Posts Tagged ‘beans’

Sprouting Seeds for Health

sprouting seeds

In the UK, this is a period in the garden and yard that’s called ‘The Hungry Gap’. The last of the overwintered veggies are coming to an end and the spring sowings are not yet ready to be harvested. If you want healthy food that doesn’t cost the earth either in money or in food miles, it can be difficult to find a way to eat that balances your budget and excites your taste-buds. Enter the sprouting seed!

The system for sprouting seeds couldn’t be easier – you just soak seeds, preferably organic ones, for eight hours in lots of water to get them started. If you’re a big fan of the sprouted seed, you can invest in specialised sprouting equipment, but if you want to try the system out for free, all you need is a jar or tray with a paper or cloth cover, water, and some suitable seeds or grains. Keep the seeds moist and clean by rinsing them well twice a day and maintain a temperature of between 55 and 70°F. Seeds grown in the dark tend to be crisper.

Sprouting seeds are full of valuable nutrients like minerals as well as containing high amounts of protein and fibre. Above all, they taste crisp, fresh and delicious.

Eating for Energy - 5 Helpful Foods

The foods we eat have a direct impact on our overall energy.

Think about how you feel after having certain foods.

A greasy fast food meal more than likely leaves you tired, sluggish, and possibly feeling guilty, while a meal full of complex carbohydrates, healthy protein and fats, and fresh fruits and vegetables leaves a person feeling satisfied and energized.

Black Bean Brownies Recipe

chocolate brownie

With the recent scare of mercury in high fructose corn syrup many parents are worrying about the foods they have been feeding their children. Sweet snacks and treats are large concerns as they often contain a large amount of the potentially dangerous substance. Many parents are now looking for alternative foods they can feel comfortable giving their children. Companies that do not use high fructose corn syrup in their foods, such as Newman’s Own Organics, are becoming even more popular due to this new health risk.

However, parents can go an extra step and choose to make their own treats rather than buy prepackaged foods. Not only is this healthier and often less risky, it also cuts out the negative effects of packaging and transportation. One favorite healthy treat in my house is Black Bean Brownies.

Vegging Out: Easy Meat Substitutes for Optimal Health

Chicago’s health commissioner recently urged Windy City denizens to give up meat for the entire month of January, in a bid to improve locals’ health. Getting residents of Chicago—a city famed for its sausages—to go vegetarian for a month, or even a week, may seem like a tall order. Heck, I’m a vegetarian-leaning omnivore and it seems a bit challenging even for me!

However, the guy’s got a point.

Coffee Drinkers Beware: Colombia Says “Peak Coffee” is Near

Just kidding. We aren’t running out of coffee. But Colombia now says worldwide demand will exceed production next year.

Have We Reached \

Will this mean more habitat destruction as farmers rush to clear land to help meet the demands of coffee drinkers?

Colombia is the world’s third largest producer of coffee and according to Bloomberg News, a growers group in the country now says that there will be less coffee produced than is desired next year. Oddly, while there will be a probable international surplus of 6-7 million bags this year, the extra supply will soon be made irrelevant by a 10 million bag deficit next year. We aren’t talking about the bags of coffee you buy in stores: we are talking about 132 lb. bags.

If you drink coffee, then you soon might be drinking less than usual.

Lovin’ Fresh: Three Bean Salad

Blanched beans

Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Today’s recipe is a fresh, healthy, and quite seasonal.  Truth be told, it’s not terribly creative as I’m sure you’ve all had some form of Three Bean Salad at a family reunion or other summer potluck dinner.  However, after perusing many a recipe for this dish, I feel fairly confident that mine is the only one that actually uses just three kinds of beans!  Most had at least five, some even had more!  It got me thinking.  Why the heck are they all called three bean salads then?   Do you know?

Ask VJD: Does Eating Oats Lower Cholesterol?

Editor’s note: Eating your Cheerios? According to our friends at email tip provider Vital Juice Daily, oats, and other foods, are good for helping to reduce cholesterol.


I’ve heard through ads
that Cheerios helps reduce cholesterol. Are there any other foods that may help reduce cholesterol counts?

- Cindy

Dear Cindy,

There are foods that can help reduce your cholesterol counts! Here’s a roadmap on how to work these smart foods into your diet:

Mom Was Right: Eat Your Vegetables!

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard a thousand times: Eat Your Vegetables! From the day we moved onto solid foods until we moved out of the house, we heard this culinary command at least three times a day. Yet at some point, we tuned it out.

A new study American Journal of Preventive Medicine confirms this: Americans are eating fewer vegetables than ever. Researchers evaluated data from two large national health surveys

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Weekend Grub: Better-Than-Tuna Salad (aka Chickpea Salad)

Like tuna salad?  Then you'll love Colleen's Better-than-Tuna salad: all the tastes, without the fish.Like tuna salad? Then you'll love Colleen's Better-than-Tuna salad: all the taste, without the fish.As much as we don't like to admit it, much of what we do on a daily basis is out of habit, including the way we eat and the food choices we make. They may be borne out of familial, cultural, social, personal traditions,

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Weekend Grub: Easy, Tasty Garden Vegetables

This is a really simple recipe with a boring name that I considered jazzing up, but couldn’t think of anything more creative. The ingredients are common garden vegetables and so you may have all the ingredients needed right in your backyard. If not, a quick trip to the farmers’ market will take care of it. This dish is simple, flavorful, and just a really good way to taste the food without a whole lot of

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