It’s October, and we’re starting to feel the crisp bite of fall. Unfortunately, many of us are also feeling a painful bite in our wallets as prices rise. The US Department of Agriculture reported in August that food prices this year will show the biggest annual increase since 1990. And there’s no end in sight.

Struggling to get your food budget under control? Remember the humble pot of soup. It’s a wonderful cold weather meal that’s easy to make, and relatively inexpensive if you start with basic raw ingredients like dried beans.

Here’s one of my favorites: Pinto Bean and Barley Soup. It’s a chewy blend of common kitchen staples that freezes well. Add a salad and warm bread and you have a delicious – yet inexpensive - meal.

Nutritious and Delicious!
This soup is as nutritious as it is delicious. One cup of cooked pinto beans provides 25% of your daily iron requirement and 58% of daily fiber needs. They’re a good source of soluble fiber, which helps lower cholesterol and control diabetes. More on the nutritional and health benefits of pinto beans.

A cup of cooked barley provides another 54% of daily fiber requirements as well as minerals like selenium and copper. When buying barley, note the difference between hulled and pearl barley. The hulled contains the most nutrients and adds a better, chewy texture to soups and salads. Pearl barley has had much of the outer hull removed. It cooks more quickly, but has lost a lot of its nutritional benefits. More on the nutritional and health benefits of barley.

Guide to Soaking Beans

Soaking dried beans isn’t hard; it just takes time.

The two most common methods of preparing dry beans is the overnight soak or the “quick soak.”

Overnight soak: Rinse dry pintos and place in a pot. Add enough water to cover pintos 3-4 inches. Cover and let beans set overnight. Pour out the soaking water and rinse beans in a colander. They’re ready to cook!

Quick soak: Rinse dry pintos and place in a pot. Add enough water to cover pintos 3-4 inches. Cover and bring beans to a boil for one minute only. Set aside for 1-2 hours. Pour out the soaking water and rinse beans in a colander. They’re ready to cook!

The quick soak sounds so much easier and quicker, that you might wonder why anyone uses the overnight method. I find that the beans have a much more uniform texture if you use the slower method.

It’s not a big deal for soup beans or refried beans, but if you’re going to use the beans in a salad or other recipe where the texture and appearance is important, the slower soaking method seems to yield better results.

Just don’t let the beans sit around long after soaking. They’ll start to sprout. Really.

Pinto Bean and Barley Soup

This recipe makes dinner for 4, with leftovers for lunch the next day. Note that the barley tends to act like pasta and continues to soak up liquid while the soup is refrigerated. You may have to add a bit of water to the soup the next day before you reheat it.

Ingredients:
1 cup dry pinto beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 pod black cardamom, cut in half
4 cups vegetable broth (substitute chicken broth if desired)
5 cups water
½ cup uncooked hulled barley (substitute pearl barley or brown rice, if desired)
½ cup fresh parsley, finely minced
salt and pepper to taste
Bottled hot sauce (Optional: let guests add it to their soup if they find the soup too bland.)

Instructions:

1. Soak one cup dry pinto beans using the overnight or quick soak method. Drain and rinse the beans.
2. Heat olive oil in a pressure cooker or heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft (about 3 minutes), stirring frequently.
3. Add carrots and celery to onions. Cook 2-3 minutes more, stirring frequently.
4. Add bay leaves, marjoram, cardamom, water, and vegetable broth.
5. If using a pressure cooker, cover and bring soup up to pressure. Cook approximately 8 minutes on medium to medium-low heat. Turn off the heat and let sit until the pressure is gone.

If using a soup pot, bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 90 minutes until the beans are barely tender not mushy.

6. Add barley to soup and simmer 30 minutes until barley is tender.
7. Add salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. Bring soup to a boil for about 2 minutes.

Serve with a green salad and whole grain bread. Some people may like to add a splash of hot sauce to their soup before eating.

Note: the first time I made this recipe, I used brown rice because I didn’t have any barley. The taste and everything was really good. But use barley if you have it. It has more nutrition and provides a delightfully, chewy texture to the soup.

