NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
July 22, 1999
Back when "The Sound of Music" was originally released as a movie in the mid-1960s, I had a lot of favorite things--namely, favorite foods. Most of my adolescent years were fat ones. Do I exaggerate? Consider this: I am no taller now than when I was an eighth grader, yet today I'm carrying around about 50 fewer pounds than when I was 13. The pants whose waist size I outgrew earlier in my elementary school years I now wear again (not the same pants, just the same waist size).
I blame a good portion of my youthful plumpness on my mom's cooking. Like many families did back when I was a kid, we ate a lot of fried meat. And Mom did what Depression-era folks do best--they find a practical use for everything. In Mom's case, she found a practical and tasty use for the pan drippings all that fried meat produced. She made country gravy, what we called "milk gravy." Fried round steak and milk gravy. Fried chicken and milk gravy. Fried pork chops and milk gravy.
The garden-fresh green beans, made-from-scratch coleslaw, buttery corn on the cob, creamy mashed potatoes or anything else Mom chose to serve with those meals were mere distractions, because with each of these meals, the gravy Dad and I ate went on top of Mom's baking powder biscuits.
In my case, four or five baking powder biscuits per meal--baking powder biscuits that were about two inches tall and would emit a puff of steam when the top and bottom halves separated. These were baking powder biscuits whose heat could dissolve a dab of butter quicker than a hot skillet. These were the same baking powder biscuits that, along with the milk gravy, I had to forego the summer I decided to shed my fleshy cocoon.
As I lost the weight that summer I gained a realization that my life most likely would continue to be a series of trade-offs, food related and otherwise. So, I've concluded that Mom's baking powder biscuits taught me to seek compromise. If I can't have the whole loaf, I'll settle for a reduced-calorie version.
I think there's a little of that give-and-take philosophy present in the following recipe. It's one of many featured in a brochure titled "bean appétit!"--a publication of the Northarvest Bean Growers Association of Minnesota and North Dakota.
Black Bean Biscuits
Yield: 8 servings (24 mini-biscuits)Ingredients:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup vegetable shortening
½ can (15-ounce size) black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons skim (fat-free) milkProcedure:
Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in mixing bowl and cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse (pea-sized) crumbs. Process beans and milk in food processor or blender until nearly smooth. Add bean-milk combination to flour mixture and blend just until dough comes together. Pat dough on floured surface to ¾-inch thickness. Cut biscuits using a 1-inch cutter. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 375 F until light brown, about 12 to 14 minutes. Serve warm as an accompaniment to salad or soup.
What's Your Take on This, Julie?
There are a lot of reasons to eat dry beans, tight budget or not. Nutritionally, beans are a good source of protein, fiber, iron and folic acid. Beans are cholesterol free, virtually fat free and low in sodium. They also contain calcium, phosphorus and potassium.
What's more, dry beans are versatile additions to the diet. A cup of beans counts as a meat serving due to its protein content, and a half-cup of beans counts as a vegetable serving, according to USDA guidelines.
So why is the nutritious dry bean often shunned or joked about in polite company? Beans contain indigestible sugars, stachyose and verbascose, which are certainly harmless; however, intestinal bacteria can ferment them to produce gas--and a little noise.
You can reduce this gas-producing tendency by adding water to dry beans, bringing them to a boil, soaking them for four hours, draining the soak water and simmering until tender. Another way to increase your tolerance to the fiber and sugars in beans is to slowly increase your consumption over time to allow your digestive system to adapt.
The folic acid and fiber content of dry beans may actually play a role in reducing our risk of heart disease. One of the newest markers in assessing heart disease risk is the level of homocysteine in our blood. Higher homocysteine numbers are associated with greater risk of heart disease.
Folic acid, a B vitamin that's also found in leafy green vegetables, orange juice and other sources, seems to play a protective role in reducing homocysteine levels in the blood. Adequate folic acid in the diet also can reduce risk of birth defects. Soluble fiber, which is found in dry beans, may lower blood cholesterol levels.
Dry beans are a bounteous crop in the Midwest, certainly worthy of promoting and eating, and yes, they can stretch your food dollar. Pinto, kidney, navy and black beans are examples of what's grown in this region. This week's recipe features black beans. One serving of Black Bean Biscuits (three mini-biscuits) contains 182 calories, 7.3 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of fiber and 21 percent of the recommended daily value for folic acid.
Now that I've spilled the beans about dry beans, why not add them to your plate more often?
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Sources: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136
Julie Garden-Robinson (701) 231-7187
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