Does anyone have a brilliant recipe for different ways to cook beans?
I’ve had gastric bypass surgery and need to get my allotted protein. I’ve never been a fan of beans, but since they have so much protein I need some ideas. Also, does anyone else have problems “smelling” the protein in protein drinks? If so, any suggestions on how to overcome it?
April 5th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
The best trick I can advise is to never salt your beans before or while you are cooking them. Always salt beans after they’ve cooked, otherwise you run the risk of them becoming tough. Yesterday I simmered some black beans and added minced garlic and white wine vinegar. When they were done, I added some salt. They were a big hit.
April 5th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Here’s two links with a lot of bean recipes, I hope this helps.
http://www.justbeanrecipes.com/index.html
http://www.beanbible.com/
April 5th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
As far as smelling the protein in protein drinks, could you add something really flavorful to mask it, like blend your protein drink with some frozen strawberries or peaches or something?
For beans, the easiest tasty things I know to do with them are:
1. bean tacos
Just heat some fat free or vegetarian canned refried beans and put them into corn taco shells. Heat them in the oven a bit, then add lettuce, tomato, onion, picante sauce, and some cheese if you can have that. Very yummy.
2. oven-baked bean chimichangas
Heat the refried beans. Put some oil on a baking sheet and put the bean mixture into flour tortillas, add some cheese or onion or whatever you want, roll them up and then roll them around in the oil a bit and bake them at 350 degrees until they are browned a bit. Serve with picante sauce, lettuce or whatever you like on the side.
April 5th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
I like black beans (they are meaty tasting). The easiest way is to have 1 can black beans, drained, 1 can stewed tomatoes (with onion and green pepper) and Uncle ben’s 90 sec micowave brown rice. I like to add garlic powder.
Also, can make black bean burgers, using your favorite condiments to go into it.
Also, in pita bread, too. Any recipe that included meat, can use black beans instead.
As far as protein drinks, can add a little vanilla to improve the taste and smell. Cinnamon is also good and good for you; it stabilizes the blood glucose level.
April 5th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Best to use dry beans and soak overnight and change water before cooking . Beans can be used in main courses,salads and even desserts such as chocolate cake and puddings. Tinned beans if using do rinse due to high sodium content . If gas (flatulence) is a problem there are products such as Beano which is an enzyme which is added to food a few drops , to help digest the starch and gradually body will build up a resistance to it.
April 5th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
I find it’s best to cook beans alone until they’re done and then add stuff or they don’t get done.
April 5th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Soaking and cooking dried beans thoroughly helps to break down the complex sugars (oligosaccharides) which challenge our digestive systems. Some herbs that help the digestion of beans can be added during the cooking process. These include bay leaf, cumin, and winter or summer savory, fresh epazote (available in Hispanic markets). Many people from India maintain the tradition of chewing on dried fennel seeds or drinking a cup of fennel tea at the end of a legume meal to aid the digestion.
This website has a wealth of information on beans, including, different cooking methods, cooking times, what to do with leftovers and freezing cooked beans:
http://www.centralbean.com/cooking.html
There are several recipes below using various cooking methods. Some use dried beans and some use canned beans.
The pressure cooker is my preferred method of cooking beans. This video demonstrates how to cook beans in a pressure cooker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPS1bSVOx9o
Red Beans and Rice The Traditional Southern Way – This video was given a 5-Star rating by viewers and has very positive comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdGChyzHG3Y&feature=fvw
I love the combo of beans and rice. Beans are good with white, brown and yellow rice. Here is a video demonstration: Recipe for Easy Black Beans and Rice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPHX6T1k-UI&NR=1
Video: Oven Bar B Que Baked Beans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJEUiNZfs9k&feature=related
Video: Old Fashioned Baked Beans in the crock pot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jAd4902p6w
Video Recipe: White Bean Soup – If you do not have a hand blender like he is using, you can just use a potato masher. The recipe calls for white beans. You can use northern beans or cannellini beans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm1tIKM87eA
April 5th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Congratualations on your choice to improve your health…I would do the same thing if I had medical insurance. I have never drank a protein drink so I can’t help with that but maybe you can try drinking the protein drink out of a cup with a top on it like one of those reusable coffee cups with the sippy hole ,that way the smell may be more contained instead of right up you nose(I know GP’s are not supposed to use straws so I didn’t see that as an option). And beans are a great choice to increase your protein intake since nail problems and hair loss will get worse if you don’t get enough protein(expect some hair loss between 3-9 months post op but keeping your protein up will help)..and since you can use Gas-x,beanO or some kind of simethicone you should be fine with the beans and may they may actually be easier to digest than some meats as long as you chew until the food is the consistancy of apple sauce (as recommended be careful because some foods as you know can cause “clogging” and the bean “skin” may need more chewing). I am including my 5 bean salad recipe and also black bean “dip” which I use as a mexican bean salad.
5 bean salad:Any 5 cans of beans drained and rinsed well to remove all that starchy liquid(I like the firmer beans/peas but you can use whatever ones you like and even use just one can/type of bean.
Finely chopped sweet onion and red and or green pepper to taste
Chopped parsley(optional)
Low or NO fat Honey mustard salad dressing(I soak the salad with it but you can add it to taste since you need to watch the sugar content)…mix it up and that’s it.
Black bean dip: Canned black beans,canned,thawed or fresh corn(if you can tolerate it),and jarred or freshly made Salsa mixed in ..you can add extra onion,peppers,cilantro,etc if you like…that’s it.
I know there are a lot of cooked bean recipes out there also as you requested so I wish you luck in finding some great ones….and I wish you a healthy successful new life!