Month: July 2013

Black Beans; quick black bean stiry fry

Aynaria 2 Comments

I love black beans…

Vegan - Black beans and vegetables_2
Vegan: Black Beans and vegetables

 

I only use dried beans, I’ve found them much more flavorful (and healthier) than purchasing canned beans. When I prepare dried beans, I normally cook a lot of them in advance, freeze the bulk of the beans and use as needed. It’s simple, and much better than the canned beans purchased from the store.  Black beans are delicious and are loaded with nutrients.

Black Beans: Health Benefits

  • Black beans are great for your cardiovascular health. They’re loaded with soluble fiber; this type of fiber is helpful in lowering your risk of heart disease.
  • Black beans are also great sources of folate (B6) our nervous system depends on this to create the amino acids that it needs to function.
  • Black beans contains several types of flavonoids. Studies have shown consuming these types of flavonoids can help reduce certain types of cancers.
  • Since black beans are a great source of protein and fiber it helps move the food through the stomach and large intestines. Which aids the digestive tract from working too hard.

I added carrots, cauliflower, onions and garlic to this dish. I also added some spices. The cauliflower and garlic came from the garden. I’ve found that fresh garlic tastes much better than the garlic you typically receive from the store. Fresh cauliflower, is amazing also.

I was going to add zucchini, that’s plentiful in our garden but I held off adding it to this dish. However, today, I’ll be using zucchini in a dish.This was a simple, nutritious and delicious meal and was prepared in minutes.

 

Resources:

  1. Cancer Letters: Inhibition of Caco-2 colon, MCF-7 and Hs578T breast, and DU 145 prostatic cancer cell proliferation by water-soluble black bean condensed tannins
  2. Cancer Letters: Consumption of black beans and navy beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) reduced azoxymethane-induced colon cancer in rats.
  3. Natural News: Research links eating cooked black beans to lowered risks of cancer
  4. Department of Health: Folic Acid The Vitamin that Helps Prevent Birth Defects

Adventures in Knitting: Signature Convertible Needles

Aynaria Leave a comment

I haven’t been on Ravelry in a while. There’s been so much going on in my life that I really haven’t had the time to add that to the equation…

 

Signature convertible needles
Signature convertible needles

 

This past weekend, I logged onto Ravelry, and learned that Signature needles were now offering detachable cables. Unlike the “interchangeable cables” that can be swapped between needles sizes. The only changing you’ll be doing with Signature knitting needles, is swapping cable length. Signature needles are calling these needles “Signature convertible knitting needles.”

To be honest, that’s a whole lot less appealing (at least for me) than the  interchangeable cables but I might pick up one needle size since I do love the Stiletto points. I will say, that the Signature points are a tiny bit sharper than my Interchangeable Hiya Hiya Steel Sharp needles. But I don’t see myself replacing my Hiya Hiya Steel Sharp set. I love the quality of my Hiya Hiya’s and use them exclusively for all my knitting projects.

Signature knitting needles are a bit pricey, purchasing one will cost me a little over $40. But I’m perfectly happy with spending a bit more for a quality item. After all, the items I choose for the various crafts I do are expected to last a long time.

In other news…

I’ve almost completed the “checkered cowl.”  This is my own pattern, I think I have about twelve more rows to do. I’ll definitely post pictures once it’s complete.