How Butter Beans Went From Gross to Glamorous

I was mystified. Butter beans — or lima beans, as I grew up calling them in the Midwest — are the most banal of ingredients, a boring bean relegated to the darkest corner of every home cook’s pantry. Why, then, were food influencers drowning them in luxurious sauces, crisping them up as a crouton substitute, and braising them as if they were a fine cut of meat? What the heck was going on?

Beans, broadly speaking, are having a moment. The dry bean market is expected to grow to $8.7 billion by 2028, while the canned bean industry raked in $5.65 billion in 2023 and is projected to be worth a whopping $15.5 billion by 2033, according to the market research firm Fact.MR.

How Butter Beans Went From Gross to Glamorous — https://www.eater.com/24008145/why-are-butter-beans-so-popular

Beans are cheap and nutritious. More people will be incorporating this staple into their diets because they are unable to afford the more expensive foods.

It’s not the vegan/vegetarian/let’s save the world movement. It’s basic economics.

Grow Your Own Food

Netherlands-based designer Kyran Knauf has created a tabletop device that allows users to breed and harvest crickets as an alternative protein source.

Called Crikorama, the machine can host a continuous cycle of approximately 3o crickets through their lifecycles before they are harvested and eaten as a “sustainable” replacement for meat.

Kyran Knauf creates tabletop cricket farm for household meat alternative — https://www.dezeen.com/2023/12/15/kyran-knauf-tabletop-cricket-farm-for-alternate-food-source/

Photo source: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crikorama/

YUM!

Trouble in Paradise,,,Confirmed

Two-thirds of those surveyed said they overindulge in food, nearly 45% said they take a break from exercise and more than half report feeling tired and have less time for themselves. Plus, a third admit they drink more alcohol during the holidays.

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “Survey finds Americans struggle to maintain healthy habits during the holiday season.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 December 2023 —https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231204135305.htm

Trouble in Paradise (it’s Weight Gain Season again) confirmed.

BTW I’m hanging around 175 and SO FAR still hanging around 175.

Yeah!

Trouble in Paradise (it’s Weight Gain Season again)

“Competition puts hurdles in front of you that you have to clear.” 

OKC Thunder coach Mark Daigneault

Here’s the same chart I posted from last year that is attributed to the New England Journal of Medicine. I could never find the original source article.

Take Home Lesson

“God speaks to us through signs. It is important to allow angels to act. When we see ourselves repeating our ordinary routine, we realize how much wealth surrounds our life. We understand each step, each attitude. We discover important things, and useless thoughts. At the end of a week – discipline is always fundamental – we are more conscious of our faults and distractions, but we also understand that, at times, there was no reason to act the way we did, that we followed our impulses, our intuition; and now we begin to understand this silent language which God uses in order to show us the true path. Call it intuition, signs, instinct, coincidence, any name will do – what matters is that through “conscious attention” we realize that we are often guided to the right decision. And this makes us stronger and more confident.”

Paulo Coelho

Happy Thanksgiving!

New and Improved! Sour Cream Chicken Enchillada Casserole

Updated 11.05.13

The Boss:  “I’ll make the sauce.”

Me:    “Why?”

The Boss: “Because your sauce is too thin and the casserole gets too runny.”

Recipes change with time and repeated preparations.  But sometimes the changes you’ve made were not necessarily an improvement to the dish. Lesson learned. Time to update this family classic. You don’t want the original recipe.  Don’t use One Rotisserire Chicken, 50 Meals – #3 Sour Cream Chicken Enchillada Casserole. Make this one.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Casserole

  • 8 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
  • 4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1/4 C butter
  • 2 T. flour
  • 3/4 C. sour cream
  • 1 3/4 C. chicken broth
  • 1 small can mild green chiles
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • Two rotisserie  chickens, meat taken off the bones, cubed (yes two chickens)
  • 18 yellow corn tortillas
  1. Saute onions in butter, add flour then broth.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.  Add chiles and sour cream and heat.  Be careful to not let the sauce boil.  Set aside.
  2. Butter  a 9 x 12 casserole dish.
  3. Layer three corn tortillas.  Cover generously with chicken.  Add jack cheese.  Sauce.  Repeat.
  4. The final layer of corn tortillas is covered with sauce only, no cheese yet.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes covered until bubbly.  Remove cover, add cheddar cheese to the top.  Return to the oven for 10 minutes to allow cheese to melt.
  6. After cheese has melted, remove from the oven and allow to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving.

