Showing posts with label Universal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Universal. Show all posts

March 14, 2012

Legumes - Great Ways to Eat a Great Food

Lentils, black beans, chickpeas, pinto beans, and black-eyed peas; all of these foods are considered nutritious legumes. Legumes are a food that you should be more of, according to the Canada Food Guide. No wonder, considering that these super foods are rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

However, many people have a tendency to askew beans. Bland food only good for chilis and bean salad, they scoff. In reality, legumes are great for all sorts of dishes and prepared correctly they can be tasty too (believe it or not)!

So what can you do with beans? Plenty! Including:




o Dips- Beans, once pureed until smooth using a handheld blender, can be used as a base for dips and even dressings instead of sour cream, yogurt, cheese, or mayonnaise. For the best results, add more liquid ingredients to your dip than usual and a small quantity of a rich ingredient, such as nut butter or flavourful oil, to make up for the lower fat content.

o Soup- While soups such as Minestrone and pea soup are well known for containing legumes, there are many much more creative and tasty soups that can be made with legumes. Add a cup or two of beans and a bit of extra vegetable broth to a creamy soup before pureeing instead of adding milk. For soups that aren't pureed, pick consuming varieties over traditional ones, such as yellow-eyed peas or romano beans, to kick things up a bit.

You can also withhold bean cooking water as a hearty base for homemade vegetable broth. This bean broth is nutritious and will add welcome flavour to soups and other dishes.

o Sauce- Adding legumes to pasta sauce is a great explication for vegetarians looking to find an alternative protein choice for meat sauce. The best beans for pasta sauce include white beans, pinto beans, lentils (both red and green) and chickpeas. White beans, green lentils, and chickpeas are best left whole while pinto buns are best mashed to meat-like consistence and red lentils are best pureed.

o Burgers- The ever dependable bean burger is a favourite at my house and a meal we eat often. There are endless combinations when it comes to burgers made with legumes. Play colse to with add ins, although try to make sure to all the time add a rich, flavourful food (such nuts or seeds) and a dry, whole grain (think cooked brown rice or breadcrumbs) to your burgers for best results. You can also play with the form of the burgers; beanballs and burgers formed into special shapes make for pretty meals.

o Smoothies- however strange this may sound, smoothies are a exquisite place to sneak in legumes and especially white beans and other neutrally colored beans. A small amount blended until smooth can replace yogurt or ice cream in your smoothie and will add bulk and nutrition, so that morning meal smoothie will be able to tide you over until lunch.

In expanding to the above ideas, you can also try the traditional ideas of incorporating beans into salads made with leafy greens, into rice pilaffs, and into steamed veggies. The possibilities are endless!

Legumes - Great Ways to Eat a Great Food

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February 17, 2012

Rev Up Your condition With Cultured Foods

Regular consumption of cultured foods is an integral part of a healthy diet. Cultured foods, otherwise known as lacto-fermented foods, are high in natural probiotics.

Everyone can benefit from adding these foods to their diet, particularly those with immune theory issues and digestive disorders. They are also recommend while gravidity and when trying to balance blood sugar, yeast overgrowth, and problems with weight.

Try to consist of at least one serving of lacto-fermented foods in your diet everyday, and try for each meal if your digestion is less than exquisite or if you are on antibiotics.






Some examples include:

  • Yogurt. Organic plain whole milk yogurt is best. It is important to eat whole milk dairy because the saturated fat in the yogurt help with absorption of the calcium.
  • Kefir. This cultured dairy food with a long history is high in amino acids, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and B vitamins. Unlike yogurt, kefir cultures at room temperature. It can literally be made at home with high ability (raw, if possible) milk and kefir powder or grains. If raw milk is unavailable, look for pasteurized but not homogenized milk or organic, grass-fed milk. Kefir powder can be purchased at natural food stores or online.
  • Cultured Cream/Sour Cream. Cultured cream is a yummy condiment with a high probiotic and enzyme content. Vermont Butter and Cheese firm makes a good crème fraiche- I love it added to soups, Mexican dishes, and desserts. Natural foods stores may carry other brands, as well, or make your own from fresh raw organic (raw, if possible) cream and a culture starter.
  • Kombucha. Made from fermented tea and organic sugar, the supervene is a fizzy drink with many condition benefits. Kombucha can be purchased at natural foodsstores (Synergy brand is delicious) or made at home. Some individuals may need to build up a tolerance to kombucha; this can be accomplished bydrinking small amounts daily for a few weeks.
  • Cultured vegetable or fruits-. Cultured vegetables like true sauerkraut and Korean kimchee and lacto-fermented fruit chutneys are extremely tasty and they are consist of exceptional quantities of enzymes, B vitamins and vitamin C.
  • Soaked whole grains. Soaking grains for some hours or overnight in water before cooking makes them more nutritious and digestible. Soaking oatmeal the night before you plan to eat it is a good practice. Eating traditionally produced sourdough bread is also recommended, as these are made with soaked grains. Recipes for baking with soaked grains are ready in the books Nourishing Traditions and Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz is an exquisite book on this topic, as well.

For more facts on cultured foods, lots of easy healthy recipes, and further facts on numerous other holistic nourishment topics, please visit my website: http://www.healthy-green-lifestyle.com.

Rev Up Your condition With Cultured Foods

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