Tag Archives: lentils

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

Lentil Soup Mom’s Style

8 Nov

I am a self-proclaimed non-lover of beans…  I have mentioned this to you time and time and time and time again

But my first revelations into beans was a lentil cocido my mom made once when I used to live with her.  I just loved the flavors and I couldn’t believe I was actually enjoying eating beans BY THEMSELVES!!!  How could that be??

Last week my sister asked my mom to make lentil soup and this is the recipe she made…  I tried copying everything and watching everything as closely as possible.

 

 

LENTIL SOUP MOM’S STYLE

1 package of dried lentils
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
About 1 ½ cups of chopped pumpkin, about ½” cubes
1 can of stewed tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, minced
About 2 tbs olive oil
4 cups of vegetable broth
About 2 more cups of Water
1 tsp oregano
A pinch of cumin
About 1 tbs of Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper to Taste
 
  1. In a large stock pot on medium-hi heat sauté the onions, peppers, carrots, pumpkin and garlic with the olive oil.    When the vegetables soften a bit add the lentils and sauté.
  2. Add the stewed tomatoes, vegetable broth, and water.  Bring to a rolling boil.
  3. Season with the salt, pepper, oregano and cumin.
  4. Let the lentils boil for about 10 minutes.  Cover the pot for another 5 minutes and turn off the stove and let the lentils finish cooking with all the heat and steam inside the pot.  
  5. Allow the soup to rest for about 30 minutes before serving.  Before that it’ll be too hot in my opinion for people to enjoy the flavors.

 

My mom, in her interest to try the soup ASAP, burned the ceiling of her mouth.  I enjoyed it a lot with fresh pieces of tomato sprinkled in on top of the soup.  It’s amazing but I actually crave these lentils… amazing no?

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