nutrient-rich bean with some ruffage (leafy greens), epazote or just a mixture of other cooked/raw foods can also help to make them more digestible. Lentils cause the least amount of flatulence and have some of the best nutrients, so they may be a great option for folks not desiring to scare away their co-workers the next day. Legumes have quite a bit of iron in them, another reason they're a great red meat replacement that's easier on the body and environment. Beans also have a large amount of fiber in them which will help you to feel full if dieting, aid in 'regularity' and help stave off cancer and obesity by boosting overall health.  You can never have too much fiber, in my opinion.

I could go on and on about beans, but i'll leave it at this: it's easy to buy canned beans. They make a very quick meal. But they're also lacking a lot of the nutrition that's essential to good health. It takes a little extra time to soak beans overnight, but really - is that so much effort? The beans are really doing all the work for you and they only take 45 minutes to cook the next day. You can let them simmer all day long as i did for the soup above, but you don't HAVE to. Go out and buy some dried beans today. You'll be thrilled with their price point: cents a pound versus dollars a can, and your overall health will thank you. The fields used to graze inefficient cattle instead of complete human-feeding foods will thank you as well when they eventually get turned back over to more efficient food raising. Or at least i can hope....    Dried beans! The musical fruit! The more you eat! The more resistant to cancer, obesity, irregularity and general malaise you'll be! hahaha.

What's your favorite use for dried beans?

Stuffed Jalapenos!

Woo hoo! My jalapeno plant is giving forth an abundance of fruit in a delicious and very spicy sort of way. This is a great surprise, as most my hot peppers of the past have been small and not so spicy. These guys are big, big enough to stuff, and very flavorful as well as hot.

I've been making a lot of salads these days. I eat them as a main course rather than a meager side dish, but it's fun to spruce them up with their own side of something exotic. Last night i made a mexican themed salad with a side of stuffed jalapenos wrapped in turkey bacon. It was too delicious, so i'm making it again tonight.

The salad could be any combo of lettuces and veggies you like - i used:

• half large head Romaine
• half cucumber diced
• 3 small yellow bells from the garden, diced
• about 1/2 cup frozen corn
• about 1/2 cup canned black beans
• one carrot, chopped
• handful black olives, chopped
• few leaves of cilantro, chopped
• green onions, chopped
• 1/2 or a whole avocado, diced (avocado dicing tutorial to follow)
  
• didn't use, but would be great with: jicama, black eyed peas, shredded cheddar cheese, etc
  

Toss with some cumin, salt, pepper, and lime juice. Serve with some fresh salsa spooned on top. Perfectly delicious, with a complete protein and low cal. Serves two as a main course, 4 as a side salad. The avocados add a really nice feeling of oily satisfaction, but are better for you than most salad dressing oils.

The Jalapenos:

To be fair, I usually stuff my jalapenos with things like refried beans, fat free cheese, healthier stuff. But i sent the husband to the store and ended up with cream cheese - which is delicious, just a bit more decadent.

(this stuffed last night: 4 decent sized jalapenos, plus one large Giant Marconi bell/ tonight: 2 jalapenos, 3 small poblanos, and 1 small marconi - would probably be enough to stuff about 6 regular sized jalapenos (about 3 inches long or so)

• Jalapenos (also works with small poblanos, or just about any thick walled bell pepper, preferable slender in shape)
  
• about 4 oz. light cream cheese (half a small tub)
• half can of black beans, drained
• 4-5 cloves garlic, finely minced
• several dashes cumin
• salt
• finely chopped cilantro - about 1/2 tablespoon
• Turkey bacon
  

Mush filling ingredients together until well blended. This filling is great when it's super garlicy, so don't skimp on the garlic! Put on some thin rubber gloves (trust me) and carefully cut the top end off of each jalapeno, cutting out the seeds and membrane and knocking out any remaining seeds. Do this carefully so that you don't pierce the walls of the pepper - you can leave some membrane/seeds in, but watch out: if you're peppers are as hot as mine, you'll want to be conservative. The heat is in those seeds and membrane - so use your judgement and leave as little or as much in as you want to risk. Stuff each pepper with the filling with a skinny spoon, filling the cavity.



Now that your peppers are filled, preheat your oven (i again used the toaster oven on the convection setting) to 375 (convection) or 400 (regular). Now take a strip of turkey bacon per pepper, sometimes you can use only a half strip depending on the girth of your peppers. Wrap the bacon around the pepper and secure the ends by piercing a toothpick through.
Note: you can also prepare these on a grill, it's super delicious - just keep an eye on them and turn as needed.

Alternative wrapping - holds the filling in better.

Set your peppers out on a cookie sheet and heat til bacon is cooked to your liking and peppers are softening. It's okay if the peppers blister in places. I also flipped the peppers once every 5 or so minutes to get good crispness on all sides, about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy! And keep a glass of water (or some dairy product) handy!