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Meatless Meals – What about beans?


March 19, 2012 | Peggy Martin

Meatless Meals – What about beans?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about meatless meals on our Facebook page.  Choosing to go meatless for a meal or for an entire day is one way to save a little money on your grocery bill.  This can be easy at breakfast and lunch, but tends to be a little more difficult at supper time.  Even with a husband and a son who like to have meat with their meals, our family enjoys a meatless supper together once or twice each week.

Unfortunately, my post focused only on eggs and nuts as a good source of protein when choosing to go meatless.  My family and I love beans as a meatless meal.  There are some great bean recipes on the Spend Smart Eat Smart website; each recipe has helpful tips on preparing beans.  One of our favorites is Cowboy Caviar.  My son likes to eat it plain, but my husband and I spoon it into whole wheat tortillas and top it with some shredded cheese.  It also makes a good topping for lettuce salad or a dip for vegetables or tortilla chips.

Besides saving some money on food, meatless meals do have another benefit.  They help add variety into a weekly menu.  Eating a variety of foods from all the food groups (fruits, vegetables, dairy, protein, and grains) helps us make sure that we are getting all the nutrients we need primarily from food.

We also use soy to add protein to meals when we choose to go meatless, but that is a topic for another post…

Cowboy Caviar

Ingredients:

  • 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained
  • 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, cooked
  • 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilies
  • 3 green onions, sliced
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Instructions:

  1. Stir together kidney beans, black beans, corn, tomatoes, chilies, and onions in a large bowl.
  2. Add lime juice, oil, salt, and pepper; toss gently to combine.

Justine Hoover, MS, RD, LD


Peggy Martin

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