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As we are all practicing social distancing and stocking our pantries with nonperishables to avoid COVID-19, you might be wondering what to do with all those cans of beans you stocked up on. Pandemic or not, beans are great pantry staple and can be used in a variety of meals. I always have a variety of beans on hand for busy weeknights – kidney, black, garbanzo, navy, pinto – you name it. Dried beans are great too of course, they just take a little extra time to soak before using, whereas canned beans are ready to go. Just make sure you drain and rinse first. 

Beans are an excellent source of plant-based protein, they are inexpensive, they have a long shelf-life, and they help decrease our overall meat consumption. Worried this increase in bean consumption will lead to an increase in flatulence? Don’t worry, here are five ways to avoid gas with beans. 

Crack open a can and try one of these delicious bean recipes:

Quick Chickpea Curry

Warm Indian spices make this quick and healthy dish taste complex and indulgent.

Build Your Own Burrito Bowl

Beans and (brown) rice are the base for any great burrito bowl – and then add anything and everything you have on hand. 

Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa

Throw it all in the InstantPot for this easy one-pot meal.

Healthy and Easy Meal Prep: Greek Bowls

Make a batch on Sunday for lunches throughout the week (it also makes a great quick dinner!).

Quick Weeknight Dinner – Mexican Quesadillas

This is a throw-any-vegetables-in type of dish we love.

Healthy and Creamy White Bean, Lemon, and Kale Soup

The perfect creamy soup for cool nights (and makes great leftovers).

Air Fryer Spiced Chickpeas

Beans for a snack! These crunchy chickpeas make the perfect healthy snack.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

A simple and versatile meal – the possibilities for stuffed sweet potatoes are endless.

Lemon Artichoke and Quinoa Salad

A refrigerator salad (i.e. doesn’t get limp or soggy) that works great as a side dish or as a light entrée. 

Instant Pot Vegetable Pulao (Indian Pilaf)

Another easy Instant Pot meal – authentic Indian food coming right up!

Three Bean Salad

This easy, light, and flavorful salad is perfect for lunch or as a side dish.

Microwave Black Bean and Cheese Quesadilla

This quick lunch works well for the office or for working from home.

Black Bean, Corn, and Tomato Summer Salsa

Fresh, tangy, and oh-so-good!

Do you have any favorite bean recipes to add to this list? Share in the comments below!

You may also enjoy:

Top 10 Vegetarian Sources of Protein

Step to Eating the Med Way

Steps to Eating the Med Way: Change Your Protein

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We have all been there… we find ourselves back at the fridge picking through whatever might look tasty. Not because we are particularly hungry, but because it is available. Trust me, I understand. My work from home ‘desk’ happens to be the kitchen table, meaning I am just a few steps from the fridge, pantry, and endless food options. Good news – there are a few simple tips and tricks to help all of us stay on track with healthy eating through this unique time!

1. Hunger scale

• This trick will help you to stay mindful when you find yourself grabbing for your next snack. Ideally, try to stay within the 4 to 6 range. If you do find yourself in the lower numbers, filling up on traditional snack food may not cut it. Try eating something with more staying power – see below for examples.

2. Eat on a schedule

• This can be really effective for some people. Try to space small meals/snacks every ~3-4 hours. This means you do not go too long between eating and risk becoming too hungry. This can also help you stay within the 4 to 6 range on the hunger scale.

3. Mindful measurements

• Many of us take our meals and snacks to work and thus understand about how much we are consuming. Try to recreate that routine at home. Instead of reaching into the bag or box of something, determine the portion you need and remove it from the container.

4. Time to stop snacking

• We have all been there – we feel that we can’t stop the snacking! It may sound odd, but cleansing the palette with a strong, refreshing flavor can really help. Go brush your teeth, drink peppermint tea, or chew mint gum. I can promise you, that BBQ flavored chip is not going to taste good once you brush your teeth.  

