Tag: Low Allergen

A Pot of White Beans for the Week

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 6 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein in a half-cup portion, from the beans alone.
  • Bean fiber is the soft kind that holds water, which is what a slowed digestion after 65 responds to, where bran often does not.
  • The trade-off: none to speak of. Cooked from dried, these beans carry about a quarter of the sodium of canned beans, and the card shows the amount.

A pound of dried white beans, cannellini or great northern, soaked overnight and simmered slowly with half an onion, garlic, a bay leaf, and a spoon of olive oil. They are done when the beans are creamy inside and the liquid has thickened, and salt goes in for the last twenty minutes.

The pot makes about six cups, which is twelve half-cup portions: some for the refrigerator, most for the freezer in single portions with a little of their liquid.

Across the week, a portion warms into a side dish with olive oil and pepper, goes into soup, mashes onto toast, or turns into a cold salad with lemon. A pound of dried beans costs a fraction of the same beans in cans, and it carries no can lining and almost no sodium.

Why a Pot of Beans Is Good for Digestion After 65

Constipation becomes common after 65, for ordinary reasons: the gut slows a little with age, people move less, drink less, and often take medications that slow things further. The standard advice is more fiber, and the kind matters.

Bran and other coarse fiber add bulk that a slowed gut has to move, and many older adults find it makes the problem worse. Soft fiber that dissolves and holds water is the kind that helps, and it is found in beans, oats, cooked vegetables, and fruit.

White beans are one of the richest sources of that soft fiber, about 6 grams in a half cup, and cooked until creamy they are as gentle as food gets. The fiber works with fluid, so the beans are better in a soup or with a glass of water than eaten dry.

Start with a half cup a day if beans are new, and let the gut adjust over a week or two.

How much fiber a day calls for, how to increase it without discomfort, and which other foods carry the soft kind, is in Fiber Math: Thirty Grams a Day From Real Food.

A pot of cooked white beans with two small containers filled beside it in the pan.
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A Pot of White Beans for the Week

A pound of dried cannellini or great northern beans simmered with onion, garlic, bay, and olive oil until creamy, then portioned for the refrigerator and freezer. Twelve half-cup portions, each with about 6 grams of gentle fiber and 9 grams of protein.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 40 minutes
Course: dinner, Side Dish
Cuisine: American, Mediterranean
Keyword: batch cooking beans, freezer beans, high fiber side, how to cook dried beans, pot of beans, white beans from scratch
Servings: 12 half cup with a little liquid
Calories: 140kcal

Equipment

  • Dutch oven or heavy 4-quart pot
  • Freezer containers or freezer bags

Ingredients

  • 1 pound dried white beans (cannellini or great northern) rinsed and sorted
  • 1/2 onion in one piece
  • 3 cloves garlic smashed
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • water to cover by 2 inches

Instructions

  • Soak the beans in plenty of cold water overnight, or at least 8 hours. Drain. (Skipping the soak works; add 30 minutes to the cooking time.)
  • Put the beans in a heavy pot with the onion, garlic, bay leaf, and olive oil. Add cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, skim any foam, then lower to a bare simmer.
  • Simmer partly covered, stirring now and then and adding hot water if the beans show, until the beans are creamy inside with no chalkiness, 60 to 90 minutes. Old beans take longer.
  • Add the salt for the last 20 minutes of cooking. Remove the onion and bay leaf. Taste; the liquid should be lightly seasoned and a little thickened.
  • Cool in the pot. Refrigerate up to 5 days in their liquid, or freeze in half-cup or 1 3/4-cup portions with a little liquid for up to 6 months.

Notes

Ways to use a portion: warm with olive oil, black pepper, and lemon as a side; stir into any soup for the last 10 minutes; mash on toast with lemon and garlic; toss cold with lemon, olive oil, and parsley as a salad. A 1 3/4-cup frozen portion replaces one 15-ounce can in any recipe on this site. Beans are gentler when eaten with fluid, so serve them in soup or with a glass of water. Start with a half cup a day if beans are new to you.

Nutrition

Calories: 140kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 1.5g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Sodium: 200mg | Potassium: 691mg | Fiber: 5.9g | Sugar: 1.1g | Calcium: 94mg | Iron: 4mg | Magnesium: 73mg | Phosphorus: 117mg | Choline: 26mg

Gluten Free

Dried beans, onion, garlic, bay, and olive oil are naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, dried beans are the one ingredient to check. Some are packed on lines shared with wheat and barley, so choose a bag labeled gluten-free, and rinse and sort the beans before soaking. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any dried beans.

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Dutch-Oven Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew Over the Fire

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 21 grams of protein and 8 milligrams of iron in one bowl, from black beans and sweet potatoes.
  • The lime and the tomatoes are the vitamin C that lets the body take up iron from beans, and about 22 grams of fiber a bowl keep it filling.
  • The trade-off: canned beans and tomatoes make this a salty stew even with low-sodium cans. The card shows the amount, and the notes show how to lower it.

