Lol anywho. I've recently grown very fond of beans. Black, red but especially refried beans. I'm looking for some healthy ideas of meals or snacks to eat these with other then tacos..
I make a vegetarian chili that is out of this world, and use 3 beans - kidney, black bean, and cannellini beans.
I make a bean salad with small beans, sherry vinegar, mustard seed, smoked olive oil, agave nectar, diced roasted red peppers, and onions.
I love gigantes beans (truly GIANT white beans) in a smoked tomato sauce, and I smoke the tomatoes myself. Yummy
I make baked beans from scratch and include pasilla de oaxaca peppers. These are pasilla peppers that are smoked in a different way and have a unique campfire smoke flavor completely different from any smoked pepper you've ever tried. Very hard to find but worth it.
I make black beans with sauteed onion, jalepeno, a touch of curry and a whole bunch of cilantro and serve it over brown rice.
I make a big bean salad, but usually only for party/potluck, because it's so big. Use a can each of a bunch of different colors of beans, in the smallest size you can find (black, white, pinto, red, brown) 3 or 4 cans. Once can of corn. Finely dice onion, jalepeno (seeded first), celery, sweet pepper if you want (my recipes are all very free flowing). Add cilantro (always fresh, there's just no point to the dried stuff). Dress with an olive oil and lemon juice.
On a day when I don't feel like doing a complicated meal, I do 1 lb (or thereabouts) of diced chicken breast, can of low fat/sodium chicken broth, black beans, fresh or frozen corn (love trader joe's frozen roasted corn), and a can of low sodium diced tomatoes not drained. I cook the chicken first, then add everything else and add cumin, cayenne, and chili powder to taste (I tend to season liberally ) and heat it through. I eat it like a soup with a little bit of low fat shredded cheddar on top, but hubby likes to take more 'chunky stuff' than liquid and half eat it with a spoon, half scoop it with tortilla chips.
I like the crockpot chicken taco chili on the Skinny Taste site - it uses black and kidney beans.
I made a yummy easy side dish with tacos a little while back, it was Eating Well's Easy Fiesta Beans (recipe and nutritional info is on their site). It was just a can of fat free spicy refried beans mixed with a can of no salt added pinto beans, half a cup of your favorite salsa, and 1/3 c. of sharp cheddar cheese all cooked together then put in a baking dish topped with another 1/3 c of sharp cheddar and some sliced scallions. I think it says to broil it for a couple of minutes. Between the salsa we picked and the spicy refried beans, there was a definite kick to it.
I am a new bean fan too. My new fav is adapted from those tuna is wonderful commercials. Its a can of tuna with cannellini beans, chopped tomato and onion and a little bit of light italian dressing. Its really good .... and easy
I also love beans and truly think that is what has made my weight loss so successful this time around. My new favorite is Bush’s grillin beans, the Texas Ranchero one’s the others have too much sugar for me.
I take shredded lettuce (I buy a bag of it already shredded at Wal-Mart for about $2.00) I drain the Texas Ranchero beans and warm them up then put them once warmed up on top of the lettuce then add some WW shredded cheese, tons of salsa, a few sliced black olives and diced tomatoes and a dollop of Greek yogurt or FF sour cream. It is WONDERFUL, taste like a taco salad.
My other favorite is fat free refried beans. I add to them some dry taco seasoning mix (no water just the dry mix) and mix it in and warm those up and put on my low carb wrap, or even on a tostado shell and they are also great with the baked tortilla chips to make your own bean nachos.
For a late night easy dinner, I just ate a plate of Old El Paso fat-free spicy refried beans with some Tabasco sauce and lettuce, and was marveling how low Point they are (3.5 old style Points for the 16 oz. can), how filling, and how tasty
Definitely will be using more beans in my weight-loss cooking!