I've always wondered what is the difference between beans and legumes but I never had any incentive to look into it...until now. Being diagnosed with Alpha Gal has spurred me to careful assess my dietary intake and to have a better understanding of what foods are and what they do for me nutritionally. Beans and legumes are truly a jackpot protein source. All beans and legumes are not created equal but they all have great nutritional value and with all the varieties, an abundance of eating options.
My all time favorite is brown beans and cornbread which I talked about in my last post. I am going to have a big pot of beans today. There is a food program in the U.S. for women, infants and children called WIC and they have this really awesome bean guide pdf. It has really awesome tips on different ways to cook beans including quick cook instructions for doing beans in the microwave. Basically, instead of soaking beans overnight like most instructions will tell you, you put them in water and microwave them for about 8-10 minutes, then take them out and let them sit for an hour. Then drain, put in new water and cook for 10-20 minutes and VOILA! A fresh pot of beans. I am going to try that today and see how well it works out. Be sure to click that link to the bean guide and take advantage of all the valuable bean bennies it has in it. ;)
So, back to my original question -- what are legumes? According to the MayoClinic.org website:
Legumes — a class of vegetables that includes beans, peas and lentils — are among the most versatile and nutritious foods available. Legumes are typically low in fat, contain no cholesterol, and are high in folate, potassium, iron and magnesium. They also contain beneficial fats and soluble and insoluble fiber. A good source of protein, legumes can be a healthy substitute for meat, which has more fat and cholesterol.The same site goes on to list a variety of legumes and what dishes they are commonly used in. It is well worth the read. On the second page of the article it gave some tips about beans/lentils/peas that don't have to be soaked before cooking:
Lentils, split peas and black-eyed peas don't need to be soaked. In addition, some legumes are "quick-cooking" — meaning they have already been pre-soaked and redried and don't need extra soaking. Finally, canned legumes make quick additions to dishes that don't require long simmering. Just be sure to rinse prepared and canned legumes to remove some of the sodium added during processing.But all this did make me wonder, if *legumes* include beans, peas and lentils -- what are lentils? I know what beans and peas are. So, I did some more digging...
According to the World's Healthiest Foods website:
Lentils are legumes along with other types of beans. They grow in pods that contain either one or two lentil seeds that are round, oval or heart-shaped disks and are oftentimes smaller than the tip of a pencil eraser. They may be sold whole or split into halves with the brown and green varieties being the best at retaining their shape after cooking.Ok, so I guess that is a little clearer....
Now, I'm off to quick micro-cook my pot of brown beans. I can't wait to sink into a bowl with some buttered cornbread. Hurry, hurry...this is one hungry Alpha-Gal-Licious gal....
