As we continue to celebrate heart month, let’s focus on eating a diet high in fiber and low in saturated fats. Beans can be an excellent source of protein that can replace animal proteins with meals. Not only do beans include a good source of protein, they are an excellent source of fiber as well. When you replace an animal protein with a protein source coming from a plant such as beans, you reduce your intake of saturated fats.
Need to be convinced further about including beans with your meals? Well, I always hear the excuse that eating healthy costs more money. This is a perfect example of how this does NOT apply to beans. You can purchase a 32 oz bag of dried beans for right at $3.00 and a can of beans for under a $1! You can’t beat that price for a food that can be used as your protein paired with vegetables for a perfect meal, topped on your salad for protein, made into a soup for a filling meal, or made into a patty such a black bean burger to replace the high fat ground beef.
Here is one of my favorite recipes for a heart healthy soup that includes black beans. I would love to hear how your family enjoys this recipe!
Quick Black Bean Soup
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 4 large cloves of garlic
- 3 (15 oz) cans black beans
- 2 (14 ½ oz) low salt chicken broth
- 1 (28 oz) diced tomatoes in juice
- 1 ¼ c. chopped onion
- 1 ½ tsp diced thyme
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 ½ tsp hot pepper sauce
Heat oil in large pot. Add onion, garlic, thyme and sautee until onion is golden. Drain beans but keep 1 cup liquid and add beans, liquid, broth, tomatoes with juice, cumin, and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove 2 ½ cups soup and puree in blender. Mix puree back into soup and taste for seasoning.
Nutrition information:
- Calories 181
- Fat 3 grams
- Fiber 10 grams
- Carbohydrate 28 grams
- Protein 11 grams
Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light
