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I like Costa Rican “single guys”… or do I??

I’ve never had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica before … and so far this year, I’ve traveled there TWICE!!! Yep… Twice. I remember when I was about to celebrate one of those milestone birthdays and I wanted to travel somewhere I had never ever gone before. My mind immediately went to Greece, Turkey or even go back to Italy. And when I consulted with my guru, he quietly said: “Why don’t you go to Costa Rica?”

What kind of enchantment did Costa Rica have? I would not learn that until 3 years later in which, as a yoga group, we decided to take a short trip to San José and its surroundings. It was a short trip indeed, but extremely intense. We had the chance to visit San José and see once again my friend Flori, who also practices yoga, but now lives in her native land. We also got to visit some of the volcanoes, go ziplining amongst the greeneries in Guanacaste and go down some cool rapids on the Balsa River.

It also gave us the chance to taste the local cuisine… particularly something Costa Ricans call Casados, or as translated in English, “Married”. It’s a kinda weird name in both English and Spanish… don’t think it’s just weird to read it in English. Casados??, I asked when I read a sign in a street-side eatery. It’s one of the most typical Costa Rican dishes around – it’s a combination of rice, beans, sweet fried plantain, salad, cooked vegetables, potatoes and some sort of meat. And I said to myself… Ahhhh, now I know what I want to order for lunch today.

The name “casado” was given to this combo dish because apparently when you get married is when you get to eat well and varied. The thing is… if my “casado” is meat-less, how should we call them then?? So I came up with my own little nickname – the “Soltero” or The Single, a “casado” without the meat. And we got to eat Solteros all over the place.

One of the advantages to us of Costa Rica receiving such an influx of US-based tourists is they have a sensibility for vegetarian tourists. Everywhere we went, there were vegetarian options and even pure vegetarian restaurants. One example is Vishnu Restaurant, a vegetarian fast food joint with several locations in San José. Ever since we stepped foot in San José we had delicious options to eat. And even me, the non-bean lover, was asking for more of their refried black beans. They were delish…

After having such a great time on my first trip… I accepted the invitation of my friend Carlos to return to Costa Rica a few weekends ago. This time, Carlos and I got to visit the beaches on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, something we didn’t get a chance to experience on my first trip in March. The nice thing… he got to introduce me to some fancy restaurants in San José and I got to show him what a traditional typical Costa Rican dish is – SOLTEROS!!! And Carlos was veeeeeeeery happy about that, if you get my drift. 😉

Costa Rica is truly and amazing country, gorgeous landscapes and the food is delicious. It’s a country who has taken advantage of their natural resources and made the best of it. God only knows how many more times I’ll return to Costa Rica to fully understand why Guruji recommended me to travel here a few years ago. Who knows if there is a real life “soltero” waiting for me, right?

Have you ever visited Costa Rica? What are your favorite dishes? Please share your experiences with all of us below…

Tags: beans, Casado, cooked vegetables, Costa Rica, food, french fried, french fries, Manuel Antonio, Pacific Ocean, potatoes, rice, Salad, San José, sweet plantain, Typical dish, vegetarian

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Categories MY EDITORIAL, Travel

But where will I get my protein?

30 Sep

Don’t be fooled by people who discourage your vegetarian lifestyle claiming you’ll be protein-deficient…

Check out all the sources of protein available from non-animal sources. Learn them… for your own benefit and to answer those skeptics you’ll find along the way.

Other sources of protein are:

Nuts and Seeds – almonds, peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, quinoa, chia, etc.
The milks of such nuts and seeds – like almond milk and sesame seed horchata…
Other beans besides lentils and black beans – red kidney beans, pinto beans, pink beans, white beans, chickpeas, cannellini beans, fava beans, green beans, etc.
Brown rice – and when combined with beans, it is a complete form of protein.
Whole grain pastas – I am guessing the spaghetti in the chart above means whole wheat, but let’s make that note here then. Regular semolina pasta is not rich in protein, but the whole wheat or whole grain kind is.
Spirulina – Spirulina is an algae found in certain lakes. And in dry form it’s 60% protein… I have taken it in tablets.

And… excess protein is harmful to our health regardless if it’s animal or vegetable protein. So be mindful not to exceed the necessary daily requirement. If we sin, it’s usually because we exceed the necessary protein intake. By knowing which foods provide which amounts of protein we can plan accordingly and try to avoid the excess.

So, don’t worry about your protein intake… there’s plenty of protein going around and in the vegetable world there’s way more variety than what people really think.

Tags: almond, beans, brown rice, food, lentil, peanut, protein sources, quinoa, spirulina, vegetable protein, vegetarian, whole grain pasta, whole grains

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Categories MY EDITORIAL

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Vegetarian Protein Sources…

18 Feb

Tags: beans, food, greens, meatless mondays, protein sources, vegetarian, whole grains

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Categories Veggie Bites of Wisdom

The Shape of Foods Help our Organs?? – BEANS

1 Nov

This is part of a series on how our food can help certain organs that resemble their same shape. I already shared with you how carrots benefit the eyes, how tomatoes and grapes benefit the heart, how walnuts are essential for brain health and how celery and other stalky veggies are great for bone health.

And now… beans. You know I am not a fan of beans. And red kidney beans least of them all. I have been able to tackle chickpeas / garbanzo beans, white beans, and lentils so far. But to me, the worst are red kidney beans. And the worst thing… the red kidney bean is considered the national bean in Puerto Rico – arroz con habichuelas colorás is the norm in every traditional Puerto Rican home.

According to this theory, beans and particularly red kidney beans are supposed to be good for kidney health. I have not been able to find ANYTHING in this cyber world we live in where it says beans are good for kidneys. The closest I found was that kidney beans are an excellent source of the trace mineral, molybdenum, which is responsible for detoxifying sulfites. Sulfites are a type of preservative commonly added to prepared foods like meats, prepared products and dried goods, like sun-dried tomatoes, dried fruits and some vinegars.

Red Kidney Beans are good sources of fiber and protein. That we do know and combined with whole grain rice, it provides all the essential amino acids a person needs to support good health.

I do not have any recipes with red-kidney beans, but here are a few recipes using other types of beans/legumes you could try today:

Chickpea Cocido

Hummus

Babaga-hummus

Lentil Soup Mom’s Style

Toasted Chickpeas and Pistachios