Category Archives: Beans & Legumes

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Simple Lovely Lentil Soup

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Partly because we were in the middle of a snowstorm, and partly because we were having lots of company for dinner last Friday evening, I decided that I wanted to come home from work to a lovely pot of soup to get things started. 

But, as usual, I didn’t have a lot of time to get everything organized Friday morning, so I decided to see how simple I could make it and still end up with something worth sharing (and eating!). Basically the only work was chopping the potatoes and onion, which you could even get ready the night before, theoretically, if you wanted to get ready even faster. Here’s what I did:  Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: My Recipe for Baked Beans

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This recipe is 100% my own! It’s not super sweet like canned beans, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t sweet at all. You will find that the combination of molasses plus onion plus slow cooking gives these beans a complex mix of spice and sweet that’s flavorful and satisfying to the extreme. It’s guaranteed to warm your bones, whether you’re indoors or out. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Great Northern Beans and Rice

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This is the kind of recipe that you can often rustle up from items that you already have in the kitchen. In the neighborhood in which I grew up, my mom was famous for saying that if you have a can of beans, then you have a meal! Even if you’re missing an ingredient or two, this should still come out delicious! Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Judith’s Southwest Chopped Salad

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It’s time for another recipe from Judith! This time I got her to share her Southwestern Chopped Salad recipe, which is going to make you so, so happy! You can throw this together and have it for dinner all by itself, or you can take it to a party, where it’s sure to get rave reviews and unlikely to leave leftovers. Use canned black beans, canned corn, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder instead of garlic cloves — keep it as easy as you want. This is also a great recipe to set out deconstructed for kids, with lettuce in a large bowl in the center, and add-ons in smaller bowls all around, so that they think they’re the ones deciding what to eat. If you make the salad this way, you can serve the dressing separately in a small pitcher. Wink-wink.  Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Beans, Beans, They’re Good for Your Heart!

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Many years ago, my vegetarian sister had a boyfriend whose mother served her “bean loaf” when she went to their home. Its dreadful, unappetizing name was nothing like its wonderful flavor, so my sister and I renamed it “chickpea pie.” The chickpea pie recipe stuck around for much longer than the vegetarianism (and the boyfriend). I sure wish I could find that recipe again. Chickpeas, like peanuts and lentils and edamame (soybeans), are a type of bean. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: White Beans with Roasted Tomatoes

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This recipe makes a simple and lovely meal that could not be more delicious or satisfying! Like many recipes whose featured ingredient is one or more types of beans, it still tastes wonderful even if you fiddle with the ingredients a little. The name of the game is flexibility. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Sweet New Year Soup

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Tonight, as the sun slips below the horizon, we will begin our celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Traditional Rosh Hashanah foods tend toward the sweet and the circular: sweet for a sweet new year, and circular to represent the seasons that run one into the next, year after year, around and around. Instead of the usual braid, we even twist our challah (egg bread) into a round this time of year.  Continue reading →

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry (plus one glorious recipe!)

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An article on the obesity epidemic once ran in our local paper with the headline “Eat, drink, and be sorry.” Eat, drink, and be SORRY? The actual quote reads, “Eat, drink, and be merry, so that joy will accompany him in his work all the days of his life.” And herein lies the problem. Continue reading →

Everything You Need to Know About Your Cholesterol

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Every once in a while, a friend thrusts their latest cholesterol lab results in front of me and asks a barrage of questions:

“What do you think of these results, are they okay?”
“My doctor said the HDL is too low.”
“Why are my triglycerides so high?”
“What should the LDL be?”
“And why is the total so high if the individual numbers are good?”

This week we’re talking about what your cholesterol profile results mean, and how to make them better. Continue reading →

A New Cookbook called Love Thy Legumes!

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Dear readers,

I just finished reading a new cookbook called LOVE THY LEGUMES, and it was great! It’s an educational cookbook by public health nutritionist, Sonali Suratkar. Lucky for us, Sonali is passionate about cooking and nutrition education. Continue reading →