Delicious Bean Dishes, Ideal Protein

I remember learning "Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit," while driving in our old red and white van. When my mother complained about my sister and I learning songs with people "tooting," my father promised we wouldn't remember. Now, thirty years later, I remember.

In my parent's home, I grew up on steak and noodles; it was a favorite and eaten regularly. As an adult, I follow a vegetarian diet and avoid refined carbohydrates. It's likely I'll never eat my favorite childhood dinner again, and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Instead of both of those former favorites I now enjoy: Beans.

I love beans and lentils, and I'll share how to make one of easiest and best tasting bean dishes I've ever had. This dish is incredibly delicious and full of protein. In addition, once you know that it takes one thousand gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef, or worse, that many animals used for consumption these days have cancer and tumors, you'll understand that why using this dish often will benefit both your body and the environment.

One of the best things about bean dishes is that there are so many different kinds of beans, and they all taste different. The recipe I'll share will work with just about any type of bean or lentil, but my favorites are red lentils and black-eyed-peas. Red lentils are delicious and because they only take about fifteen minutes to prepare, they are a wonderful fast meal and a perfect pasta replacement. Black-eyed-peas take a bit longer, about forty minutes, but when you're eating them, you'll know exactly why you waited.

Because I'm big on easy food preparation, you'll just need a couple of things to make this simple dish.

The first is coconut oil, which if you're not cooking with coconut oil regularly, you should be. Coconut oil is full of medium chain fatty acids, which offer remarkable health benefits. Coconut oil is known to kill cancer cells, be anti-bacteria, and contrary to popular belief, coconut oil actually works to prevent heart troubles. On top of that short summary of the benefits of coconut oil, coconut oil is the only oil that can stand the heat of cooking without creating free radicals. Plus, it's delicious.

The second item needed is sea salt, which is very different than traditional table salt. Unprocessed sea salt is full of minerals - which most people are deplete in - and is structurally different than standard table salt, which the body sees as toxic. So, if you haven't made the switch yet at your table, now's a perfectly good time to do so.

The third is fresh sage. Like many herbs, sage protects against cancer, has anti-bacterial properties, and is absolutely delicious. Now, you'll need your beans or lentils and purified water and that's it.

So, this is what you'll do with all of it...

Add a teaspoon or two of coconut oil to your pot. Heat it up, and tear up and add 5-7 large fresh sage leaves per large serving of prepared beans or lentils you plan to make. Let the sage sauté on low heat for a minute, then add your purified water and beans or lentils. You'll need about three times as much water as dried beans or lentils. Just it bring to a boil, and when boiling turn the heat down to medium low, cover, and let cook until they've finished. If you're not sure how long to cook the beans or lentils you're using, a Google search will easily yield the answer.

When they're finished the beans or lentils will be soft. Now, add in a teaspoon of coconut oil per large serving and use sea salt to flavor. You'll be amazed at how easy and delicious this is. And six to seven cups of beans or lentils each week meet the protein requirements of humans - so they're an easy hearty replacement if you want to move away from eating meat. Indulge and enjoy!

Kim Evans is an author and educator on cleansing the body. Her book, Cleaning Up!, offers a total body cleanse [http://www.cleaningupcleanse.com/ultimate-body-cleanse/], which addresses many common problems in the body. As an avid adventurer in the kitchen, Cleaning Up! also includes many simple delicious healthy recipes using whole foods from nature - including healthy desserts.

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