Beans, beans, the magical fruit...

or, WWFD #2!

sometimes you don't want soy soy soy everything, which I totally get. A vegetarian pal of mine doesn't eat soy at all, she believes it alters her menstrual cycle. My sister tries to limit the amount of soy products that her small sons eat (also out of concerns for the phytoestrogen effect of soy). I don't believe that any food, eaten in moderation, is likely to do that, however, it does make me consider how much of my protein I get from a single source (thus the whole moderation thing...). After all, in the non-animal protein world, soy is ubiquitous, easy to get, easy to prep given its zillion formats (tvp, soy powder, protein drinks, protein bars, edamame, most fakemeats) making it a habit that I didn't even realize the extent to which I had.

Similarly, I think that there are lots of well-meaning folks who are trying to source their protein from more non-animal places, and wind up malnourished - you know the types - "cheese and cracker" vegetarians and "veggie mush meals" vegans. Missing nutrients, missing variety, and no-one wants to come over for dinner (uh, like totally gross and boring! gag me with a spoon!) making them a very lonely and pasty-looking bunch indeed. When they try to do better, I suspect most people soy-addicts.

and so, with no further dilly dalliance, I will share:

WWFD#2: basil quinoa with braised kale and white beans. no soy, but plenty of protein, fiber, and most importantly, taste.
why? because we like you.

and because I think that beans, an ultra-unprocessed and simple, humble legume, don't get enough love. There is a lot of bean fear out there - they're hard to cook, they taste bad, they're mushy, they're contaminated, and make you toot...

none of which is true if you make them well.

the truth is that beans are a nutritional superstar - they're super cheap, they're portable, they're readily available in dry bulk, and they're full of protein and fiber. Dry or canned, they'll keep in your pantry until your Twinkie goes bad, helping to relieve the pressure of your having to shop or pre-consider your meal when you are stressed and work has left you lobotomized (just me? oh well, disregard that last bit...).

Beans are actually really versatile for cooking, and most have no sugar calories to write home about.

add in kale - a most misunderstood vegetable. Made well, it is not bitter, it is not gritty, and yet it is cheap (!!), delicious, and a good source of non-heme iron.

recipe to follow. this dinner took about 15 minutes to make, most of which was spent passively (stirring the kale, rarely. waiting for water to boil, etc...)

along with a confession: I added a vegetarian (mostly, but not entirely non-tofu) sausage to this when I ate it. some habits are hard to break.