Dieting With The Blue Legume
Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites
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The Healthy Legume Family for Weight Loss
Dive into legumes for healthy weight loss! Legumes fit the Diet Bill when it comes to protein and satiety powers - meaning those foods that keep a body feeling full for hours after they have eaten.
There are so many different varieties on the market that exploration and experimentation is not only healthy - it's also fun.
There is one variety that is a beautiful blue with just a hint of purple known as Mediterranean Blue Beans.
Mediterranean Blue Beans are of medium size and make a great tasting addition to salads (when beans have been cooked and drained) and can be tossed onto salad, cold. They also liven up the color of soups.
And they are rich in fiber, contain no cholesterol and add an exotic flair to foods.
You won't find Mediterranean Blue Beans in the aisle of your favorite, standard market. Look for them in specialty markets, and check with your local health food store. They are also available online. Simply type in, "Mediterranean Blue Beans" as the search terms using your favorite search engine.
They mirror other legumes in caloric and nutritional content at about 110 calories per 1/2 cup in cooked form.
Quick Bean Salad Recipe for Dieters, Ingredients & Preparation
This is such an easy recipe - and yes you can enjoy bacon and lose weight too; our Quick Bean Salad contains such. Just prepare in the microwave between two slightly moistened paper towels which will act like a sponge in absorbing the oils from the bacon. Each slice will contain about 25 calories.
This recipe is very large - so you can either arrange all of the ingredients in a big serving bowl as exampled to the right, or you can use single serving bowls, dividing the ingredients equally.
This recipe makes three very generous servings or several mini-servings, depending upon how much of the ingredient is added to each serving dish.
This bean salad recipe can be enjoyed hot or cold; therefore - depending upon the outside temperatures you may want to serve it accordingly. This makes a refreshing cold meal on a sizzling-hot day, and a warm comforting meal on a blustery-cold day.
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Start your recipe by lining a bowl with leafy greens; these are so low in caloric values - about 5 calories per leaf. Add more lettuce in shredded form to the top of the lettuce leaves - along with tomatoes that are chopped in petite-style.
Mix a medium sized can of green beans with one same-size can of petite diced tomatoes - and if you wish, you can certainly used the seasoned tomatoes, or fresh chopped tomatoes. Place the mix onto the bed of shredded lettuce.
Open a medium can of chickpeas - commonly referred to as garbanzo beans and place next to the green bean and tomato mixture.
Add a third section of kidney beans to the bowl; you can opt for dark or light red.
In addition, if you wish - all of the different legumes may be mixed with your favorite low calorie salad dressing before they are added to the bowl. Mix the kidney beans with light Italian salad dressing. The chickpeas go exceptionally well with either reduced fat honey mustard or poppy seed salad dressing. The green beans and tomato mixture is lovely with raspberry vinaigrette, the reduced calorie variety.
Finally, place the prepared bacon in the center of the dish.
Serve with a loaf of whole grain bread and reduced fat margarine. A cup of hot tea or ice tea also hits the spot.
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