5. Combine food groups

• Many people do well when combining food groups for snacks. This allows you to have multiple flavors, textures, and colors on your plate (all very important). Different foods break down in the stomach at different rates. For example, most carbohydrates break down and leave the stomach fairly quickly – this is great for when you need a bit of quick energy, say before exercise. Conversely, most fats break down and leave the stomach more slowly. By combining multiple food groups, you can have the best of both worlds. Try to start with your vegetables – they will offer very few calories with tons of nutrients! Then add ~2 other items to round out your snack.
• Here are some ideas:

• Here is my snack plate from the other day:

• I started with tomatoes and cucumbers as my vegetables (for low calorie bulk), then added whole-grain crackers for crunch, and finally some smoked salmon for a high protein addition.

6. Snack plates for meals!

• If you love the idea of munching on a quite a few items for a meal, then making a snack plate is the way to go. It’s the adult version of a Lunchable! Since working from home these have been fun to make, while also helping me get through random items left over in our fridge and pantry. What fun snack plates can you make?
• A few examples of my recent snack plates:

Have you been diagnosed with prediabetes or concerned that you are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes? We are here to support you now. See our upcoming class offerings for our online CDC-recognized diabetes prevention program now! 

You may also enjoy:

How to Practice Mindful Eating When You’re Working From Home

Work from Home: Best Practices

Why You Should Still Meal Prep When Working From Home

Meal Planning 101: An Easy Step-by-Step Guide

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Our team has written a lot of great blogs about meal prep lately, and they all make so much sense to prepare for a busy work week. Remember though, just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you don’t have a busy work week! Meal prep is a fantastic way to make sure you have healthy options that are easy to grab, and that is still needed when you are at home. This way you avoid just making whatever is fastest like a PB&J or snacking on junk food instead of taking a break for a full meal. For example, this cucumber yogurt recipe is one of my favorites to prep ahead in individual containers because it works well for breakfast or for a snack.

Since I’ve started to self-isolate, I’ve tried to meal prep lunches and snacks each week. Another benefit is that taking the time to plan ahead means you can buy more in one trip and decrease the number of times you need to go to the grocery store. One of the other great things about meal prep at home is that you don’t even need a recipe. I often start out the week by roasting whatever extra vegetables I have and keeping them for snacks or to throw together in a salad or a grain bowl (or even tacos!).

This week for lunches, I grated 2 raw beets and 4 raw carrots, tossed them together with bulgur, toasted cashews, some dried figs, and parsley. You could try this with any vegetables and grain that you have in your fridge. Toss the whole thing with a lemon vinaigrette or any other kind that sounds good with what you’ve got. 

Check out some of our other great posts on meal prep:

• Meal Prep for Breakfast with Overnight Oats
• How to Plan Meals Ahead
• Meal Prep Lunch Salad
• Meal Prep Greek Bowls

Have you been diagnosed with prediabetes or concerned that you are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes? We are here to support you now. See our upcoming class offerings for our online CDC-recognized diabetes prevention program now! 

Don’t miss another great blog: Subscribe Now

Anyone else stuck at home and find themselves in the kitchen… often? You are not alone! Being at home provides us with constant access to all of our food and snacks, making it a bit more difficult to stay on track with healthy eating. One strategy for staying on track is to make the healthy option the easy option. Having healthy, and tasty, items on hand – like these Strawberry Lemon Chia Seed Muffins – makes choosing a satisfying breakfast or snack simple!

These muffins are packed with nutritious ingredients:

• Chia seeds are an excellent source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, high in antioxidants, and a good source of fiber, iron, and calcium.
• Oats are complex carbohydrates and digest slowly in the stomach, which can keep you satisfied for a longer period of time.
• Strawberries are a great source of vitamin C and magnesium and help to add natural sweetness to these muffins. Bonus: they are coming into season in NC!

Each muffin comes in around 125 calories, 3g of dietary fiber, and 6g of protein. These muffins are sure to keep you satisfied!

