Get ready to learn a whole lot from this episode’s guest, Debra McLennan from the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission.
Pulses are the dry edible seeds of pod plants in the legume family. Pulses include field peas, dry beans, lentils and chickpeas and are high in protein and fibre and low in fat.
The Alberta Pulse Growers is an organization representing 5,400 growers of field pea, dry bean, lentil, chickpea, faba bean and soybean in Alberta. And Debra herself is the Food & Nutrition Coordinator with the organization. She knows everything there is to know about growing pulses and bringing them into our diets through cooking and baking. As she says, she’s teaching us the basics in this episode, so obviously there’s lots more to know!
We learned you can add pureéd lentils to a muffin batter and nobody will suspect they’re in there! You’ve got delicious, moist, protein-packed baked treats ready to fuel your adventures or keep you going between meals. We made two muffin recipes from the Alberta Pulse Growers website, Orange Cranberry and Pumpkin Chai – both were fantastic! Visit their website for these any many more amazing recipes!
We also tried roasting lentils to use as a crunchy flavourful salad topper or snack. Try them in place of or mixed with breadcrumbs in any recipe, or added to granola (there’s a great granola recipe on the Alberta Pulse Growers website, too).
We can’t wait to introduce more pulses to our meals and make the most of this locally-grown, nutritious and affordable ingredient.
Keep scrolling for links to the Alberta Pulse Growers, as well as other things we chatted about in this episode.
Episode Links
~~~~
~ Alberta Pulse Growers Website (https://albertapulse.com/)
~ Alberta Pulse Growers on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/albertapulsegrowers/)
~ Braiding Sweetgrass Book (https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass)
~~~~
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you’re listening to three kitchens
podcast hosted by Aaron Walker and
Heather Dyer we’re on a mission to
inspire other Home Cooks just like us to
be brave and try something new let’s
learn to cook better and eat great
[Music]
food so hello and welcome to today’s
episode of three kitchens podcast I’m
Aaron walk and I am joined by Heather
Dyer hello hello hello this is a fun one
because the Positive Vibes that we sent
out into the universe came back to us on
this one that’s what I was going to say
it’s like we manifested this you know
sometimes it just works out where we
were like working on something you were
making that lentil soup last week which
was fantastic like it’s not that it
didn’t work out or anything but we had
questions so many unknowns not always
sure what to look for with lentils and
things like this and then we said if
anybody out there knows something about
it let’s connect somebody teach
us and lo and behold we found the
perfect guest yes to teach us all a
little bit about pulses how they’re
grown and how to cook with them yeah and
all the positive things that they do for
our bodies and for the environment that
they grow in I am so excited about
pulses now like I just I feel like I’m
telling everybody about it since we’ve
talked to Deborah if you’re listening
and you’re like what are they talking
about a pulse is field peas dry beans
lentils and chickpeas they are the
edible seeds of legumes yes they are
grown for food and feed around the world
in Canada I mean we’re talking today
about primarily Alberta but Canada many
parts of Canada grow these crops yeah
our guest Deborah mclenon the food and
Nutri ntion coordinator from the Alberta
pulse Growers commission she is here
with us today to tell us all about it
all about how Farmers grow these crops
how they’re harvested and processed what
to look for when you’re shopping and
then how to cook with them and baking
our new favorite thing so much you can
do with pulses it is so simple to do and
it adds great stuff to your diet and
it’s inexpensive which we can all
appreciate at this time when our grocery
bills are through the roof so
inexpensive source of protein and um
fiber and other nutrients which is great
for my little cholesterol
heart and all of us good for all of us
so without further Ado please join us
let’s bring in Deborah oh and don’t
forget to go and follow Alberta pulse
Growers check out their website there’s
awesome recipes there if you didn’t know
anything or you’re curious and you’d
like to know more you’re going to love
it absolutely thank you Deborah for
joining us we’re really um happy to have
you here on the podcast with us can we
start big picture what are pulses what
are we talking about so pulses are part
of the legume family and I think most
people are familiar with the term legume
so a legume is a plant that produces
pods with seed okay so if you look if
you think of legumes it in includes
peanuts and soybeans they’re considered
legumes but not pulses because although
lots of protein they do contain fat okay
they are a legum but not a pulse if you
think of garden peas or like yellow
beans or green beans those are also
considered a legume because peas you
kind of know right you split open the
podt and you see the peas in there the
green peas beans you might not think
about it but if I mean when I was a kid
I used to split open the yellow beans
and the and the green beans and there
are little seeds in there but they’re
harvested what we call they’re harvested
fresh and so lots of you know fiber