Also, you may be a little worried after you pour in 9 cups of liquid, but don’t be. As the soup cooks, some of the liquid evaporates, and the barley will soak up a lot of liquid. You’re more likely to have to add an extra cup of water than have a soup that’s too thin.

This soup freezes well, and it’s a snap to make a double recipe. Also, like most soups, it’s even better the second day. I often make it one day, intending to serve it for supper the next evening.

Nobody in our party tested that last part. It was lunch, after all. But we did savor the restaurant’s other specialty: fresh guacamole mixed table-side and served with tortilla chips. It’s quite a production. The waiter brings a beautifully appointed tray filled with fresh avocados, oranges, chopped jalapenos, onions, and other goodies. As we watched, he concocted the absolute best guacamole we’d ever had. The menu’s claim that “it doesn’t get fresher than this!” was right.

Naturally, this is something I craved after we arrived home. Our homemade Mexican food just wasn’t the same without it, and that store-bought stuff? Yuck. It was a pale imitation of the Iron Cactus guacamole. Since we aren’t moving to Austin anytime soon, the only solution was to create our own recipe.

After a month or so of test guacamoles, my husband successfully developed a similar recipe that matches the texture, taste, and freshness of the restaurant’s delicious dip.

When we served it at a recent cookout, it was gone within minutes. A few guests joked about licking the bowl clean, but they restrained themselves somewhat, and used their fingers instead.

As many cookbooks note, it’s hard to write a specific guacamole recipe because fresh ingredients vary so much in taste. It’s perfectly acceptable to add more orange juice if you want a more citrusy taste or leave the jalapenos out entirely if you’re sensitive to hot foods.

How to Choose an Avocado
The one essential for great guacamole is a good avocado or two. They have a mild, creamy taste that mixes well with the acid in citrus fruits and tomatoes.

The easiest way to tell if an avocado is ripe is by feel. It should be soft to the touch – but not too soft. If the outer peel feels loose, the avocado is over-ripe. Ripen hard avocados in a paper bag on the kitchen counter. Ripe avocados will keep several days in the refrigerator.

Great Guacamole Recipe
In this recipe, we use one of the larger, new varieties of avocado that contain less fat than the more familiar – and smaller – Hess avocados. If you buy the smaller types with the pebbly skin, you’ll probably want to use 2-3 avocados instead of just one.

Ingredients:

1 large, or 2-3 small ripe avocados
Juice from ½ of a fresh-squeezed orange
¼ cup finely minced sweet onion
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
¾ cup chopped fresh tomatoes
2-3 teaspoons fresh chopped cilantro
Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Slice the avocado in half and remove the pit. Remove pulp by slicing cross-wise and length-wise through the avocado, but not cutting through the outside peel. Spoon out pulp and place in a bowl.
2. Using a fork, mash the avocado to the desired texture.
3. Add remaining ingredients, stir, and enjoy the guacamole with tortilla chips, your favorite burrito, on sandwiches, or by itself.

This recipe makes approximately 1 ½ cups guacamole. It serves 4 as an appetizer – but they may beg for more!

History and Health Benefits of Avocados

Avocados have an interesting history. Aztec lore held that avocados were aphrodisiacs (the word “avocado” is derived from an Aztec word meaning “testicle tree”), and they passed that story along to the Europeans. Christian religious leaders warned congregations to steer clear of avocados, lest the effects lead them to temptation.

Actress, Mae West, a woman who knew a lot about temptation, claimed to eat one per day and attributed her beauty and robust desires to the avocado.

Don’t worry about over-indulging. Avocados have a bad reputation. Yes, they’re high in fat, but it’s monounsaturated fat, which seems to help lower cholesterol levels in some people. This WebMD article has more about the health benefits of avocados.

And even if they had no health benefits at all, so what? This guacamole is delicious, so eat up. As avocado-lover, May West, once observed:

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”

But now, consumers can choose from what some foodies call “designer eggs.” Some producers claim to treat their hens more humanely than other producers. Other cartons boast of extra health benefits from their eggs, such are more Omega-3 fatty acids.