Strawberry Lemon Chia Seed Muffins

Yields 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1/2 c plain low-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 large egg
• ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk (or any other kind of milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp lemon extract
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 heaping cups of fresh strawberries, diced (reserve ½ C to sprinkle on top)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Combine all yogurt, egg, almond milk, vanilla extract, lemon extract, sugar, and chia seeds together.
3. Add flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the same bowl.  
4. Fold in 1 ½ cups of diced strawberries (reserving a ½ cup to sprinkle on top)
5. Line muffin tin and fill each with ¼ cup of batter.
6. Top with reserved diced strawberries.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.

Make extra!

• Allow cooked muffins to cool and then individually wrap them in plastic wrap and place into a gallon freezer bag. Will keep for about 3 months.
• Next time you need a quick breakfast or snack, remove from freezer bag and discard plastic wrap.
• For microwave:
  • Wrap the muffin loosely in a paper towel and microwave in 20 second increments, rotating it, until warm.
• For AirFryer:
  • Place muffin into the AirFryer at 320 degrees for 5 minutes, or until warm (this is the best method to prevent a soggy reheated muffin). 

Have you been diagnosed with prediabetes or concerned that you are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes? We are here to support you now. See our upcoming class offerings for our online CDC-recognized diabetes prevention program now! 

You may also enjoy:

How to Practice Mindful Eating While Working From Home

How to Shop for Fruits and Vegetables During a Pandemic

A Dietitian’s Review of the Air Fryer

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Whether you are self-quarantining or following your state’s stay-at-home order, many of us are probably home more than we used to be. In some ways this can be a good thing as we now have the chance to do some projects such as deep cleaning the kitchen, reorganizing a closet, or trying new recipes. Maybe you are working from home now and are establishing new routines (read more about Best Practices While Working from Home). 

With any major change there can be some not-so-great habits that start creeping up. For me, I have caught myself mindlessly snacking since this all started. I don’t have to leave my house for work anymore, so I’m not packing my usual pre-portioned snacks or lunches. Whenever I take a break at home, I seem to wander into the kitchen and start munching on the first thing that I see, sometimes without even realizing it. However, just because my daily routines have changed, doesn’t mean I can’t continue with healthy eating habits. I want to continue my mindful eating practices from before, but they may look slightly different now while working from home. Here are some tips that I’m trying to implement to practice mindful eating: 

3 Ways to Eat Mindfully at Home

1. Meal Prep. When I had to leave my house to go to work or school, I would bring a packed breakfast or lunch from home out of necessity. Even though I now have access to my home kitchen 24/7, I am still trying to meal prep my lunches. Why? Because this is a small way that I know I can influence my eating habits with a meal that is healthy (instead of slapping together something that may or may not be) and pre-portioned, preventing the tendency to overeat. 
2. Screen Time. Working remotely necessitates using a laptop for most of the day, however I can control my screen time during my breaks. Instead of working on my laptop while I’m eating lunch, I can get up from my desk and eat my lunch away from screens (even my phone). This allows me to give my full attention to enjoy my food and recognize when I’m full. 
3. Move Breaks. Like I mentioned before, I tend to wander into the kitchen when I take a break. Instead of heading straight for the kitchen to find something to eat, I’m trying to focus on moving more during my breaks. If it’s nice outside, I take a lap around my house. If I need to stay inside I try doing some yoga stretches or even squeeze in a 10-minute work out (using these Free Ways to Exercise at Home). For me, the focus isn’t on the specific exercise, but more so on finding some way to be active during whatever time I have for a break. 

I’m trying to make these changes as part of my new normal and hopefully this will help someone else that may be struggling with mindless snacking too. Let me know in the comments if you have other strategies that have helped you to practice mindful eating! 

Have you been diagnosed with prediabetes or concerned that you are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes? We are here to support you now. See our upcoming class offerings for our online CDC-recognized diabetes prevention program now! 

You may also enjoy:

Celebrate National Nutrition Month with Meal Prep

Meal Prep: Slow Cooker Mediterranean Chicken

Meal Prep: Mediterranean Lunch Salad

Meal Planning 101: A Step-by-Step Guide

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