Onion and garlic softened in oil in a camp Dutch oven set over coals, then cumin, smoked paprika, three cans of black beans, a can of diced tomatoes, cubed sweet potatoes, and chopped peppers. The lid goes on with a few coals on top. Thirty-five minutes later the sweet potatoes are soft and the stew has thickened, and lime juice and cilantro go in at the end, off the heat.

Everything but the peppers and the herb is shelf-stable, so the whole meal rides in a food box and the cooler stays for other things. It serves four hungry campers from one pot, and a stove at home works the same way.

Why This Stew Is Great for Iron on a Plant-Based Camping Trip

Beans carry plenty of iron, and the body absorbs only a small share of it, because plant iron comes in a form the gut takes up poorly. Two things change that. Vitamin C eaten in the same meal can double or triple the amount absorbed, and tea or coffee with the meal cuts it sharply.

Neither fact is well known, and both matter more on a plant-based pattern, where all the iron is plant iron.

This pot is built around the first fact. The tomatoes cook in the stew, and the lime goes in at the end so its vitamin C is not cooked away. The camp coffee is the second fact: drink it an hour before or after this meal rather than with it, and the beans do their work.

The protein here is beans and pumpkin seeds, which puts a bowl at about 21 grams, a fair share of a day on a plant-based pattern.

Why plant-based eaters need somewhat more total protein than meat eaters, and which plant foods carry the most, is in Plant Protein That Builds Muscle: Leucine, Pairing, and How Much More You Need.

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Dutch-Oven Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew Over the Fire

Black beans, sweet potatoes, canned tomatoes, and peppers with cumin and smoked paprika, cooked in a camp Dutch oven over coals and finished with lime and cilantro. Vegan, one pot, no cooler needed. About 21 grams of protein and 8 milligrams of iron a bowl.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time55 minutes
Course: dinner
Cuisine: American, Mexican
Keyword: black bean sweet potato stew, campfire cooking, camping stew, dutch oven camping recipe, one pot camping meal, vegan camping dinner
Servings: 4 bowl (about 2 cups)
Calories: 515kcal

Equipment

  • 10-inch or 12-inch camp Dutch oven with lid
  • Lid lifter
  • Heat-resistant gloves
  • Can opener

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 3 cans (15 ounces each) low-sodium black beans drained, with 1/2 cup of the liquid kept
  • 1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes with their juice
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds) peeled and cut in 3/4-inch cubes
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped bell peppers (frozen chopped peppers or 1 jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
  • 2 limes juiced
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds for the top

Instructions

  • Build a bed of coals or light about 24 charcoal briquettes and let them ash over. Set the Dutch oven on a ring of about 12 coals.
  • Heat the oil and cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, and smoked paprika and stir for 1 minute.
  • Add the beans with the kept liquid, the tomatoes with their juice, the sweet potatoes, peppers, water, and salt. Stir and put the lid on. Set about 8 coals on the lid.
  • Cook until the sweet potatoes are soft and the stew has thickened, 30 to 35 minutes, lifting the lid once to stir. Rotate the pot a quarter turn halfway through so it cooks evenly.
  • Take the pot off the coals. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Taste for salt. Serve in bowls with pumpkin seeds on top.

Notes

Lower-sodium version: use no-salt-added beans and tomatoes and skip the added salt; the lime carries the flavor. At home, the same pot cooks on the stove over medium-low heat in about 30 minutes. Canned beans are convenient and travel well; at home, a pound of dried black beans cooked ahead and frozen in 1 3/4-cup portions replaces the three cans, costs less, and skips the can lining. Drink coffee or tea an hour apart from this meal so the iron in the beans is absorbed. Leftovers keep 4 days cold.

Nutrition

Calories: 515kcal | Carbohydrates: 78g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 2.6g | Sodium: 757mg | Potassium: 1624mg | Fiber: 22g | Sugar: 14g | Calcium: 189mg | Iron: 7.9mg | Magnesium: 226mg | Phosphorus: 522mg | Choline: 86mg

Gluten Free

Beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, onion, spices, and lime are naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, check the canned beans and tomatoes for wheat-based thickeners and the spice blends for wheat flour. Use a Dutch oven that has been scrubbed since it last held biscuits or breaded food. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any brand.

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Slow-Cooker Chicken Stew With Cabbage

A bowl of slow-cooker chicken stew with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes in a small bowl.

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 38 grams of protein in one bowl, from a generous portion of chicken thigh.
  • Cabbage, carrots, and potatoes bring about 8 grams of fiber, and the broth and vegetables make it a filling bowl for its calories.
  • The trade-off: none to speak of on salt. Made with low-sodium broth, this bowl has about half the sodium of a canned or frozen chicken stew, and the card shows the amount.

Thawed boneless chicken thighs go into the slow cooker with a small head of cabbage cut in wedges, carrots, onion, potatoes, garlic, thyme, and low-sodium chicken broth. Eight hours later the chicken pulls apart with a fork, the cabbage has gone sweet and soft, and the broth has thickened a little from the potatoes. Salt goes in at the end, to taste, after everything has cooked down.

