Cooking Skills - Part 2
Beans, Grains, & Caramelized Onions
Beans
I love beans! They’re an easy and cheap form of protein and the star of many of my favourite easy meals (like this one :)
In this video you’ll learn -
Why buy organic beans
How to cook them and why we need to soak ‘em
Don’t add salt!! Scott will tell ya why :)
How to make refried beans
Beans freeze really well!
One type of bean to stay away from
A few ideas of how to use them :)
Cooking and soaking times vary for each time of protein, Scott provided us with a handy dandy cooking chart. Click the button to grab a copy :).
Grains
Grains can be a part of a healthy diet! Yes, yes they can! They’re just out of style right now…
Grains of all kinds have gotten a bad rap for the last few years, pretty much every fad diet says “grains are bad”…but they’re not. Not at all.
Yes, some people struggle to digest some grains and feel better when they’re out of their diet. But, this doesn’t mean they’re bad for everyone!
What matters with grains is the quality and how they’re prepared.
Grain quality
In Canada and in most of the US, many grains (especially wheat and oats) are sprayed with glyphosate (Round Up) just before harvesting to speed up the drying time. These grains have been tested and they have glyphosate residue. Glyphosate has been found to damage the gut and may be why gluten sensitivities are so prevalent.
For wheat, oats, barley, corn, and most beans - if it’s in your budget, look for organic to avoid glyphosate residue.
How they’re prepared
As Scott mentions in his Beans video, all seeds (beans, grains, seeds) are coated with lectins so they don’t sprout in their pods. They also make it really hard to digest them…which is part of why they’ve been given such a bad rap.
BUT! If those pesky lectins are easy to remove, we just need to follow traditional preparation methods (are great-grandmothers knew what they were doing).
Soaking and/or sprouting - properly soaked grains are always digestible. Most need to soak overnight or for at least a few hours.
Fermenting/sourdough - bread is significantly more digestible if it goes through a long (at least 24 hour) rise. This helps to ferment the dough, making the gluten much more digestible. Look for breads with “sourdough starter” or “living culture” in the ingredients instead of yeast.
Enjoy grains if your body likes them! They’re full of B vitamins, minerals, and wonderfulness!
Caramelized Onions (and more)
Oh my, I had no idea that caramelized onions are so different from fried onions! This is exactly why Chef Scott is here!
This vid is about more than just a how-to for caramelizing onions. He teaches us -
How to choose a good onion and which type of onion to use
How to cut an onion for different uses
Fried vs. caramelized
Why browned onions taste so darn good!!
How to freeze the excess
And at the ends he adds them to a soup that you’ll see more about in the next part :)
It’s time for Bone Broth and soups! Head over to Part 3!
Got any questions or comments? Jump to our private Facebook Group or the Ask Lisa page :)