Beans are so good for you, but I'm not sure how to eat them. My focus is dinnertime. I tried a recipe where you bake chicken, dump about a can of black beans on, and some salsa, and mozzarella then bake. It was so good! Like a chicken burrito but better for you. I can't find any other recipes with beans though. Anyone have any good bean recipes? Kidney, black, whatever. I appreciate the help!

There are tons of recipes online. I just google "bean recipes." (quotation marks and all). beanbible.com is one I've used quite a bit.

http://southernfood.about.com/librar...es/blpage7.htm

is another site that looks good.


I made a cassoulet type dish (you could google cassoulet recipe), and just substituted chicken thigh for the duck or goose, and a chicken sausage for the pork sausage, and instead of doing any sauteeing that was called for, I dumped all the ingredients in a crockpot.

I've used white beans in spaghetti sauce (jarred or homemade, with or without meat) over spaghetti or using the beans instead of spaghtetti.

One of my favorite dishes is to saute some spinach in olive oil with some garlic and cumin, then throw in some garbanzos, add cayenne and salt to taste and a squeeze of lemon. Serve over whole wheat couscous.

You can add beans to salads, pasta and I also love bean soups. Bean and rice dishes are nice as well a complete protein (cheap too.)

Here a couple of my favorite bean recipes. I made the soup this week, it was fabulous as usual! I have enough left for one more bowl for lunch

Spinach Chickpea Leek Soup

This is SO good and so fast and easy to make - makes plenty for several days. Great to make on a Sunday and eat all week.

1 tbs olive oil
2 leeks, sliced thinly (circles)
1 zuchini, chopped
minced garlic (I use tons)
2 14 oz cans tomatoes
small can tomato paste
1 bay leaf
3 3/4 cup veg broth
1 14 oz can chickpeas (gabanzo beans) drained
block of frozen spinach (thawed, drained)
1 tbs oregano
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
fresh parm cheese for topping

Heat the oil in a large sauce pan, add leeks and zucchini and cook briskly for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, vegetable broth, chickpeas and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

Shred the spinach finely, add to the soup and boil for 2 minutes. Season to taste. (the longer it cooks on the stove, the better it is). Remove the bay leaf, sprinkle with parmesan cheese (if desired).


Quinoa Black Bean Sweet Potato Quesadillas

1 cup quinoa, washed/drained (use brown rice if you can't find quinoa)
1 large sweet potato (diced small)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic (I used more)
1 14 oz can of tomatoes
1 can black beans, drained
1 can green chiles
2 tbs minced cilantro
Some low fat cheese
Whole wheat, low fat tortillas
Salsa

Cook quinoa in 2 cups of water. When done, set aside.

While the quinoa is simmering, I cut up the sweet potatoes into small pieces (dice sized) and spray a cookie sheet with PAM. I bake the potatoes for around 20 minutes (shaking often) until they are soft and getting crispy. (if I don't have time, I nuke them for 5 minutes!)

Saute onion, garlic. Stir in tomato (crushed, with juice), black beans, chiles, cilantro. Add quinoa, potatoes. Season with salt and pepper (I added some red pepper flakes, because i like spicy). Stir and heat through. I've also started adding spinach leaves, they wilt down nicely.

Put in tortillas, add some cheese so it sticks together, grill on both sides. Top with lots of salsa.

I eat tons of beans but I generally just cook them and eat them. I soak them overnight, put some onions and garlic in a crockpot with them and cook while I'm at work.

Other options -
Creamy chickpea casserole
http://www.recipezaar.com/56818

Veggie Chickpea casserole
http://thevoraciousvegan.blogspot.co...casserole.html

I also have a cookbook that is basically all beans although I tend to like my beans plain so I don't really use it.