This recipe started with a version from Delicioso! Cooking South Texas Style.  The original recipe from the cookbook has sour cream sauce quantities similar to the updated version and not the too thin, too runny, bad quantities I had been using. The original also called for a full pound of Monterrey Jack cheese, no cheddar. Uh, no. Also included were jalapenos which would be wicked good but by subbing mild green chilies you get a child friendly dish if you know what I mean and I think you do.

Tips – Cut up the chicken first and snack on those tiny tidbits of meat that you have to pick off the bones with your fingers.  Do not use pre-shredded cheese. Period.  Trust your significant other when she says your sauce is too thin and it makes the casserole too runny. Make some fresh Guacamole – Asian Inspired and Updated and serve with chips. Beans and rice for sides obviously. Don’t forget the beer.

The Two Chicken Change to the Recipe –

Two birds because all of the ones you find in the grocery stores (not Costco) are really small. We used to call them Cornish Hens. Seriously, pigeons are bigger than the rotisserie chickens nowadays.

The Dark Side of TikTok – Toddler Milks

Despite their widespread promotion, the AAP emphasized that these drinks lack regulation, are devoid of essential nutrients, and are often laden with additional sugar and salt, raising concerns about their suitability for young children.

TikTok’s Trending “Toddler Milks” Turns Out To Be Nutritionally Incomplete, Unregulated — https://www.parentherald.com/articles/111350/20231021/tiktok-trending-toddler-milks-turns-out-nutritionally-incomplete-unregulated.htm

The clinical report Older Infant‒Young Child “Formulas,” from the AAP Committee on Nutrition, is available at https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2023-064050 and will be published in the November issue of Pediatrics.

AAP clinical report: Toddler ‘formulas’ offer no nutritional advantage — https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/26436/AAP-clinical-report-Toddler-formulas-offer-no?autologincheck=redirected

You’re welcome.

How To Reduce Your Risk of Developing DM2 (type 2 diabetes)

Photo by mali maeder on Pexels.com

Replacing one serving of red meat a day with a serving of plant-based protein sources like nuts or legumes decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 30%, and substituting a serving of red meat for dairy decreased the risk by 22%.

More Than One Red Meat Serving A Week Can Increase Diabetes Risk — https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/10/19/more-than-one-red-meat-serving-a-week-can-increase-diabetes-risk-study-finds/

The Forbes article has links to other research studies on meat consumption and health.

Link to the Harvard press release — Red meat consumption associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk — https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/red-meat-consumption-associated-with-increased-type-2-diabetes-risk/

The study featured in the articles above was published on Thursday, October 19, in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

My Personal Opinion

If you eat meat, eat less. If you don’t eat meat, consider the occasional meal with meat for its nutritional benefits. My diet is approximately 75% meat-free, I do not have diabetes.

What to Eat if You Are Prediabetic (hint, low carbs)

One of the most studied diets for reversing diabetes and prediabetes is a low carbohydrate diet² that’s personalized to your carb tolerance. People with a high carb tolerance might be able to eat a carbohydrate-heavy diet and keep their blood sugar in a normal range, but someone with prediabetes and a low carb tolerance may experience chronic blood sugar spikes and struggle with fatigue, weight gain, and more. 

Prediabetes Diet: What to Eat, and What to Avoid — https://www.virtahealth.com/blog/prediabetes-diet

I need to be better with the list of foods to avoid.