Oh! I love the idea of the faux rice. I always have trouble using up bean sprouts before they go bad. What a great idea!

Cooking Light Savory Soup Beans

Though this humble dish is traditionally made with bacon, the smoked paprika gives this vegetarian version a similar smoky, savory flavor. You can order it online at www.ifancyfood.com .

Yield
8 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients
3 cups dried pinto beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons Spanish smoked paprika
6 garlic cloves, minced
7 cups water
2 bay leaves
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Preparation
Sort and wash beans; place in a large saucepan. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain.

Wipe pan dry with a paper towel. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, paprika, and garlic; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Stir in beans, 7 cups water, and bay leaves; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Stir in salt. Discard bay leaves. Remove from heat; partially mash beans.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 289 (14% from fat)
Fat: 4.4g (sat 0.7g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.7g)
Protein: 14.8g
Carbohydrate: 49.6g
Fiber: 15.8g
Cholesterol: 0.0mg
Iron: 4.6mg
Sodium: 739mg
Calcium: 98mg

5 points per bowl.

Edited to say this is really delicious! I used pebble beans, which have a stronger skin than pintos. If you like a mushier soup blend, go with pintos, but if you like your beans intact, try pebble beans. I did not partially mash my beans because... well I just didn't feel like it. Also, do not be afraid of the garlic. I only had 4 cloves, and I think the full 6 would have been better. Heck, even 8 would work! Since I didn't partially mash any of the beans, when I reheat the pot tonight, I'm going to put some non starchy veggies in with it and see how that works. I'll try diced zucchini and maybe some cauliflower florets.

This is what I had for dinner last night, sooooo good!
2 medium potatos, peeled and cut into bite size
1 1/2 cups baby carrots, chopped into medallions
2 medium summer squash, cut into bite size
1 large onion, diced
1 1/2 cup low cal spaghetti sauce
3 cups veggie broth
1 pakage of fake chicken, cut into bite size
2 links of fake sausage, cut into bite size

Throw veggies and chicken into pot with broth and spaghetti sauce, bring to a boil then reduce and simmer for 15 min.
Brown sausage while veggies are cooking. When they are browned throw them into the pot with the veggies. Thats it, very easy and very tasty.

My version last night came out to 114 cal per cup. However, I do not count colories from squash, onion and carrots. Also, I imagine the cals would vary greatly from fake meat product to fake meat product.

Savory Millet Cakes

1/2 cup raw millet
1/2 chopped onion
1 grated carrot
1/2 peeled and grated zucchini
2 grated garlic cloves
3 TBSP parsley
3 TBSP parmesan cheese
1/2 TSP sea salt
1/2 TSP garlic powder
1/2 TSP chili powder

(The original recipe called for only salt - I experimented with what I listed above and they were delicious!)

Bring millet to a boil in 1 1/2 cups water.
Cover and reduce heat.
Simmer for 20-25 minutes (until millet is tender and water absorbed)
Add the remaining ingredients and seasonings stirring to break up the millet - this will create a mashed potato type consistency.

Let cool and create patties.
Saute patties in non-stick pan (I spray it to help with browning or you can use a bit of olive oil or butter)

If the mix is too moist to form patties, add more parmesan cheese or a little flour. I added some gluten free bread crumbs to mine.

Hey all! This is a yummy warm salad I tried yesterday for dinner. I love beetroot

Warm beetroot-mozzarella salad:

4 servings:
8 small (~2'' diameter) boiled beetroots
200g reduced fat mozzarella
200g champignons
1 red onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves
3 cups rucola salad

Chop beetroots in quarters and mozzarella in equal-sized ubes, slice the mushroomes and onion. Mix the olive oil, sea salt ja basil leaves into sauce. Mix it all in an oven dish and cook in oven at 200C for 25 minutes. Place the warm salad on rucola leaves.

1 serving: 162kcal, 5g fat, 12g carbohydrates, 21g protein.

Spaghetti Squash in a Creamy Spinach sauce:

Ingredients:

1 Spaghetti squash,
Frozen, chopped spinach (or fresh if you prefer),
Frozen onions (fresh if you prefer),
Fresh garlic,
0% Fage Greek Yogurt
Parmesan cheese (optional).

Begin by stabbing numerous holes into your spaghetti squash. You want to make sure the heat penetrates through the squash evenly. Place the squash on a pan inside your oven. Cook it at 350 degrees. It takes an hour to cook, but you'll want to flip the squash over midway through.

While that is cooking, peel and chop your garlic (I prefer pre-peeled). When you're done with that, put your bags of frozen spinach and onions on medium-heat in a skillet. Add the garlic to the mix when the spinach is tender, and the onions are translucent.

Stir the vegetable mixture into the yogurt while it's still warm. Keep stirring until the yogurt turns a greenish color, and the aromas are mixed. I use an entire tub of the yogurt because I like it extra creamy, but you can use as little or much as you desire.

Your spaghetti squash should be ready now. Take it out of the oven, but be careful! You'll need to let it cool before attempting to slice it in half. When it's cool, cut it in half, and scrape the seeds and gunk out until the squash is clean. This is optional as I do not like the seeds and innards in my pasta.

Now for the fun part! Begin by scraping your fork down the length of the squash, scraping the squash out in noodle-like strands. Since it's just my husband and me, I divide the squash between us. When it's all scraped out, scoop out a generous dollop of the sauce and mix it into your "noodles". Add a shaving of fresh Parmesan on top if desired, and enjoy!

By the way, if anyone is interested, this mixture also tastes divine when used as the filling for "tomato cups". Just dig out the inside of the tomato, creating a little cup. It's very easy and looks very fancy.