One pot makes six bowls. Eat two and freeze four in single containers, and there are four weeknight dinners that reheat in the microwave in five minutes.

Why This Stew Is Great for a Freezer Full of Weeknight Dinners

Most of the sodium Americans eat comes from food that arrives already made: canned soups and stews, frozen dinners, deli meat, rotisserie chicken, jarred sauces. The salt shaker is a small part of it. A can of chicken stew carries a large share of a day’s sodium in one bowl, because salt is the cheapest way to make a canned food taste like anything.

The same stew made at home, with low-sodium broth and salt added at the end to taste, carries about half as much, and often less. Nothing else about the dish changes. It is the ordinary dish with the extra sodium left out, and anyone on a medically low-sodium plan should still check the card against their target.

Why Salt Goes In Last

Salt added at the start of a long cook cannot be tasted until the end, so people add more. Salt added at the end, a quarter teaspoon at a time, seasons the finished stew with less.

Where the rest of a day’s sodium hides, and how to read the number on the recipe card, is in Sodium in the Kitchen: Where It Hides and How to Read the Card.

Freeze It in Single Bowls

Stew freezes well because the chicken, the broth, and the soft vegetables all hold up to freezing and reheating. Cool the stew, ladle it into single-serving containers with the lid a little loose, and freeze. Label the lid with the date. It keeps three months.

Reheat one container in the microwave, covered, for four to five minutes, stirring once, or overnight in the refrigerator and then on the stove. The potatoes soften a little more after freezing; if that bothers you, freeze the stew without them and add a cooked potato when you reheat. What else freezes well and what does not is in Freezer Cooking That Keeps the Nutrition.

Thighs Stay Moist, Breast Does Not

Chicken breast cooked eight hours in a slow cooker turns dry and stringy. Thighs stay moist and pull apart in soft pieces, and frozen boneless, skinless thighs are one of the cheapest cuts in the store. Thaw them in the refrigerator overnight before they go in; a slow cooker heats too slowly to take meat straight from the freezer safely.

A bowl of slow-cooker chicken stew with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes in a small bowl.
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Slow-Cooker Chicken Stew With Cabbage

Boneless chicken thighs, cabbage wedges, carrots, potatoes, onion, and thyme in low-sodium broth, cooked all day in the slow cooker. Freezes in single bowls. About 36 grams of protein a bowl with about half the sodium of canned stew.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time8 hours
Total Time8 hours 20 minutes
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken and cabbage, crockpot chicken, freezer meal, low sodium stew, make ahead dinner, slow cooker chicken stew
Servings: 6 bowl (about 2 cups)
Calories: 384kcal

Equipment

  • 6-quart slow cooker
  • Single-serving freezer containers

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs, thawed
  • 1 small head green cabbage (about 2 pounds) cut in 8 wedges through the core
  • 4 medium carrots cut in 1-inch pieces
  • 1 1/2 pounds small potatoes halved (about 4 cups)
  • 1 large onion cut in wedges
  • 4 cloves garlic smashed
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt added at the end to taste
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or the green tops of the carrots for serving

Instructions

  • Put the onion, garlic, carrots, and potatoes in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Lay the chicken thighs on top and scatter with the thyme, pepper, and bay leaves.
  • Tuck the cabbage wedges around and over the chicken. Pour in the broth and drizzle the olive oil over the cabbage. The pot will be full; the cabbage cooks down.
  • Cover and cook on low 7 to 8 hours or on high 4 hours, until the chicken pulls apart easily and the cabbage is soft.
  • Remove the bay leaves. Break the chicken into large pieces with two forks. Stir in salt a quarter teaspoon at a time, tasting, until the stew tastes seasoned; 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon is usually right.
  • Serve about 2 cups a bowl with parsley on top.
  • To freeze: cool, ladle into single-serving containers, and freeze up to 3 months. Reheat covered in the microwave 4 to 5 minutes, stirring once.

Notes

Chicken breast can be used but will be drier; cut the cooking time to 6 hours on low. The potatoes soften further after freezing; for firmer potatoes, leave them out of the pot and add a cooked, cooled potato to each bowl when reheating. Cooked and cooled potatoes form resistant starch, which is gentler on blood sugar, so a potato cooked ahead and reheated in the stew is a good choice for anyone watching their blood sugar. For a thicker stew, mash a few of the potatoes into the broth at the end.

Nutrition

Calories: 384kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 9.8g | Saturated Fat: 2.4g | Sodium: 499mg | Potassium: 1429mg | Fiber: 7.9g | Sugar: 9g | Calcium: 119mg | Iron: 3.7mg | Magnesium: 90mg | Phosphorus: 458mg | Choline: 122mg

Gluten Free

Chicken, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, and thyme are naturally free of gluten, and this stew is thickened by the potatoes rather than flour. For people with celiac disease, the broth is the ingredient to check: choose one labeled gluten-free, since some broths and bouillon cubes list wheat or yeast extract from barley. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any low-sodium broth.

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