In need of bean-spiration?

I have a confession to make: I've been in a bit of a cooking rut as of late. As a masters student with quite the busy schedule, meal planning is essential for me to maintain healthy eating habits. Normally, I plan a week's worth of meals and then cook big batches on the weekend. This way, I don't need to worry about preparing meals during the week so that I can focus on other things. I have some recipes that I come back to week after week, month after month. Although I do love my lentil soups and Moroccan-inspired stews, I've started to get bored and uninspired with the usual protagonists. 

Enter this beautiful 15-bean mix. Nothing like this kaleidoscope of colours to rekindle inspiration, eh?

My favourite thing to do with this mix is to cook up a big batch of soup (recipe below). Soups are a great way to use up old vegetables (reducing our food waste impact!), can be prepared in big batches and freeze very well for those busy months. Besides pretty colours to inspire me, I have a lineup of trusted blogs I like to visit when I need to spice things up in the kitchen. Here are some of my favourites:

-Oh She Glows (try this burrito recipe - you won't regret it!)
-101 Cookbooks (this carrot salad was simple and delicious)
-Green Kitchen Stories (these protein bars are great for busy mornings)
-Sprouted Kitchen (I'll be trying these sweet potatoes next)
-Scandi Home (we often make this split pea soup)

There are so many great websites for healthy cooking and eating out there, so if you ever find yourself in a cooking rut, I strongly recommend the above blogs. One thing that I particularly love about these sites is the bounty of gorgeous food photos each blogger features - if these don't inspire you to cook, then I don't know what will! Besides the internet, I also have a small collection of cookbooks that I use almost every week, but I'll save those for another post.

What are your favourite ways to use dried beans? Do you get bored with the usual dishes you prepare on a weekly basis? Where do you turn to for a good dose of culinary information?

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the recipe!

15-bean soup

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

-1tbsp olive oil

-1 large onion, diced

-1 head of celery, diced

-1.5 cups 15 bean mix, soaked in plenty of fresh water for 12 hours

-1 400g can diced tomatoes

-1 cube of vegetable stock

-8 cups water, or as much as needed

Procedure:

1. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Add onion and celery, and cook until tender (about 5 minutes).

2. Add soaked beans, diced tomatoes, as much water as desired water, and vegetable stock cube, and bring to the boil.

3. Reduce heat, and simmer for 1.5 hours, or until beans are thoroughly cooked.

4. Enjoy!

The Paleolithic Diet

A short aside from the origins of agriculture... have you ever heard of the palaeolithic diet, more commonly referred to as the paleo diet?

Photo taken from the BHAC website

The diet was founded by Dr. Loren Cordain of the Colorado State University, and is based on the notion that the most beneficial eating habits for human health are the ones that we are genetically adapted to (i.e. the diet of the hunter gatherer). The diet is supposedly associated with a wide range of health benefits from weight control to the reversal of autoimmune disease (Österdahl et al., 2007; Cordain et al., 2005; Frassetto et al., 2009)

So, what can you eat on the paleo diet? In short, modern foods that replicate what our hunter-gatherer ancestors used to eat. The diet is centred around these following food characteristics:

• Higher protein
• Low carbohydrate and glycemic index
• High fibre
• Moderate to high polyunsaturated fats with Omegas 3 and 6
• High potassium, low sodium
• Alkaline
• High vitamin, mineral, antioxidant, and phytochemical content

For example, the paleo diet allows you to eat food items such as grass-produced meats, fish and seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, nuts and seeds, and oils such as olive, flaxseed, and avocado. A "paleo-friendly" meal could be this lemongrass chicken curry.

If this post has piqued your interest and you'd like to learn more about the paleo diet, check out PaleoHacks' post on the top 25 paleo blogs. Although I do think that consuming more foods rich in vitamins, antioxidants, fibre, etc. is important for overall health, I think I'll be sticking to a more modern diet for the time being. The paleo diet also brings up some environmental questions - for example, if the globe's population increased their intake in protein from animal sources, what would be the consequences in terms of global emissions?  

What are your thoughts on the paleo diet?