Former Fat Guy Blog

Real People Real Results - Understanding how food, fitness and mental attitude affect weight loss

Recipe: Edamame Beans, Chickpeas, Shiitake Mushrooms and Spinach

High protein Edamame beans and nutrient dense spinach make make up the bulk of this high fiber nutritious hot salad. It’s been FAR too long since we shared a new recipe with everyone and we’re sure you missed us. This is the first of what I hope will be 2 new recipes each month as once a week was too much to keep up with in our busy lives. I’m sure you can all relate.

We love color in our foods and varied textures as well. This one caught my eye in Extra Vegan Za as I was flipping around looking for something new the other day. I fills both those criteria, and tasted great!

Edamame beans are green beans in large pods commonly known as Soy Beans. They are great eaten right out of the pod and you find them quite often as a starter in Japanese restaurants. You can also buy them frozen in the pod or shelled. For snacking I buy IN the pod, for recipes like this I buy the shelled ones. They are loaded with fiber – 1 cup along yield about 8 grams of fiber or almost one third the recommended daily amount. They are also great for folate, manganese, Vitamin C and K, and iron. (Source Nutritional Data)

Adding to that the fact that 1 cup of chickpeas has 12 grams of fiber – and this dish packs a punch most people are lacking these days. Fiber is much needed to help move food through the colon and keep us healthy.

Edamame beans, chickpeas, shiitake mushrooms and spinach

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Recipe: Garlic Herb Marinated Vegetables

Well I figured it is almost summer here – knock on wood – so best time to have some BBQ or grilling type recipes, with a healthy twist. So here is the first of a couple, let’s start with marinated vegetables. You can eat them as a salad, or put them on skewers and grill them on the BBQ like we did. Either way – they were yummy!

Garlic Herb Marinated Vegetables
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Featuring Black Bean Recipes

This week’s whole food recipe will be a compilation of various bean recipes Darlene has done over the past year. These recipes include black beans, red beans and garbanzo beans. Darlene is away showing her art this weekend, so I (Rob) will be posting on her behalf.

Being low on the , beans not only provide fiber to your diet, but also have very little, if any, impact on blood sugar.

not all protein is equal

Not All Protein Is Created Equal

Ounce for ounce, black beans provide the same amount of protein as ground beef, but have no saturated fat, no cholesterol and provide 9 grams of fiber. As well, 4 ounces of black beans are almost one third the calories as ground beef.

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Recipe: Miso Lemon Tahini Sauce

We are always looking for healthy sauces and dips to make that are both tasty and multi-purpose, as well as being healthy. This Miso Lemon Tahini Sauce fits the bill perfectly. We both love miso and Japanese food in general, so this is a nice addition to our repertoire.

If you haven’t used or bought miso before, you can find it in your local grocery store in the Asian section. Once it is opened you need to refrigerate it, and never, NEVER boil it! Miso contains live enzymes because it is fermented soy beans or rice (depending on the variety you choose) and if you heat it to a boil you will kill all the enzymes and healthy “stuff” in it. I won’t get too technical, but miso has lots of health benefits including B12 and zinc. When you choose a miso, make sure it does not have MSG in it. Read Rob’s article on the to find out more on that.

Miso Lemon Tahini Sauce
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Recipe: Black Bean Sweet Potato Almond Butter Burgers

We are always on the lookout for a great bean or that we can make a huge batch of and eat for days. We have come to really dislike the store bought ones for the lack of taste and large amount of salt and other preservatives and unhealthy things in them. These black bean, sweet potato and almond butter burgers fit the bill and are SO tasty!

This recipe if from Extra Vegan Za cookbook, another one of our favorites. Best part is – they were super easy to make. You just have to remember to soak your beans and cook them a day ahead or so. If you forget like I did – use the method, below.

8oz of black beans have as much protein or more protein than does an 8oz steak?

When I tell people I eat mostly vegetarian at home I often get asked “how do you get your protein?” Are you aware that 8oz of black beans have as much protein or more protein than does an 8oz steak? AND beans have NO fat or cholesterol and beans are full of fiber where the steak has none! Yes – you heard right – ALL MEAT has NO fiber. Zero, nada, zip. Fiber fills you up and you want to eat less – try eating two of these burgers one night and your steak the next and see which fills you up more and you have to stop eating. Think that will help control over eating? You betcha! Try it!

Avocado Wasabi Sauce
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