I love black beans!

They are so versatile, so yummy, so pretty (oh yes, they can make a dish quite lovely!). The whole house of health seems to like them very much.

Black beans also hold, in each tiny little bean, a bunch of great healthy benefits for you!

Your digestive tract will be so happy with you if you eat your black beans! with all the fiber and protein packed in it helps things move through, swimmingly. This will keep your digestive tract from working too hard, who wants to work too hard, right?

With all that great fiber and protein in your bean you help your system regulate your blood sugar. That's great! You don't go through extreme highs and lows that could leave you feeling down right icky!

I like black beans because they help lower cholesterol. They have an abundance of soluble fiber which is precisely what does that. Yay! Lower cholesterol means less chance of heart disease. We like that!

For pregnant women, any of you out there?, these little beans are high in folate and B6 which is great for that growing fetus.

And for then men out there. This bean is high in Molybdenum which is known to reduce impotence. Fun stuff!!

Who doesn't love black beans now? I know, I know, if you are used to eating them on a regular basis you may experience some flatulence, right? Just rinse them before cooking, it helps tremendously. Little food tip for you. It also rinses off any extra salt that may have been added during processing.

In my house I have black beans and quinoa on hand on any given day. I wondered what in the world could I make that would satisfy the family? I looked in one of my new cookbooks, Let Them Eat Vegan!: 200 Deliciously Satisfying Plant-Powered Recipes for the Whole Family and found a recipe for Black bean, quinoa, and sweet potato croquettes. What is a croquette, you ask? Well, it's often a mass of veggies, meat, fish coated with egg or breadcrumbs and deep fried. Doesn't sound so healthy but this recipe gave us the healthy version.


The picture does not show this meal justice!

Along with these croquettes I made a Pumpkin Seed Chipotle Cream (wow, so good!!) and spread that on top. Since I fried them in a little oil and they are not soft they started to fall apart a bit so the spread made them look somewhat fancy again. I also made a fennel beet salad because we had an abundance of both from the CSA. That was super good too! I sauteed the fennel in some oil and baked the beets as I always do, wrapped in foil with oil and salt. I then cut up the beets and mixed them with the fennel along with a little oil, balsamic vinegar and salt. Quite tasty! I had an extra beet so we ate that just by itself. That was J's favorite part.

So, thought for today. I highly recommend you eat your black beans. And I highly recommend that cookbook above! She has great ideas. I aspire to be able to do the same some day. There is still so much testing to do. What comes with testing, besides the food...dishes! Lot's of dishes! A cooks work is never done.

Cheers and happy eating!