As a vegetarian, I know that it’s important to include lots of beans in my diet, to make sure I get appropriate levels of protein and fiber. As a picky eater, I pretty much avoid beans. Oh sure, I’ll eat green beans now and then, and I’ve had baked beans in the past, but I’m not much of a cook, so I don’t really explore new foods very often.

But I recently checked out The Daily Bean, by Suzanne Caciola White. Filled in 175 recipes for black, white, red, and garbanzo beans, plus lentils, this book is pretty interesting. The standard fare is there: burritos, salads, soups, pastas…but she also makes bean pancakes, pies, and puddings. Right now, I’m considering a fairly simple-looking black bean salad; we’ll see how it goes.

Once the weather turns colder, I might turn my attention to soup. (I’m also not much of a soup eater, to the consternation of pretty much everyone I know). I like pumpkin and Rachael Ray, and I found a recipe of hers that looks pretty tasty and easy: pumpkin black-bean soup. I actually have this particular recipe on a DVD, so I’ve seen it in action, and it looks very simple to make. I can’t find an online version of the video, but I did find someone else’s version of the soup on youtube, so I thought I’d share it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wx1Kt2suzOY

If anyone tries either of these recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know how the soup turned out!