Tasty Tuesday

Bean Flours

This one is for you Jennifer!

Okay I found some GREAT basic information on bean flour at Emergency Essentials.

How to Use Bean Flour in Cooking

taken directly from this site

White beans or fava beans have a milder taste, making white bean flour or fava bean flour suitable for use in most recipes calling for white flour. Substitute 1/4 of the white flour for bean flour.

Bean flour made from kidney, pinto, garbanzo, chana dal or black beans has a stronger flavor and is more suitable for inclusion in meat loaf or when making vegetable patties or vegetarian loaves.

Bean flour can be whisked into soups and stews, adding flavor and goodness. Bean flour can also be used to thicken these dishes.

The Gluten Free Cooking School site had a great post about ways to use bean flours.

I found these tips interesting:

Black Bean Flour: Use as part of your baking mix for chocolate cakes and brownies; try adding a small amount to bread recipes to get that dark whole-wheat look; the Bob’s Red Mill site has recipes for a black bean dip and black bean tortillas

Green Pea Flour: Add reconstituted green pea flour to guacamole to lower the fat content and add extra nutrients; use as part of your baking mix for chocolate cakes and brownies; use to thicken soups and stews.

I know green peas are NOT beans but are in the legume category so......I tend to lump them together.

RECIPES!!!

Big Oven has around 1600 bean flour recipes here. EDIT!!! Iwent to check out several of these recipies and yes some have beans in them and some have flour but I did NOT find a bean flour recipe. GRRRRRR!!!!!

101 Cookbooks had Amazing Black Bean Brownies. They look incredible. YUM!!!!! (Jen I think you hubby could go for those!)

If you do a bean flour recipe search you will also find MANY gluten free sites. Let me tell you they are incredible. I never knew the things you could make with out regular white flour.

Happy Bean Eating!!

Whatever Wednesday

Garden Update

Here is lettuce from our garden. The kids loved it. This picture was taken about 3 weeks ago and can you believe some of this is still in my fridge looking as fresh as the day we picked it!!!

We picked these strawberries tonight to go with our store bought ones. They are tiny but yummy!! I put the quarter in for a size reference.

Other garden news!

Our 1st batch of peas are at least 3 feet tall and the second batch is not too far behind them. Beans are coming along, the second batch is taller. LOL! I gave me radish bed a string talking to then pulled them up. The didn't grow(leafs grew but no ball), so I planted some more!! My first set of carrots are getting so tall. Something ate the greens off the second set but the third is poking up through the soil!! My bigger than I could have imagined broccoli is turning yellow and wilty GRRR!! And my lettuce is awesome and continuing to grow. The 2 second batches are about 3 inches tall. Yummers! Also this month we plan to plant our Halloween pumpkins and some watermelon. We will see how they do.

Thrifty Thursday

A Well Stocked Car

No not an emergency kit. But a sanity kit!!

How many times do you get running errands or on a "short" ride to a friend or relatives home and about half way into it you hear, "I am hungry" or "I need a drink!"

Well I don't play the stop and pick something up game. Most of the time they just need a quick snack.

And that is what they get from me!

I keep a big zip lock in my console with snacks in it.

Each seat in my vehicle has a water jug.

What snacks do I pack?

Per child: 1 cracker pack (think pb crackers or cheese sandwich crackers)

1 granola bar

1 fruit snack

1 drink box

So they get a treat and I get to save $$$$$$. Plus these are great to have on hand in case you do happen to have some kind of emergency.

Other items to have on hand:

Blankets: I keep 4 small fleece blankets in my car. They are comfort items for tired kiddos, toys (think peek-a-boo), and great for wrapping up a I-really-messed-up-my-cloths kid.

Wet wipes: I have those little sanitized wipes you get at restaurants and baby wipes.

Tylenol or ibuprofen: MOMMY and DADDY saver!! You know you need it sometimes! :) Put some in the car. Saves you $$ and a headache.

Plastic bags: yucky clothes, food messes, & dirty diapers

Tasty Tuesday

Food Pyramid
Grains: There are two kinds of grains. Whole grains and refined grains. Half of your grains should be whole grains, such as whole-wheat flour, oatmeal, and brown rice.

Vegetables: Make sure to eat a variety of veggies. Vegetables are important sources of many nutrients, including potassium, dietary fiber, folate (folic acid), vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin C.

Fruits: Again eat a variety. Fruits are important sources of many nutrients, including potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C, and folate (folic acid).

Milk: Choose low-fat or fat-free versions. Dairy is important as it provides or body with Calcium, potassium, and Vitamin D as it helps the body to maintain proper levels of calcium and phosphorous.

Meat & beans: Be sure to choose lean cuts of meat. Meats and beans provide many nutrients such as protein, B vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and B6), vitamin E, iron, zinc, and magnesium.

Oils: Most of your fats should come from fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. Avoid saturated fats. Limit fat solids such as butter, margarine, and lard. AVOID trans-fats.

Salt and sugars: Use moderation.

For more information check out mypyramid.gov. This were I got all the above information. Hey I am learning too! :)