I’m always encouraging people to eat beans more often; they are loaded with nutrients and fiber. However, eating beans doesn’t mean you need to start using bean recipes that are 100% vegetarian. For the self-proclaimed “meat-eater” beans can still be very easily worked into one’s eating patterns without going vegan. Here are a few tips for eating beans more often:
- Work beans into dishes you already make, by reducing some of the meat to make room for the beans. Beans are a great addition to: pasta dishes, casseroles, soups, green salads, and chili.
- Add beans to your snacks by including more: hummus, bean-based salsas, bean dips/spreads,or roasted chickpeas
- Add beans where you’d least expect them: smoothies, frozen desserts, or baked goods – there are tons of recipes online that include beans in creative ways. Experiment!
- Try making bean-based sauces like White Bean Sauce or Asian Black Bean Sauce
What are your favorite bean dishes?
3 Responses (Add Yours)
When I was single I ate mostly vegetarian, so a lot of beans. However, I married a man who likes meat at every meal. Lately, I’ve been following your suggestion of adding beans to dishes with meat. My husband hasn’t had any complaints, and it both stretches our food budget and helps us eat healthier.
Beans are great! So many of them are an excellent source of fiber, in addition to many other important nutrients we need. My favorite bean-based dish is probably hummus, although with weather starting to get colder, chili is a close second!
I think that with a little bit of imagination we can combine beans with our meals to make tasty and healthy food, I personally like lentils :-)
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