vitamins minerals that type of thing but
not super high in protein so again a
legume but not a pulse so pulses are
harvested dry and it’s the dry edible
seed of a pot plant they are planted in
the spring and when they’re sufficiently
dry in the field they’re harvested dry
and then the farmers take them to their
local Rin elevator where then they go
many different routs so pulses include
um what we call here in Alberta field
peas so those are those green and yellow
split peas that you see in the stores or
you know we’re quite well known our
green peas soup uh here in Alberta
lentils red and green lentils are what
we grow in Alberta but any kind of
lentil is considered a pulse uh dry
beans so pinto beans black beans kidney
beans Great Northern beans that type of
thing here in Alberta we grow uh pinto
beans black beans and Great Northern
beans are the ones you’ll see in the
store we also produce uh AOW being
called a myoba or and another one is a
small red those are produced primarily
for export you actually don’t see them
on the store shelves here but they are
grown for export to other countries
because there’s a demand for those and
then chickpeas are also considered to be
a pulse we grow a few here in Southern
Alberta they require a lot of sun and a
really long period for growing and then
fabba beans we call them fabba in Canada
but also known as FAA they are also
considered up Pulse so if it’s harvested
dry high in protein high in fiber low in
fat then it’s considered a pulk okay so
they actually dry on the plant before
they’re harvested yes lots of people
think they’re harvested like you’d go
out in your garden and you’d pick your
peas and they go someplace to dry no
they dry in the field so um pulses are
the first crop usually planted in the
spring and one of the first that’s
harvested in the fall and farmers are
monitoring to see when they hit that
right amount of moisture in them which
is very little um then they will go
ahead and harvest them you know people
say well gee I’ve never seen a pulse
crop if you’re driving along let’s say
in July or August and you see a crop
that’s kind of brown and yellowy and
looking like dead in the he that’s most
likely a pulse crop in the spring it
looks just like Garden peas or beautiful
green they got the tendrils that all
link together it’s got these beautiful
you know pretty flowers on it then the
pods form then they fill out but then as
the season progresses the longer you
leave them then they start to dry and
they’ll turn from bright green and then
they start to slowly turn yellow and
then they go that Tanny yellowy sort of
dried out color and then yeah so that’s
what our farmers are looking for and
then they will monitor their fields and
pick a few pods just to see are they
rattling around in the Pod and they want
to make sure that when they’re
harvesting like the Pod will split open
but it doesn’t damage the seeds inside
yeah so no they do they dry in the field
and so then when they harvest them does
the grower remove the seeds the beans
the pulse from in the Pod or does that
happen at the processing no that happens
at Harvest so the equipment that the
that our farmers use the combines that
they use will split as they harvest the
pulse crop the pods because it’s dry
they split open super easy and then it’s
very easy to separate the Pulses from
the chaff and then if you see the
combine going by it feeds the peas into
the combine itself but then it will spit
out the chaff that’s very cool so then
that leftover plant material is that
something that can just be reworked into
the soil and then sort of reused or is
there like a product that they can then
no no they will they will leave that on
the ground to protect the soil to keep
the moisture in there protect it from
wind erosion and again those materials
as they start to break down they feed
back into the soil as well cool cool SM
it’s like its own mulch yeah well imp
pulses are well known for their ability
to fix nitrogen pulses what they’ll do
is they can take atmospheric nitrogen
and they have a symbiotic relationship
with soil bacteria to take that nitrogen
and fix it into a form of nitrogen that
the plant can use as its own fertilizer
ah cool then after harvest those
nitrogen Rich residues are left behind
in the soil so it actually improves the
soil improves the biodiversity so if you
rotate your crops around you can take
advantage of that but pulses typically
uh have a really beneficial effect for
improving soil quality and enhancing the
the crop rotation cycle on on the farm
so we really encourage Farmers to uh
include pulses as part of their crop
rotation because of that right right
there you go some science for
you I’m here for it we like it yeah yeah
yeah how much production of pulses um
are we talking about here in this
province is there a percentage of the
Agricultural production or um here in
Alberta we have I would say we average
between 1.8 to 2 million Acres of pulses
per year it’s a smaller crop um compared
to something like wheat or Canola but
because of their ability to fix nitrogen
it’s also considered a cash crop so
prices are pretty good for pulses so
from a farming perspective it’s a it’s a
really nice crop to include in your
rotation so Alberta Saskatchewan
Manitoba Ontario little bit in Quebec
are the primary pulse producers each
province grows a different slightly
different variety so saskat goes a lot
of lentils U lot of lentils lot of peas
and then some beans and chick beas
Manitoba soybeans they’ll do some peas
