Magic Beans

I’ve started my quest for healthier eating and re-introducing my body to some of my previous health staples. I’ve had adzuki beans for the past 3 days and will keep them as a recurring part of my diet. They are awesome beans! They are high in protein (11grams for ¼ cup), they help build your metabolism so your body can better metabolize the food you eat, their fiber content can help you feel full longer and they are known to benefit the bladder (great for bladder infections), reproductive organs, adrenals and kidney function. In Japan the adzuki bean is called the King of the Beans. I can’t believe I forgot about this little bean.

I soaked my beans overnight then put them on the stove covered with water and cooked them for about an hour. Don’t add salt to your cooking beans until they’re almost done, adding salt too early will cause the beans to contract and get hard. Season them when you’re done. Half of my beans were season with olive oil and sea salt (that’s the Italian in me that keeps making an appearance in my food, I can’t imagine a life without olive oil and sea salt. And parmesan) the rest of the beans weren’t seasoned and some of them were mixed into oatmeal for breakfast. Beans and oatmeal? It’s actually a quick, easy and tasty way to add some protein to breakfast.

Adzuki beans are very very versatile and can even be made into desserts. Just remember that when you’re turning your adzuki beans into desserts you’re probably counteracting all the benefits of the beans when you load them with sugar, so choose wisely. Take a look at this PAGE for some more adzuki bean info and tons of recipes. Let me know if you make any of them and which ones you like!

By the way, Annabelle loved adzuki beans too! I mixed hers with brown rice (and olive oil and sea salt) and put it in the food processor. It turned a little pasty so I put some water in it and then added some home-made apple sauce to it. Delicious!