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of regulation of some of these terms; animal welfare groups warn consumers to pay careful attention when they buy.

Here’s a brief explanation of the controversy, a glossary of terms, and some tips for wading through the competing claims.

Farm Conditions Draw Attention from Consumers
The aspect of egg production that gets the most attention from consumers, farmers, and animal welfare organizations is not what the hens eat, but how they live. Conditions differ markedly, depending on whether hens are raised on a conventional commercial farm or one that practices free range, cage free, or pasture farming.

From USA Today:

In conventional egg production, hens live in what are called battery cages In this case, the word “battery” means “array,” as in a stack of cages that can be as much as two stories high.

There are about six hens to a cage, and each hen gets up to 67 square inches of floor space, about 3/4 of a sheet of notebook paper, says Mitch Head of the United Egg Producers.

It doesn’t sound like much space, and animal welfare groups encourage egg farmers to raise hens with more space and freedom of movement. Eggs produced that way carry a price premium, but no added health benefits. Still, consumers are buying: sales increased 30% between 2002 and 2006.

Read Carefully Before You Buy
Some phrases on the box have no legal meaning, and some of the pictures are misleading. Some companies just put the eggs in a carton labeled “natural” or “animal friendly” and decorated with a pastoral drawing of apple-cheeked children scattering seed to eager, uncaged hens. All that means is that they took some time designing a nice label. It tells you nothing about how the hens were raised or treated.

Here are some often-used terms found on egg cartons along with a brief explanation of their actual meaning.

Cage Free: These hens are raised indoors, but without the tiny battery cages. They have room to move about and interact with each other. Most don’t have access to outdoors.

But, as Michael Spencer, an egg distributor in Fullerton, CA, notes, many hens don’t pine for the great outdoors: “They are very squeamish birds; they’re very defenseless. They know they have predators out there.”

Free Range: These hens aren’t raised in battery cages and have some access to the outdoors. Just how much varies. It could be a small porch, covered deck, or fenced yard.

Pasture Raised: These chickens are outside pecking around in the grass, eating grubs, and whatever else they come across. At night, they’re brought inside to roost.

Proponents claim that there’s a distinct taste difference. My husband certainly agrees; we have neighbors whose chickens live outside, eat bugs, and do regular chicken stuff all day. He claims that the taste is far superior to commercial eggs – even free-range eggs.

Kosher Certified: According to the Jewish Outreach Institute, the only requirement for an egg to be kosher is that it come from a permitted bird like a chicken, duck, or goose and that the egg have no bloodspots when cracked open. A kosher marking stamped on the carton or on the egg itself isn’t required.

There’s no difference between a chicken egg with a kosher mark (called a “heksher”) and one without. Even eggs marked as kosher may contain blood spots. The cook doesn’t know for sure until he or she cracks the egg to look.

Pasteurized: These are the eggs to buy if your kids – or you yourself – just can’t keep your fingers out of the cookie dough.

Pasteurization doesn’t affect the egg’s taste, but the process kills harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella. Reuters reported in March, 2008 that sales of Pasteurized eggs increased 43% during the year’s first quarter, mainly because of safety concerns:

More than 60 million Americans are at risk for severe reactions from exposure to egg-related salmonella, including children under 10, pregnant women, those over 50 and those with compromised immune systems. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year more than 118,000 egg-related salmonella cases are confirmed, and many more go underreported or are misdiagnosed.

The FDA’s Food Code recommends using pasteurized eggs in all dishes calling for raw or softly cooked eggs.

Certified Organic:

The term “organic” is important – and lucrative. Organic eggs and poultry are some of the fastest growing food products in the US market and command premium prices. Look for the USDA label, or the label of another certification authority. Some states have their own labeling programs that may be different from Federal guidelines.

FDA organic-certified eggs come from cage-free hens who have only been given certified organic, vegetarian feed.

Vegetarian-fed: These hens must have been raised on an all-vegetarian diet, which surprisingly, isn’t a “natural” chicken diet. Just ask the gardeners to depend on their hens to snap up grubs, bugs, and other undesirable garden pests. But commercial chicken feed can have some nasty ingredients, according to the NYT article, the most disturbing of which is “spent hen meal” (ground up dead hens).

