Why beans are best avoided when pregnant

  If the mother eat much beans, or such vaporous food, it endangereth the child to become lunatick.

 

 -- Francis Bacon

Happiness is roast beef and gravy on a Tuesday, a lousy Tuesday

 

Happiness is a truly gluten-free chocolate cake that you would swear is a real chocolate cake

 

I saw this on @emmymade.

The recipe belongs to The Pancake Princess. 

I mixed everything in a food processor. I used melted butter, beans I cooked myself, and plain old Hershey's Cocoa. I baked it in a 24cm Pyrex pie plate oiled with avocado oil. Just let it cool right in there. You can haul it that way to a party. The frosting isn't necessary. Sprinkle it with powdered sugar right before serving as you like. Or not. It's plenty sweet just the way it is.

Eat it for breakfast. You will not be hungry all morning, and you will be happy. 

 

thepancakeprincess.com

 

Happiness is beans, beans the magical fruit

 A nutritionist shares the ‘underrated’ longevity food she eats every day to boost her immune system :

According to a 2022 study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, swapping out red meats and processed foods for legumes, whole grains, vegetables can increase life expectancy by more than a decade for people in their 20s or 30s. ...

In fact, the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association recommend eating legumes as an alternative to animal proteins to help lower the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Happiness is the five pillars of a longevity diet

Whole grains like corn, rice and oats (complex carb)

Greens

Tubers, including potatoes and yams (complex carb)

Nuts

Beans (complex carb)

 

More.

Happiness is having a pulse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nyuk, nyuk.

Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. ... And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. 

-- Daniel 1:12, 15

Happiness is red beans and rice, even if you don't have any red beans, just use whatever beans you have

Red Beans and Rice (h/t Rosso & Lukins)

1 pound navy beans, soaked overnight in the frig
2 cups chicken broth or made from bouillon cube
2.5 cups San Marzano tomato puree
2 bay leaves
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1/4 t Tabasco sauce
4 andouille sausages
1/2 t salt
1 t granulated onion
1/4 t garlic powder
1 cup white rice, boiled, drained and buttered


1) Drain beans and parboil covered in fresh water in a covered 3 quart dutch oven: Bring to a boil and shut off the heat for an hour, boil it again and shut off the heat for an hour, then bring to a boil for a third time and let simmer for an hour or two on low until the beans are tender.

2) Drain the beans and return to the dutch oven; add the broth, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire and Tabasco, sausages, salt, onion and garlic; bring to a boil, cover, and bake in a 350 degree F oven for an hour.

3) Boil the rice in 6 cups or so of salted water 15-20 minutes, just like pasta, stirring frequently but gently; drain and reserve rice in a buttered bowl covered in the warm oven (h/t James Peterson).

4) Add more Worcestershire and/or Tabasco to taste, if desired. Serves 3-4 over rice with plenty of beans left over for the morning toast.

Happiness is a homemade bean burrito, perhaps the best for you and cheapest meal you can make for yourself

I reckon the most expensive thing is the tortilla itself, while the whole shebang is something just north of 72 cents:

Flour tortilla: 33 cents

1 oz. sharp cheddar cheese: 18 cents

2/3 cup prepared pinto beans (13 cents) and basmati rice (4 cents): 17 cents

0.11 oz. spice mixture I prepare from bulk purchased salt, onion and garlic powders, chili powder, crushed red pepper, oregano leaves and cumin: 4.6 cents.

I can season a one pound batch of beans, which makes nine burritos, however I like for 41 cents doing it this way instead of 79 cents for an unadjustable store purchased packet, a savings of 48%.

The price of the beans shown is for a store purchased one pound bag at $1.19. At Sam's Club you can cut this to 63 cents per pound by buying the 12 lb. bulk bag. Per burrito that's 7 cents instead of 13 cents, bringing the whole enchilada down to 66 cents.

The price of a little canola oil for frying is not included.

Toppings are another matter entirely, which with the salsa are really the salad part of the meal.

Happiness is lower sodium homemade Boston baked beans

We like Boston baked beans on Sundays with hamburgers on the grill, but the go-to brand in the can, Bush's original, has 550 mg sodium per half cup, which eats up a lot of the daily quota of 2000 mg.

