Slow Cooked Kidney Bean Sauce with Olives

Slow Cooked Tomato Sauce with Red Kidney Beans and Olives

Hello everybody!

I hope you are all having a fantastic week. This is one of my favorite recipes. It is a total go-to recipe that is perfect as a:

·      Pasta sauce

·      A dipping sauce for nachos or the like

·      To put on pizzas

·      To put in sandwiches

·      To put in roasted vegetables or couscous/rice/or another ancient grain

Let’s talk about beans for a second. Beans are a powerhouse of nutrients. They contain an incredible array of vitamins, minerals, fiber and the like. They are also slowly digested, stabilize blood sugar and allow for sustained energy. Bean consumption is related to increased health and longevity and an increase in protection against a variety of cancers particularly colon cancer. Beans are naturally low in fat, high in protein and gluten-free and did I mention they are UBER satisfying? Beans by themselves do not contain all of the essential amino acids. BUT, magical #vegantip: when you combine beans with another source of complimentary protein like brown rice or another ancient grain they create a complete protein! How fantastic is that?

A lot of people say that they cannot eat beans due to the beans giving them very bad gas. But, there are many factors that could contribute to this experience (such as food combining) and equally many things one can do in order to increase the digestibility of legumes. Below is one of the biggest reasons why beans cause flatulence and how one can prevent that:

INCREASE REGULARITY OF BEAN CONSUMPTION: When you eat beans regularly your body actually starts to increase its’ ability to break beans down. People experience flatulence when eating beans because of the body’s inability to break down the resistant starches in beans because their bodies do not yet have the adequate amounts of bacteria in their bodies which are responsible for the breakdown of the aforementioned resistant starches. When we focus on increasing the amount of beans and legumes we eat regularly (slowly and steadily) over time the body will increase the amount of bacteria that are responsible for the proper digestion of the resistant starches and soon you will experience less and less resistance and discomfort as a result of eating beans. So the solution for gas caused by beans? EAT MORE BEANS. This will lessen the tendency of the body to cause bloating and gas. For more information on this you can look up: Dr Joel Fuhrman and read his book Super Immunity.

Another tip if eating beans from a tin: WASH AND DRAIN them of the brine.

Now to get back to the deliciousness that is this red kidney bean, black olive delight.

Ingredients

·      2 white onions

·      2 garlic cloves

·      2 tins of chopped tomato or tinned cherry tomatoes

·      ½ chili, chopped finely

·      1 teaspoon dried thyme

·      2 tablespoons tomato paste

·      1/4 tsp salt

·      1/3 cup olives (I used cured black olives but any olives of choice will do)

·      1 tin kidney bans

·      1/4 cup red wine (optional)

·      fresh herb of choice

Method:

1.           Dice your onions and garlic. Keep them separate. Bring a pot to medium-high heat. Add your onions and then add ¼ cup of water to cook down in lieu of using oil. Once the onions are slightly translucent add in the garlic and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Add in chopped chili, tomato paste and dried thyme. Continue cooking.

2.         Now add in the tinned tomato, salt and beans (washed and drained). If adding wine, add it in now.

3.          Let it simmer and reduce for about 10 minutes, allowing all the flavors to melt into one another. Add olives and continue cooking for about 5 or so minutes.

4.         To finish top with fresh herb of choice and ENJOY.