How do you work BEANS into your weekly menu ?

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1/8/13 11:42 A

Thank you Sounds good

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1/7/13 7:06 P

I use beans all the time since I don't care for meat alot. Soups, Casseroles, dips, and sandwiches or wraps. I crush up chick peas add a little salsa, or lemon juice, lt miracle whip and dill weed. Anywhere that calls for meat I just open a can, drain, rinse and add.

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1/7/13 1:21 P

making Turkey chili tonight too!

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1/4/13 2:04 P

I have a black bean salsa recipes that is great. It goes on everything from eggs, to chips to chicken.

It is great.

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1/4/13 7:54 A

Thank You I haven't tried black bean yet. I will pick some up this week end.
It looks like I took some thing simple and made it harder than it is. It is always fun to learn some thing new.

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1/3/13 10:04 P

What great ideas! As a child, my mother would boil red, kidney, or black beans, and pour over rice.

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1/3/13 5:29 P

I try lots of different ways....today for instance, I have the chili going in the crockpot and I used three different kinds of beans. I also throw them on salads and I make soups with them. Sometimes, I just eat them as a side dish (hoppin johns).

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1/3/13 2:46 P

A tablespoon or two of kidney beans on a salad is pretty good.

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1/3/13 2:25 P

I don't eat beans anymore since I switched to a Paleo diet. But I used to eat (and love) them all the time! One of my staples was Pasta e Ceci: recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?
recipe=1368352 which tastes like something you'd get at a fine dining Italian restaurant. Greens (kale, collards, escarole, chard) sauteed with some white beans or cannellini beans was another favorite. And red beans and rice! I also liked cold chick peas on a salad.

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1/3/13 1:53 P

Lots of great suggestions here! I also add beans to pasta- I like black beans, broccoli, and cauliflower with a little olive oil and parmesan cheese over whole wheat penne. Really quick and easy to make for nights I don't have much time or energy. Bean burritos, beans with veggie quesadillas, and taco salad are other ways I like to incorporate beans (I used to mix ground beef or turkey and beans for some dishes and over time, increased beans/decreased meat, and now I frequently skip the meat- and the extra pans to wash- altogether).

Also, try different kinds of beans- you might find that you like some better than others. I really like black beans, but don't care for chickpeas. I find that I'm more willing to cook or try beans in a new recipe if I use a kind I like.

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1/3/13 12:09 P

I make 4-5 dry cups at a time in the crockpot, just don't add salt until they are cooked, or it will slow down the process. Sometimes I toss in a small roast (1-2 pounds), and it adds a ton of flavor to the beans and self shreds to give a very gentle beef flavor, but not real measurable beef protein when calcuating for caloric counts.


That being said, I then freeze in smaller portions and toss into various meals.

Tostados - spray corn tortilla with spray oil, pop in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes, turn and bake 5 more minutes until crispy. Add, scoop of beans, a bit of low fat cheese, and pile on shredded lettcue, diced tomatoes, sliced black olives, diced avocado, salsa, a shake of hot sauce and a small dallop of low fat sour cream. I normally end up cutting my corn tortilla up and adding a ton more lettcue and turn it into a "taco salad", but can easily consume a cup of beans at a time and hardly even notice it.

Second vote for soups and chili's, but I also like in cold salads.
Goggle "Black-eye pea and corn salsa", it's one of my favorite and I eat it all the time, but throw in some black beans too. Sometimes it's called "cowboy caviar" as well.

You can take black beans and puree them like a hummus, and use as dip for veggies

Hummus, made with chick peas, is fantastic, but often loaded in fat and calories due to the tahanni and olive oil, so beware of your portions.

Breakfast burritos - a few eggs, 2-4 tablespoons of beans, stir fried with some onion, maybe 2 tablespoons fo corn for color, wrapped up in a flour tortilla and some salsa, a bit of cheese, good stuff.

I eat taboli frequently, it's a meditarrian bulger wheat salad, and I'll toss in a can of chick peas(garbonzo beans) to up the protein.

My partner likes to just eat beans and rice, me not so much, in fact I normally make myself something else to eat because sitting down to a plate of beans and rice is worse than eating nothing at all to me... but I've gotten a bit more creative in how I serve them.

However, as many others have said, if you don't like them, don't eat them.
I do find that having them frozen in the freezer is so much easier than having to open a can.
I freeze mine in some silcone cup cake molds, little tiny cup cakes, maybe 1.5-2 Tblspns per "puck", and a larger cup cake mold, fits 1-1.5 cups per "puck". Once frozen toss them into a ziploc. Now I can add a big or small serving to a variety of meals with ease.

best

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1/1/13 9:03 P

Chili is a great way to get them in. Especially homemade chili because you know what goes into it and you can adjust the sodium so it isn't as at a restaurant. I also find that putting some beans in my salad is a nice change.

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1/1/13 9:00 P

White bean and kale soup, it's an awesome winter meal. I also love chili and tortilla soup with beans.

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1/1/13 4:26 P

I throw them on top of salad for the carb element of a meal, or in with some broth that includes veggies and precooked chicken or beef. Or mix them with some thawed peas and green beans, a toss with vinegar and olive oil. I honestly sometimes just love eating kidney beans with some salt on them... also, hummus with veggies and whole wheat crackers makes an excellent snack, or part of a 'snacky' lunch.

Edited by: C-MERRIE11 at: 1/2/2013 (00:35)

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1/1/13 4:23 P

Minestrone or similar soups are good because they include beans, but it's not an overwhelming amount like a lentil or a bean soup.

