Beans are an awesome food, true nutritional superstars.  They are rich in complex carbohydrates (the body’s main fuel source) and protein, yet naturally low in fat.  They’re packed with fiber, heart-healthy potassium, and an array of additional vitamins and minerals and numerous phytochemicals.  If you’d like to cut your cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease, replace some of the animal protein (meat & dairy) in your diet with beans.  I actually ate three different types of beans yesterday and wanted to show you how easy it is to fit more beans into your daily diet.

Breakfast: Oatmeal

1/2 cup rolled oats microwaved for 90 seconds with 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 ounce walnuts (about 7 halves), 1 tsp brown sugar, and then topped with 1/2 sliced banana.  Coffee with skim milk.

Lunch: Chopped Chickpea & Feta Salad

Mix 1/2 cup canned chickpeas (rinsed & drained), 1/4 sliced avocado, 10 halved grape tomatoes, 1/2 orange pepper cut into slices, 1/2 cup frozen corn, 1 T feta crumbles.   Martha Stewart also featured a similar recipe pictured below.

Snack: 1/4 cup dried edamame & 1 cup red grapes

Dried edamame are a good alternative to nuts.  A quarter cup of tree nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, etc) can run you more than 200 calories.  Dried edamame satisfies that salty snack yen for half the calories and less fat than an equivalent serving of nuts.  You can also use them in place of those fat & chemical laden wonton strips and crunchy noodles on Asian-inspired salads.

Dinner: Garlicky Black-Pepper Shrimp & Black Eyed Peas 

This is one of my dinner staples.  I’ve linked to original recipe I found in Gourmet magazine, but I usually leave out the bacon, decrease the chicken stock (to reduce the sodium), and add in shredded savoy cabbage or Brussels sprouts and cubed sweet potatoes to up the veggie content.  You could also use flakey fish, like catfish or flounder, or another shellfish, such as scallops, in place of the shrimp.   The leftovers make a great lunch the next day as well.

Check back for tomorrow’s Smart Swap featuring sweet potatoes.