My Bean-Eating Mission: Part I

Beans (re: garbanzo, black, kidney, etc) are one of the staples of a nutritious vegan diet. Or at least, they should be. Unfortunately, despite my best intentions, I’ve had a hard time incorporating these little buggers into my food. I can think of two specific reasons:

1. I am lazy, and cans are more demanding than plastic wrap. When adding protein to a meal, I am apt to tear open a package of tofu, dice some, and go crazy…Yes, I am so lazy that the idea of opening a can and draining/rinsing its contents overwhelms me.

2. I eat alot, and beans are very high in fiber. I eat a lot of fiber already (vegetables, fruits, Ezekiel bread, etc), so I find that the addition of beans to a meal can leave me full for hours – hardly ideal.

Still, I think I need to strike a better balance between bean-tofu consumption, so I am trying out new recipes to incorporate more beans (a serving a day is the goal, right now I get about half that) into my meals. I already enjoy beans in chili and soup, so I figured that would be a good place to start. Yesterday I made a variation on a black bean soup from the excellent Refresh Cookbook.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 cans of black beans (drained and rinsed)

6 cups vegetable broth

hickory smoke, chili powder, Bragg’s, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast

Start by sauteeing the onion, garlic, celery, and red pepper in olive oil until softened. Add the rest of the ingredients, and bring to a boil. Then simmer until the sweet potato is soft, and puree.

This soup is smoky and delightful – I added pumpkin seeds and more yeast for a treat.