From Brownies to Pasta, 8 Recipes for Eating More Beans

Beans are a food I have every intention of eating more often, and then don’t. There’s the long cooking time for fresh beans, making them not an option during the slim window of time during which dinner needs to get made, and the mushy sameness of canned beans that’s so unappetizing my brain immediately shifts gears to pasta.

Finally, deciding I wanted this protein source in my family’s diet in more than just theory, I made two decisions: to be better about preparing slow-cooking items on Sundays, so they’re ready to go for weekday meals, and to have a handful of go-to bean recipes that are realistic for weeknights — meaning they don’t require an hour alone in the kitchen or anything I likely don’t already have or can’t quickly pick up between my daughter’s daycare spot and our front door.

Here’s what I came up with. I hope this list also helps you during the dinner rush — or, better, helps hasten you to a calm evening at the table — and that in the comments section you’ll share your favorite quick dinner ideas.

Tortilla Salad — this 101 Cookbooks recipe was inspired by the lovely pink hues of the cranberry beans that go into it.

This Kale and Bean Soup, adapted from the Columbus Dispatch by Sweet Amandine, calls for canned cannellini beans and chickpeas. Given that they’re paired with kale and parmesan — two of my favorite things — in addition to being lightly mashed, this is when canned beans in the pantry are a good idea.

Linguini, Smoky Avocado Sauce, Black Beans and Lime. Black beans, avocado, red onion and cilantro are a lovely foursome, but until this convincing photo in Taste with the Eyes, I’d never have thought they could get friendly with linguini. I stand corrected.

Kidney beans, red peppers, celery and onion cozy up to some fluffy white rice in Deborah Madison’s Red Beans and Rice recipe.

Rancho Gordo sells the most flavorful, deeply savory beans I’ve ever tasted — beans that negate the need for the ham hock that beans are so often paired with. I can’t recommend them highly enough as a source for purchasing beans, among other things. Plus, RG’s Cannellini-Anchovy Spread (roasted garlic could make a nice anchovy replacement) on a toasted baguette is just type of thing that can turn a big summer salad into a satisfying dinner.

The title of this Epicurious.com recipe, Squash and Black Bean Stew with Tomatoes and Green Beans, nearly says it all. It pairs canned black beans with a Kabocha or butternut squash.

And, what’s dinner without dessert? Heidi Swanson promises that neither these Amazing Black Bean Brownies nor these Marathon Cookies (with navy beans, great northerns or white kidney beans) actually taste like beans. I believe her. But I still plan to find out for myself.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/michellemaisto/2012/04/30/from-brownies-to-pasta-8-recipes-for-eating-more-beans/