The homemade version below adapted from Serious Eats has about 246 mg per half cup, almost 45% less sodium than Bush's. It takes a long time to make, but it's more authentic on top of being lower in sodium. It's also less sweet, so add your maple syrup to taste at the end. One half cup worked well for us, but you may like more than that.

Make it when you want the baked beans with tomorrow night's meal. For me that means starting on Saturday morning to be ready by Sunday night. For traditionalists eating Beans and Wieners on Saturday nights, that means getting started on Friday morning.

1 lb dried navy beans

6 oz. salt pork

0.5 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)

0.5 cup pure maple syrup

about 3 quarts water

1/ soak the navy beans all day in fresh water (I don't use salt)

2/ at the end of the day pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees F

3/ drain and sort the navy beans

4/ cut the pork into lardons so that each piece has some meat on it

5/ add a quart of water and the molasses to a three quart dutch oven and stir until thoroughly mixed

6/ add the navy beans and pork and cover the beans with the rest of the water, and stir

7/ bake in the oven overnight* with the lid on tight/check the water level in the morning and add to just cover the beans, if necessary/after twelve hours overnight there should still be plenty of water in the pot without having to add any

8/ continue to bake covered another seven hours, checking about midway through to see that there remains enough water/you'll know to add if the beans are sticking to the bottom/after almost nineteen hours I didn't have to add any water at all, but I began with slightly more than three quarts water

9/ when done the beans supply their own paste and the mixture should stir freely but not be runny

10/ at this point add the maple syrup and serve

11/ if you like it runnier, cut the serving with some water and heat through

*Serious Eats doesn't recommend unattended overnight baking for safety reasons, and neither do I.      

Happiness on St. Paddy's Day is . . . 239 bean stew

And why 239 beans you ask?

Because one more and then it would be too farty, if you know what I mean.

Four foods doctors prescribe instead of drugs

Read the story here.

to reduce bad cholesterol

to improve sight

to combat dementia

for heart health

Pinto Beans

When it comes to beans for burrito filling, there are many choices available beyond the well known pinto bean. From the super foods perspective, the darker the bean's skin the more potent the phytochemicals, but the pinto is the most widely available economical choice. I've used black, pink, chili and red beans of all kinds in my recipe, but I usually end up with the old standby, the pinto bean, which I can acquire for roughly a dollar per pound. A one pound can of already cooked beans costs about the same price, but a pound of dry beans prepared will yield roughly three times the contents of that one pound can.

When buying any dried bean or legume, make sure to look for relatively recently harvested ones. The sell-by date on the package will be a clue. If the date is near, the package is not fresh and has been sitting around somewhere. Old beans are harder to cook, and can take what seems like forever.

The preparation time of dried beans only seems inordinately long. You just need to plan ahead. The soaking and the cooking can occur without your presence.

 

Prepared Pinto Beans

1 lb. dry pinto beans

1 large onion, cut into eighths (choose yellow or sweet)

3 cloves garlic, crushed with a chef's knife

.25 cup canola oil (or extra virgin olive oil)

Rinse the beans under cold water. Discard any stones or lumps of dirt you may find. Put the beans in a large bowl and cover with about four inches of fresh water. Let soak for at least six hours, refrigerated, and as long as overnight.

Drain off the water and rinse the beans again under cold water. Add them to a deep and heavy stainless steel stock pot. Cover with at least two inches of fresh water. Add the onion, garlic and oil and give it all a stir. Do not add any seasonings at this point. The salt will impede the cooking of the beans, not enhance it. Put on the lid and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once the mixture starts to boil, you have two options. You can set the burner to low and boil the beans for about an hour until done, or you can set the burner to simmer and let the mixture cook for several hours unattended (I never leave the property with a fire on under a pot). I prefer the latter since it keeps the beans intact throughout the cooking process. A third option is to use a crock pot, but in that case you should get the contents boiling on high first and then set the pot on low before you leave for the day. That can delay you, but it works. If you soak the beans during the day while you are away, you can cook them in the crockpot overnight while you sleep.

You'll know the beans are done when you bite into one and it's creamy, not firm. Leave the beans in the pot with the water to cool for an hour, and then overnight if you wish in the refrigerator. Drain off the water into a large bowl through a mesh collander to capture the beans and reserve some of the cooking liquid (save a cup in the refrigerator).

If you don't use the beans immediately, they can be stored in the freezer.