Sure, you know that beans are good for you. In fact, the tiny fruits of the legume family are nutritional powerhouses, packing calcium, iron, protein, complex carbohydrates and soluble fiber. An Original Recipe Contest will award a get-away trip for two to Le Meridien's L'Habitation le Domaine on St. Martin in the Caribbean. Simply prepare one of the pasta and bean products as the basis for your recipe, and customize with your own creative additions. Entries due May 1.
Many people just find legumes to be laborious.
Whole dry beans, though inexpensive, require cleaning, soaking and rinsing until free from the flotsam common to foodstuffs from the soil, and after all that, more simmering on the stove top to achieve tenderness. But help for time-pressed cooks interested in good nutrition is here. The instant bean can be prepared in 10 minutes or less. Just add boiling water and stir. Fortunately, the techniques used to create today's instant bean lock in flavor more effectively than early experiments did.