Ok. Sign me up for vegetarian-fed eggs!

No Hormones/No Antibiotics: Neither of these claims has any meaning because the USDA doesn’t authorize any hormones in egg production. If the eggs come from hens that are part of the National Organic Program, no antibiotics can be used after the chicks are 3 days old.

Fertile: This simply means that the hens have had the opportunity to cavort with roosters instead of spending their lives in tiny cages. There’s no evidence that fertilized egg are more nutritious, but it does suggest that the hens have been leading relatively normal lives – for chickens.

Omega-3: These eggs are enhanced with heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids found mostly in fish products and in the common garden weed, purslane. Omega-3 eggs command a premium price, but some health experts doubt that the benefit outweighs the cost.

In June, 2007 the Center for Science in the Public Interest urged the FDA to investigate the health claims associated with Omega-3 enhanced eggs:

Even the eggs with the most DHA and EPA contain no more of those omega-3s than the amount in one and a half teaspoons of salmon, the richest source of omega-3s, according to CSPI.

Certified Humane Raised and Handled:
This is affiliated with the non-profit organization, Humane Farm Animal Care, and is the only animal welfare program audited each year by the Department of Agriculture. The organization’s Web site says it was created to improve the lives of the 10 billion farm animals raised each year.

Its Certified Humane logo assures consumers that the animals were raised and treated humanely. It partners with the National ASPCA, Humane Society, and various state and local animal welfare organizations.

After you’ve enjoyed the whole dozen, the Green Living Ideas Web site offers these 10 uses for egg cartons. It has a lot of surprising suggestions, from using discarded egg cartons for makeshift ice cube trays to a food source for worm farms. You’ll never put one in the garbage can again!

Home-dried herbs are less expensive than the commercial variety and taste better too. Fresh-dried herbs have a more intense flavor, brighter color, and are less likely to have been irradiated.

Most herbs are extremely easy to grow and hard to kill – kind of like weeds. They grow well in the garden or in a group of pots arranged on a sunny windowsill. Delicious fresh, herbs are also easy to dry and store. Homegrown and dried herbs also make great gifts.

Learn the basics of sun-drying or air-drying as we follow an entire pound of fresh basil leaves through the picking, washing, and drying process.

What Herbs Can You Dry?
Why, you can dry almost any of them! The leaves generally have the best flavor because they contain the most amount of essential oils. Some herbs have thin stalks that can be crumbled when dried, but stalks generally don’t add much flavor (dill being the exception here). They can add an unpleasantly crunchy taste though and become lodged in your gums if not ground finely enough.

Seeds are also great candidates for drying: dill, sunflower, coriander, fennel, and mustard are some of the most familiar. Less often, roots are dried as well, as with dandelion, horseradish, and sassafras.

For best flavor, pick the leaves right before the plant flowers. Don’t be shy about picking heavily and breaking off some of the longest stalks. The plants respond quickly to harvest by putting out new, tender growth – more leaves for you to dry later! See what happens to parsley that goes to seed. There’s very little greenery left on the plants for harvest.

Regular harvest can keep plants from flowering and extend the amount of time you have to harvest for drying and enjoy them fresh.

Herb Drying Techniques
Without a doubt, a food dehydrator is the quickest and most efficient way to dry foods. Types of dehydrators run the gamut from $30 tabletop models found at discount stores to large models costing hundreds. Solar-powered dehydrators are also available for purchase or can be built by hand.

However, drying herbs doesn’t take any special appliances. If you have sunlight, relatively low humidity, and an oven, you can dry your garden bounty quickly and easily.

Air-drying is a traditional method where the stalks are tied and hung upside down to dry. Sometimes, they’re placed in a paper bag to catch the leaves and seeds. It’s possible to air-dry herbs indoors or out. Outdoors, you need a sheltered, shady spot and low humidity. Indoors, you need a spot where they herbs won’t be disturbed and good air circulation.

