Beans: The More You Eat the Better You Feel!

Top 10 reasons to increase beans in your daily diet: 

1. Beans are a vegetarian’s BFF. Like mushrooms and tofu, they can stand in for meat and are the perfect foil for any flavor profile. I dare you make a meatless white bean chili and miss the chicken.
   
   
2. The more you eat the more you . . . are likely to meet your daily fiber requirements. One cup of beans contains up to 15 grams of fiber—twice as much as most vegetables.
   
   
3. No one puts beans in the corner. Hearty and satisfying, bean soup can easily pass as a main dish. Which means all you need is bread for soaking up the broth and a leafy green salad for good measure. A nice Pinot Noir never hurts, either.
   
   
4. Beans are nutritional building blocks. When paired with rice or corn, they form a complete protein, providing the body with nine essential amino acids. Try the combination in a spicy Cuban soup or tortilla soup.
   
   
5. Bean swap. Beans are virtually interchangeable. Especially in soup and chilies. Don’t like kidney beans? Try adzuki. Don’t have cannellini beans on hand? Swap in Great Northerns.
   
   
6. Legumes are disease-fighting machines. Rich in antioxidants, they help ward off cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and Alzheimer’s.
   
   
7. Beans soup + slow cooker = good times. I like to throw in everything but the kitchen sink, let it simmer for 8–10 hours, and call it “bean soup.”
   
   
8. Do me a fava: If a soup recipe calls for soaking dried beans for several hours, watch Oprah instead. Then follow this basic equivalent: 2 cups dried beans = 4 - 5 cups cooked or canned beans.
   
   
9. Bean soup freezes like a dream. In a perfectly organized world, I’d make a big batch of, say, minestrone on Sunday night and freeze it in Ziploc bags for simple yet awe-inspiring weeknight suppers.
   
   
10. There’s a reason they’re called magic beans: They bring back memories. Chili cook-offs. Soup swaps. Family dinners. My grandmother’s fresh bean and corn soup still tastes like lazy summers at the lake when I was 8 years old.