Econo - #WFPB #1 - Asparagus Improv and Bean Soup

The biggest part of kitchen economy is to learn to cook certain things ahead, and to be able to play into seasonal opportunities. When cauliflower is $5 a head, I don't need it, but when it's $1.49, I eat it, and so it goes with many things, I have an easy time on my street, for I am in a community where people eat lots of fruit and veggies, and I can follow the prices just by walking down the street.

Asparagus was cheap this week ($1.49 a bunch) so, it was on the menu - steamed in a typical asparagus boiler - 5-10 mins:

Sauce:

• 2 TBSP Chickpea Flour (Besan)
• 1 TBSP nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp Kala Namak (black salt)
• 1/2 lime juiced
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• grated nutmeg...

You could do either lemon or lime depending on what's in the house. 

And for the potatoes, I air fried two medium sized red skins. 

And I complemented it with a cup of home made bean soup from the freezer. When I cook soup, invariably I use a lot of ingredients, so I end up cooking enough for 12 people or so, and I freeze most of it, so I can serve up delicious soup in no time.

Nutrition:

Remember: 

• 80% of calories from carbs, 
• 10% from proteins, and 
• 10% from oils/fats

The biggest fallacy of traditional nutrition is the emphasis on protein. If you are trying to live economically, that will cost you, and lead you to wrong decisions. Just in this one meal example, you can see how easy it is to get your proteins. The fats come from beans, and an occasional avocado. Here is a great video on Chronic Kidney Disease, which clarifies why you should NOT over consume proteins. 

Potatoes:

(I can eat 2-3 potatoes in a setting)

1 Medium Red Skin Potato:

about 153 Calories

about 0.3 g fat

about 33/87 carbs

about 4.03 g protein

average 80% carbs, 10% proteins, 2% fat

Asparagus:

(One bunch would be at least 2 cups.)

1 cup of Asparagus

27 calories

0.16 g of fat

5.2 g carbs

2.95 g protein, or:

average 4% fat, 61% carbs, 35% protein

 

Now for the Sauce, which is chickpea flour (2 tbsp) with some nutritional yeast (1 tbsp).

for Chickpeas, see here, based on 1 cup. I used 2 tbsp for this sauce, about 1/4 cup.

approx:

calories 89,

proteins 5g

fat: 1.5 g

Fiber 10 g

and some thiamine, folate, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, copper and manganese 

for nutritional yeast, see here, I used 1 tbsp of Noochylicious, and the analysis is for

1 tbsp:

calories 32.7

calories from fat 2.8

protein 4.4g

The soup is rich, the beans have a good fat content

The analysis of one cup is:

One cup (171 grams) of pinto beans boiled provides (1Trusted Source):

Calories: 245
Carbs: 45 grams
Fiber: 15 grams
Protein: 15 grams
Fat: 1 gram
Sodium: ??? mg
Thiamine: 28% of the Daily Value (DV)
Iron: 20% of the DV
Magnesium: 21% of the DV
Phosphorus: 20% of the DV
Potassium: 16% of the DV

Now if you managed to have an OK breakfast, and a good salad for dinner later, with some whole grains like quinoa, etc. you are close to a decent nutritional day. In between you can snack on some steamed kale with sweet potato, mustard seeds, and balsamic vinegar.