A HEALTHFUL AND MEATLESS DIET

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Rinse the beans and cover them with water to soak overnight. The next day, drain the legumes, add about 3 cups of fresh water, and bring to a boil. While they're cooking, sauté the onion, garlic, and green pepper in oil, and when tender, add them to the beans along with the seasonings, tamari, and wine vinegar. Cover the pot and simmer the mixture until the beans are soft, adding more water if needed. Serve with hot brown rice and a garnish of chopped raw onion and sliced hard-boiled eggs. This recipe provides six generous portions.

Another way to use legumes is in sandwich fillings. Falafel, a Middle Eastern dish, is made by forming a bean mixture into small balls, deep-frying them, and tucking them into pita bread.

FALAFEL
4 cups of cooked garbanzo beans (2 cups soaked overnight and boiled until soft)
1 medium potato, cooked and mashed
1 or 2 eggs, beaten
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons of salt (or more)
1 teaspoon of paprika
1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander or cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper dash of cayenne juice of
1 lemon flour or fine bread crumbs vegetable oil

Drain and mash the cooked beans, then combine them with the potato, egg, onion, garlic, parsley, spices, and lemon juice. Chill the batter well, then form it into walnut-size balls and dust each one with flour or bread crumbs. Fry the rounds in 1-1/2" of hot oil in a heavy skillet until browned, then drain them on brown paper and serve them stuffed into pita bread, rolls, or french bread and garnished with yogurt, chopped tomatoes, and onions or shredded lettuce and tahini dressing. This recipe will feed about six.

Whole grains. In the Western world, we are just now rediscovering the importance of using whole grains. This group of foods requires only small additions of legumes or dairy products to create complete protein combinations. Serve barley as a side dish, millet as porridge, and oats not only for cereals and breads but also—buttered and browned—for crumb toppings. Rice, perhaps the most universal food, can be served in main dishes, desserts, and salads.

The Japanese call rice go-han , with han meaning "rice" and go meaning "highest reverence." This is the staple food for two-thirds of the world's people. For the most nutrition, rely on brown rice, which has the germ and most of the bran layer intact. One cup of brown rice provides 15 grams of protein and 154 grams of carbohydrate, while one cup of white rice has only about 4 grams of protein and 50 grams of carbohydrate. Brown rice also has double the iron and triple the calcium, niacin, and B1 and B2 vitamins, and it's high in phosphorus and sodium. What's more, brown rice just plain tastes better!

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