Sun-drying works well, when there’s relatively low humidity, sunlight, and a light breeze. If the outside temperature is too high or there’s too much humidity, your leaves may cook or even rot before they’re well-dried. Too much sunlight and heat can turn the leaves brown and tasteless.

Small batches of herbs can also be dried in a microwave oven or in a traditional oven set on a very low temperature.

I use a combination of sun drying and oven drying. It seems to be the best of both worlds. The sun-drying stage takes advantage of free energy to do the initial wilting. Then, an oven set to “Warm” temperature quickly removes the rest of the moisture and maintains good color and taste.

Drying One Pound of Basil Leaves

Step 1: Pick the basil. Yes, it takes a lot of basil to make one pound! The basil shown here was harvested from several beds of basil – a total of about 30 plants. I picked it in the morning, just after the dew dried, rinsed it, and patted it dry using kitchen towels.

Step 2: Remove the leaves from the stalks. Some sturdier herbs like parsley, rosemary, and thyme can be easily dried on the stalks, but basil leaves and stems contain so much more moisture that it’s much quicker to dry just the leaves and discard the stems. You can’t eat them anyway.

Step 3: Place in the sun for several hours. Here, I used window screens raised up about 10 inches off the surface of the deck. This mitigates the heat rising up off the deck and lets air circulate above and below the leaves. The leaves are arranged individually on one screen, with another on top to keep the leaves from blowing away or being damaged by insects.

Step 4: Complete the drying process in the oven. After 3 hours in the sun, the basil leaves are quite wilted and much smaller! Remove them from the screens and arrange on cookie sheets. Heat the oven to the lowest setting – about 125 degrees is ideal – and then turn it off! Place the sheets with the basil leaves in the warm oven and leave undisturbed (don’t turn the oven back on) at least several hours. Overnight is better.

Here is is before the sun takes over:

And here it is after 3 hours in the sun!

This process is complete when the whole leaf is dry. Don’t try to speed it up by increasing the oven temperature. You’ll get dried out, tasteless, colorless herbs. The process takes time, but it’s worth the wait to get a high-quality result.

Step 5: Crumble leaves and store. The leaves should be completely dry before you do this. Crush the dried leaves by rubbing them between your hands over a plate or bowl. Then, store them in an airtight container until ready to use or give away.

The herbs will keep better and retain their color and flavor longer if you keep them in the freezer. To make cooking more convenient, keep a small jar out in your kitchen and replenish it from the large freezer jar as needed.

And look at the dried result from our one pound of leaves! About 2/3 cup dried basil.

But what wonderful basil it is! You won’t believe the difference in flavor when you compare it to the expensive jars found in grocery stores.

And because the herbs are fresh, you can use less than you would otherwise, but still get a big burst of flavor.

Whether you eat it raw in salads, stir-fried, or added to soups and sauces, purslane is a delicious addition to many recipes. It’s easy to grow, tastes great, and - best of all to anyone struggling with rising food prices - it’s free.

Purslane used to be cultivated as a food crop in the United States, and is still a major food drop in many countries, including India. Its popularity has increased recently, with articles in the Washington Post and other publications highlighting the nutritional benefits and taste of this hardy little weed:

The plant is rich in vitamin E, vitamin C and beta carotene, and quite high in protein. Most noteworthy of all, it is considered a better source of essential omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy plant. These are compounds the body cannot make itself, which are needed to complement the omega-6 fatty acids we get from grains and grain-fed meat. Wild-caught salmon and freshly hulled walnuts also deliver this prize, but for a steady supply what could be handier than a plant that leaps into your own personal food system with the ardor of an overactive puppy?

How to harvest Purslane
Harvesting purslane is easy; it grows just about anywhere that gets two frost-free months per year and loves to spread around cultivated fields, back yards, and any place that has fertile, moist soil. Even so, purslane is drought-tolerant and readily reseeds from one year to the next.

Take care when picking wild purslane though. Be sure the field hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides or other dangerous chemicals. Avoid picking directly next to roads because car exhaust can contaminate plants with chemicals and heavy metals.

