“Think Red” Healthy Red Bean Dip

Continuing on with our “Think Red” series to encourage wiser food choices that can contribute to heart health, today’s blog post is not just about beans and heart health.  We’d like to also mention the larger family that beans belong to as well.

Various beans can actually be quite heart healthy, depending upon exactly how they are prepared and what other ingredients they are combined with. Most people are familiar with red kidney beans, although there are many other beans, which belong to a larger family called “pulses” and include a wide range of naturally nutritious offerings. Image courtesy of Iowa State University Extension.

We’ll mention just a few of these and talk about some dips just to get you started in exploring some of the possibilities of using more beans and other pulses in your meal and snack planning.  A favorite for Super Bowl Sunday is this super easy to make healthy bean dip recipe we’ll list the ingredients for in just a minute.  

Italians actually cook with a number of beans, including both red kidney beans and also white kidney shaped beans (aka cannellini), along with chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) and more pulses.   Prominent in Italian cuisine, especially from around Tuscany, beans and other pulses can be used in so many ways!

Beans and other pulses are lower in cost compared to many other protein sources.   They have a more desirable nutritional profile since they are low in fat and naturally cholesterol free. These beans are also decent sources of protein (about twice the protein content of wheat and about three times the protein content of rice) and are best mixed with other protein sources to round out their nutritional value. Additionally, they are sources of complex carbohydrates including fiber, and several minerals and vitamins (magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, etc).

One cup of cooked lentils or dry peas contains about half the daily fiber recommendation for adults and can be a help to those concerned with weight management, since pulses contribute to a pleasant sensation of being satiated or feeling full at meal or snack times.

Red or white kidney shaped beans are sold in dry form (dry beans double in size when cooked) as well as cooked and canned form, so be sure to rinse off any excess sodium from canned beans whenever possible.  This would also hold true for garbanzo beans as well.

To cook dry beans, just soak them overnight; change out the water and rinse thoroughly, then boil them for a full 10 minutes; lower the heat and continue to simmer for 1-2+ hours or until tender (of course, this process would go more rapidly in a pressure cooker).

Slow cookers typically don’t reach the boiling point, so do not use them for the boiling phase of cooking.

Garbanzo beans often take close to an hour longer than kidney shaped beans to cook through (there are charts on the www for pointers such as this one from Betty Crocker  http://www.bettycrocker.com/tips/tipslibrary/charts-timetables-measuring/timetable-cooking-dried-beans-legumes).

Rinsed, precooked/canned garbanzo beans or kidney beans are easily used for classic Super Bowl Sunday healthier dips (homemade hummus or the healthy red bean dip we’re mentioning today); also for minestrone soups, salads, and fagioli dishes, etc.

In one of my previous blog posts from last December 6DEC2011: “Holiday Baking –  Keep Some Flavor, Skip Some Fat”  I had even mentioned how cannellini beans, when pureed, can also contribute to making healthier brownies by substituting for shortening at levels of 25% and even 50%. University researchers found in their study that acceptability of the brownies was still at a desirable level and obviously the brownies were then quite a bit more nutrient dense as well! J Am Diet Assoc. 2005;105:1295-1298.  The same substitution principle would work for dense chocolate cakes as well.

You can find a range of ideas for using pulses in a wide range of places on the www, and a publication by North Dakota State University entitled Pulses: The Perfect Food FN1508 is just one of those and focuses on peas, lentils and chickpeas.  A word of caution–although not all recipes in the pdf will be specifically modified to fit in with American Heart Association suggested guidelines, but some will.

You can check out other Cooperative Extension sites such as the one at the University of Connecticut for even more helpful information on beans and more.

We hope you’ll give some of these beans and other pulses a try–you just might be very pleasantly surprised with the results.

HEALTHY RED BEAN DIP

Yield: 1 lb.

Ingredients:

•  1-16 oz. can of kidney or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 Tbsp. white vinegar (if you want to vary the flavor slightly, use red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar, etc.)
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. finely minced onion
• 2 tsp. finely minced fresh parsley
• optional: 1-2 or more tbsp. or to taste of very finely chopped canned or fresh green chilies or jalapeno peppers

Method:

1. Mash the kidney beans in a tabletop blender or by hand, being sure to do so in two batches (an immersion blender used in a flat bottom metal bowl can also work).
2. Add tomato juice, other vegetable juice or reduced sodium broth–add only enough liquid to reach desired dip consistency.
3. Then add all of the: peppers (if used), vinegar, chili powder and cumin and stir until thoroughly blended in. Dip should be quite thick, but mixable. If too thick, gradually add a small amount of additional liquid and keep stirring until proper dip consistency is reached.
4. Stir in the onion and parsley.
5. Chill if desired, to allow flavors to meld slightly, or serve immediately with vegetable crudities or with low-fat or reduced-fat baked pita chips or baked corn chips, etc.