ChrisComedy's Journal, 25 October 2014

you are one industrious individual, CC. Always making your own - DIY action. Awesome. Many delicious things to be made in a microwave, for sure. Have a good one. 

Nice drop! I see a lot of people on here eating beans. When I look at the calories on the side of a can of beans, it scares me. I'm assuming that your not using canned beans. I know the sodium is much higher from canned beans, but is there that much difference in calories between canned and homemade beans? Are they hard to cook? 

Way to go on your weight loss!  

Chillie Willie, I've had a lot more success with beans since I switched from using a pressure cooker to a crockpot. I find the pressure cooker needs more tending (refilling with water), is harder to clean, and it's noisier - not to mention the slight chance of exploding. It also helps to soak the beans overnight. After that, the crockpot is pretty much set and forget. I still have a lot of canned beans, but I'm trying to switch to homemade because of the sodium. When I do use canned, I rinse them with water. I assume that beans are beans when it comes to calories, but I don't know for sure. The great thing about beans is that they're filling, nutritionally dense, a great source of fiber, and a cheap source of protein. 

Thanks, br_e_co. I'm just getting started. Trying to make a transition to whole foods after years of being lazy and eating processed stuff. Hope to start making my own cereal/granola next. 

Thanks, Deb. 

Pressure cooking beans is simple, takes a few minutes, the rest is sitting there, no attention what so ever. Be glad to share Julia Childs directions with anyone. If you have her "Julia Child's Kitchen" cookbook it s in there. I have an old early 1970's yogurt maker that works beautifully.  

I alternate lentils with split peas every other day. I douse the lentils with curry, which suits my taste buds just fine. I add nothing at all to either except garlic and a tiny bit of salt. (I can really taste the salt nowdays, and it doesn´t take much). I eat these lentils, peas everyday because of the really high fiber and protein content. I cook in a covered pan, adding water every 15 min for about 45 min. Cook 500 grams, make 5 freezie bags of each. The best improvement was daily b.m. Second best is cheap, cheap, cheap. All that protein for about zilch. I make black beans sometimes, but soak them overnight. Just need to cook about 30 min or so. And I do imagine that these beans have about the same amt of calories as canned, be sure to read the label. They put tons of salt and sugar in everything. And ChrisC, making the transition to whole foods can be a bit daunting. It´s taken me almost a year, and not 100% there, almost though. It´s the sugar on my morning oatmeal and oil for my popcorn. I love granola, but when you start adding the nuts, raisins, etc. the calories really start to mount up.  

I used to soak beans overnight because that's what Grandma said to do but I've found much more success just cooking on high for the first hour then putting them in my slow cooker for about 3 hours. Interesting link on the microwave foods -- I've been avoiding cooking in one for about a year after reading they zap the nutrition. While the article spoke to 'non cancer waves' it didn't address that concern - what's your thoughts on it? 

I have a really good book on microwave cooking, though rarely use it. Barbara Kafka Microwave Gourmet. Her books are primarily whole foods, her roasting and soup books are a couple of my favorites. The info on the ovens is a bit outdated as the copyright is 1987. My microwave now is also a convection oven and has options for fast bake which is a combination of convection and microwave, these weren't around in 1987. I use the convection and fast bake often for cooking, the microwave part for heating. I keep saying I'm going to learn to actually cook more in the microwave but don't seem to get around to it.  

FullaBella, I tried nuking lentils, and wasn't much of a success. And, guess I might would try a slow cooker for beans, but don't have one, and wouldn't be able to find one anyway. I live in Lima, Peru. Some stuff is still hard to find, like air cooking popcorn popper, some other stuff. I do use a micro, but just for warming up. Cook in the bowl, and don't dirty up a pan. oh well. 

Fullabella, as far as I can tell from reputable sources (Harvard Medical, Livestrong, CNN), the nutrition zappers are heat and water, not microwaves. Having said that, the microwave has hurt me nutritionally (and financially) because it fostered an overreliance on prepared, processed, sodium-heavy foods such as Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine. It was too convenient to pop one in the microwave and be done with it. 

Chris the microwave has certainly, done that to many people.  

After drawing down the canned beans, my next step is to start buying five pound bags of garbanzos, lentils, split peas, etc. which I can store in protein powder canisters. 

I need to learn how to make my own hummus. My canned green beans and tomatoes have no salt added (other vegs are frozen) and I can't avoid sodium in my dairy, but this is a place to improve. 

msbuggirl, if I can make hummus, anyone can make hummus. 

msbuggirl Yeah, really, it's pretty easy. Just get some cooked garbanzos, throw 'em the blender with some garlic and taheni (I've used peanut butter before) and grind away. Oh save some juice from cooking the beans, you'll need to add some as you grind. You can cook your own beans, I always presoak the night before. That way you know exactly what's in 'em.  

Cheaper than store-bought, and no ingredients you can't pronounce or don't know what they are. I made a white bean and artichoke hummus with a recipe from BigOven that was quite tasty. 

You can make taheni by grinding up sesame seeds, I like to make it with toasted ones.  

Some interesting microwave recipes, I made the brownie in a cup tonight. Used light pancake syrup to sweeten it, not bad at all and about 140 calories.