Also make sure you’re actually picking purslane and not its evil twin: spurge. Purslane is a healthy food, but spurge will make you sick. Note the difference in these pictures. The purslane stems are thicker and succulent, as are the leaves. But spurge stems and leaves are much thinner, and when the stems are broken, leak a milky sap that irritates the skin. The white sap means the plant is spurge, so feel free to pull it up to make room for more purslane.

Here’s a photo of spurge and another of the milky sap from a broken spurge stem:

Purslane Recipes
The easiest way to add purslane to your diet is to toss a few, washed leaves into your salad or stir fry. The crunchy, zesty flavor has a slight lemony, peppery kind of flavor.

Purslane Cucumber Salad     Serves 4
This recipe includes two of the earliest garden vegetables and herbs: cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. It’s a good, light side dish.

Ingredients:
· 1 cup cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced.
· 2/3 cup halved cherry tomatoes
· ½ cup purslane leaves
· 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
· 2-3 T rice vinegar (start with 2 tablespoons, and add more if needed)
· 1-2 teaspoons sugar

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, cover, and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Purslane Potato Salad with Curry     Serves 4 - 6
Since purslane is such a popular food in India, it just makes sense to spice up your purslane potato salad with a bit of curry. Mix the salad while the potatoes are still warm (not hot!) and they’ll soak up more of the flavors of the salad.

Ingredients:
· 3 cups potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks, and boiled just until tender.
· 3 stalks celery, minced
· 1-2 green onions and stems, diced
· ½ cup sliced bell pepper
· 2/3 cup raw purslane leaves
· ½ to 2/3 cup mayonnaise
· 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
· 1 teaspoon curry powder
· salt and pepper to taste

While potatoes are still warm, add remaining ingredients and stir well to coat vegetables. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Southern cooking, also called “country cooking” or “soul food,” often describes foods loaded with fat, salt, and pork – sometimes all three in the same dish! Traditional dishes include fried chicken, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, and fried squash. See a pattern? Fried, fried, fried. What’s not fried is likely to be cooked with bacon or a chunk of fatback as “seasoning.”

That “seasoned” taste is so common that many people can’t imagine cooking beans without side meat. As Scarlett O’Hara notes in Gone With the Wind: “Black-eyed peas are no good without bacon. There’s no strength to them.”

Here, as in so many areas, Scarlett was wrong.

Want that good, smoky taste without the fat and salt? Set the pork aside in favor of these three ingredients: sweet marjoram, epazote, and black cardamom. You’ll never add bacon again.

Sweet (and smoky) marjoram
Marjoram is related to oregano, but has a softer, less intense flavor. The most common use is in Italian and Mediterranean cooking (but the French love it too), where it’s used to flavor meats, vegetables, and beans.

Add dried marjoram to beans – especially peas and pintos – at a measurement of approximately ½ teaspoon to each 2 cups of cooked beans. Add more or less to taste, keeping in mind that herbs and spices lose their aroma over time. If your marjoram is old, you may need to even double the amount to get the correct flavor.

Marjoram is aromatic and adds just a hint of smoky flavor. Add a dash of olive oil or a pat of butter and you get the flavor and feel of bacon seasoning.

Epazote has other benefits
This Mexican herb (pronounced eh pah ZO tay) grows wild throughout Latin America and is known by a number of different names, including Mexican tea, skunkweed, pigweed, and goosefoot. Epazote has a pungent scent that some have described as “old gym socks.”

But wait! It gets better when cooked! Why else would it have been used for thousands of years as both a medicinal and cooking ingredient?

Epazote’s flavor is pungent and lemony. It combines well with other flavors in a dish and helps intensify them. When cooked with beans, the herb acts as a carminative – meaning it reduces gas. Some people experience, well, discomfort after eating beans, so epazote can be a welcome addition to bean dishes.

Add dried epazote to beans at about the same proportions as marjoram – ½ to 1 teaspoon for every two cups of cooked beans. It doesn’t add much smoky flavor, but helps intensify the flavors of the marjoram and cardamom.