For lunches sometimes I will spread a tortilla with some fat free refried beans, then pop it in the microwave just until hot, then wrap it all up with some crunchy lettuce and hot sauce. You could add other veggies and fillings as well.

I also usually try to add beans (usually black or garbanzo) to my salads.

Oh, and black bean burgers!

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1/1/13 4:18 P

Usually, I make a pot of soup on the weekends. Three bean chili, black bean soup, white bean and kale, etc... Today, since it was New Year's, we had Black-eyed peas on brown rice. Yummy!

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1/1/13 4:05 P

Thank you every one. This gives me a lot to work with. The reason I feel I need to put beans in my meal is because there is a lot of nutrition in them, they are cheep and it is time to try some thing new.

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1/1/13 1:32 P

I feel compelled to eat them because they are so darn healthy, really cheap and make a good meat substitute.

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1/1/13 1:31 P

I also like to cook beans in big batches. Then I freeze into small portions so they are easy to pull out and throw into things. I used to eat canned beans but my husband is picky and really didn't like the taste. By cooking the beans myself I can add spices and veggies and build various flavor profiles. I usually let them soak overnight and then cook them the next night while I get dinner ready. They always take longer to cook than you'd expect. Usually they are ready by bedtime. I put the whole pot into the fridge and bag them up for the freezer while making dinner the next night. So they definitely take planning ahead. Sounds like a lot but the hands on time is not that much. I throw them into almost any sauce or soup to thicken, mix with rice or grains for a quick meatless meal, add to the tops of salads, mix into ground meats before cooking . . .

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1/1/13 12:48 P

I'm curious as to why you seem to feel compelled to eat them.

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1/1/13 12:32 P

I cook them with onions and garlic and peppers and fold them up in a whole wheat tortilla along with a little low-fat shredded cheese. Heat with a little salsa on top, and it makes a tasty lunch that keeps you going all afternoon.

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1/1/13 8:47 A

Soups - white chicken chili, 3 bean cannelini soup
Hummus
Tuna with cannelini

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1/1/13 7:37 A

I'm not personally very fond of beans. Well, I like green beans, but that's not the type of beans we're talking about.

I DO like hummus, so I usually have some of that in the house. Mostly, I "sneak" the beans into something else. Like, a big pot of vegetable soup. We try to eat meatless at least one night a week, so the vegetable soup gets beans and rice, for the protein. When I make chili (sometimes with ground beef but often I make a chicken or turkey white chili), I put less meat and twice the beans. There's a slow-cooker chicken recipe here on Spark that I usually add black beans to (the recipe doesn't call for beans, but they go real good in it.) Lentils count as "beans" too-- again, there's a recipe here on Spark that I use for Lentil Soup and I really like it. To me, lentils have a more "meat-like" consistency, like finely crumbled cooked ground beef.

You can use any lean protein-- fish, chicken-- instead of beans; you don't have to eat beans. There are a ton of recipes on Spark Recipes for beans, so when you have some time you could browse those and pick out a few to try. Since there's only 2 of us in our household, I'll often cut a recipe in half when I make it the first time. So there's less to throw away if we really don't like it.

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12/31/12 11:49 P

"They aren't one of my favorite foods, so can fish be a substitute? "

Sure can!
No reason to eat something you do not enjoy, when there are things you like better.

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12/31/12 11:45 P

I cook onions and garlic then throw in a couple cans of black beans and a can of tomatoes. After it cooks down a bit, I stir in a little corn and sometimes spice it up a little. I use this mixture for everything! Tacos,enchiladas, burritos, nachos, soups, a dip, and whatever else I can think of.

My favorite is cooking corn tortillas right on my gas stove--no oil needed that way--and making tacos. I top with cilantro, reduced fat cheese, fat free sour cream, and a lime wedge. Yum!

Good luck!

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12/31/12 10:43 P

Is there a reason you need to eat beans? Don't eat something you don't like unless you really have a need. That being said, why not add them as a side to dinner? Do some stews/soups/chilis. I sometimes take beans mixed with meat to work for inch. I've done several different combos: black beans, chicken, salsa and cheese, great northern beans and chicken, ham, black eyed peas and a little mayo, etc. I eat them maybe once a week, on average. I've had weeks where I them every day, and i've gone for weeks at a time without having them at all.

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12/31/12 10:23 P

(1) cook a big batch of dry beans (usually 1lb, soaked overnight, then cooked a couple hours per instructions); (2) divide into about a dozen single servings in custard cups or ramekins; (3) reheat as necessary ... and mix and match with rice, veggies, etc.

In addition to 'plain' (above), mix beans cooked & cold with a dressing and other ingredients for a salad; mix with other beans and spices & diced tomatoes for a vegetarian chili; and reheat a couple servings with a can of diced tomatoes and then puree for a smooth and hearty soup. The latter is really good with black beans. Or drain and mash with herbs and spices for bean dip. Apply crunchy veggies.

I've been meaning to try black bean brownies ... as they as good as claimed?

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12/31/12 8:31 P

Bean soup - bean salad - green beans - refried beans. Also black bean brownies.

Edited by: GRAMCRACKER46 at: 12/31/2012 (20:32)

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12/31/12 7:54 P

I'll brown bag my work lunch and have rice, beans (any kind) with salsa, avocado, corn and cilantro with munchies. Lots of fiber and very filling.

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12/31/12 7:13 P

The beans just dont make it into my weekly menu. I do good for a week or 2 then go back to the same habits. I only eat meat for dinner, so some how I need to add beans to lunch or snack. They aren't one of my favorite foods, so can fish be a substitute? I will go back to hummus for a snack I have learned to like it. Thank you

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