Black cardamom – who needs pork when you have pods?
Don’t confuse black with green cardamom. The latter is used mainly in baking, in combination with other sweet flavors. But black cardamom has a strong, smoky scent and taste that won’t go well with your cookie dough. The smoky flavor of black cardamom comes from the traditional method of drying the spice over open flames.

Black cardamom is used a lot in Indian cooking, and it’s the secret ingredient in many soups and bean dishes. The flavor is so authentically smoky and bacon-like that I’ve had vegetarian guests who were reluctant to eat dishes flavored with it. I had to show them the pods!

Cardamom degrades quickly after it’s ground. For best flavor, buy whole black cardamom pods and store them in the refrigerator. Just before adding the cardamom to your dish, cut open the pod and scrape out the seeds. You can also toss in the pod for extra flavor, but rinse it well first and remove it before serving.

Marjoram, epazote, and cardamom in combination
All three ingredients work well for canned beans as well as dried beans cooked from scratch.

Smoky Pintos from the Can – Guests will think you got up early to cook a big pot of beans just for them! Note that a 1-pound can contains approximately 2 cups cooked beans. In our house, that serves two people. This recipe is for one can; you may need to double or triple it for a larger crowd.

Ingredients
1 can vegetarian pinto beans - Read label carefully because many brands contain pork or pork broth.
½ can water
1/3 cup diced onions
1-2 teaspoons olive oil
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
½ teaspoon dried epazote
½ black cardamom pod

1. 1. Heat saucepan over medium heat, add olive oil and onions. Cook until onions are softened.
2. 2. Add marjoram, epazote, cardamom, water, and beans. Bring to a boil.
3. 3. Lower heat and simmer at least 10 minutes. 20 minutes is better because it helps the flavors meld together. Remove cardamom pod before serving.

————————————————-

Smoky Pintos from Scratch – Dried beans are cost-effective and great sources of soluble fiber and protein. They’re easy! You can cook them using a pressure cooker, slow cooker, or in a saucepan on the stove. Not many dishes give you so many options and nutritional value for such a low cost.

Ingredients
1-pound bag dried pinto beans
1 large onion, diced.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter (this small bit adds a lot of flavor, but replace it with olive oil if desired)
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried epazote
2 black cardamom pods, rinsed and cut in half

1. 1. Soak beans according to directions on package. Note: it’s important to soak and rinse the beans before cooking. Don’t skip this step!
2. 2. Heat olive oil and butter over medium heat in large, heavy-bottom pan. Add onions and cook on low heat (you don’t want to burn the butter) until onions soften.
3. 3. Add vegetable broth, water, soaked beans, marjoram, epazote, and cardamom. Bring to a boil.
4. 4.Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until beans are soft – about 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Pintos cook in a pressure cooker much more quickly. About 10-12 minutes after coming up to pressure. Be careful not to cook them too long, or you get pinto mush instead of pinto beans.

2. Healthy Heart:
Are you getting to the middle ages in life and worried about your blood pressure? Well if you eat dark chocolate on a regular basis you can actually lower your blood pressure. This beats taking blood pressure medication every morning. Take it upon yourself to have a nice chunk of dark chocolate as desert after dinner instead of ice cream. Preventative actions are always a plus.

3. Increased Energy Level:
Dark chocolate contains caffeine which is a great “pick me up” in the morning or after a long day. Instead of grabbing a cup of coffee, consider picking up a nice dark chocolate bar. Make sure the chocolate is pure and not full of fat because then you will be paying for it later on at the gym.

4. Feel Happy:
If you break down a dark chocolate bar you will find serotonin, which is a chemical your body produces that makes you feel happy. By eating the chocolate you are automatically increasing your body’s levels of serotonin which will inevitably make you feel a little better. It’s no wonder we love this stuff!

5. Ditch a Cough:
Dark chocolate has been found to contain theobromine which is a new and more effective cough suppressant to codeine. With this in mind a chunk of dark chocolate bar on your way to bed when you have a cough sounds great. Maybe chocolate before bed is not such a bad thing after all?