as well as a few beans and then Ontario
is primarily Bean especially kidney
beans I mean it’s not a huge crop in
Canada but it is an important crop
promoting you know healthy sustainable
cropping systems MH absolutely when we
go to the store we see either dried
lentils or we see canned lentils what
are the benefits or Draw backs of buying
sort of either one of those well as a
dietitian I’ll speak from that I’ll
speak from that perspective from a
nutrition standpoint there isn’t really
any difference between the two other
than convenience okay so the canned
product all they done is they’ve taken
the dry pulses and they’ve cooked them
and they put them in a can so all you
have to do as a consumer is you take
that can you crack it open drain and
rinse it and it saves you that time of
soaking and cooking okay but
nutritionally there’s no difference
between the two cost perspective there’s
a little bit of a difference right so a
canned product you know does cost more
than the dry but again you know if you
compare you know a plant-based source of
protein which is what pulses provide
they’re still a cost effective um the
dry one once you get used to it so
lentils don’t need to be soaked a whole
lentil so like a whole red lentil or a
whole green lenal you know can take
anywhere from you know 15 to 25 minutes
to cook you just rinse it throw it in a
pot with a bunch of water and then put
it on the stove and way you go a split
lentil 5 to 7 minutes if you want it
mushy you know for an application where
you’re going to puree it and add it to
things then you might just cook it a
little bit longer uh split pea doesn’t
need to be soaked and they’ll take maybe
30 minutes to cook now your whole peas
beans chickpeas and fabba beans all need
to be they don’t need to be they should
be soaked ahead of time um you soak them
either overnight you can do a quick soak
that just starts the process of them
taking on water to rehydrate drain and
rinse and then again put it into a pot
add water to they’re covered by at least
an inch bring it to a boil and you know
beans can take anywhere from 40 to 45
minutes uh chickpeas maybe an hour or so
so again it’s just you know you’re not
going to come home from work and say oh
I’m going to make chickpea stir fry and
all you have is dry chickpeas and you’re
home at 5 you’re probably not going to
do that but you could take like a can a
can of chickp drain and rinse and Away
you go right so I think it just depends
on I would say people usually start with
a caned pulse and figure out the recipes
and how they all work and then they’re
like okay well now I’m I’m comfortable
with this I think I’m going to start
working more with dry I always tell
people if you’re going to do it from dry
cook up a batch ahead of time and then
you can freeze them and then you can
pull it up and use it whenever you need
that right so you know so let’s say cook
up a batch of chickpeas or cook up a
batch of beans take out what you need
and then the rest them dry um put them
in an airtight freezer bag or airtight
container and then you know freeze it in
a/ cup or one cup portion and then you
can pull them out whenever you need them
huh great idea yeah that is a fantastic
idea you have to plan ahead right yeah I
do too either I haven’t planned ahead
enough or I plan ahead too early and
they sit in the fridge in the water for
like two or three days before I’m like
okay I got to move on these
beans well and some people will freeze
them in the water as well I I haven’t
tried that one but I know there are some
that do and they still they turn out
really nice cool the other interesting
thing is if you’re working with dry as
you’re cooking those beans or those
chickpeas you could add like a bay leaf
to the water or you could add like a
clove of garlic or an onion or you know
you can add some spices to that to
infuse that flavor into those pulses
depending on what it is that you want to
do um we don’t recommend adding salt to
the cooking liquid cuz it does tend to
slow down that Pro process of of getting
your beans to be you know your beans or
your chickies to that nice soft texture
okay oh I know we’ve got some research
coming out right now that shows if you
add salt to the soaking liquid it does
seem to enhance the the cooking of the
beans in terms of the texture and the
flavor but again that’s we’re we’re
still working on that research but what
fun research to do yeah well that’s the
kind of research we like to do yeah yeah
I love it fun so how long does it last
in my pantry that bag of lentils that
I’ve got in there cuz I’m more likely to
use a can I’m fly by the seat of my
pants for dinner don’t know what I’m
make until I’m making it so I would pull
out a can but I do have a bag of dry
lentils in the cupboard how long does
that keep well theoretically pulses can
keep for an extremely long period of
time because there’s very little
moisture in there so they’re not going
going to go bad um you’ll notice on the
bags nowadays they do have an expiration
date or like a best before date and it’s
only because pulses when they’re exposed
to air do continue to dry oh so ideally
what we tell people is if you can use
them up within a year then at least you
know they’re still going to take on
water and they will get to the texture
that you want the longer you keep them
the drier they become it’s harder to
predict whether or not they’re going to
soften and get to that point now what
you could be doing is the bags I can’t
say for certain how airtight the bags
are but ideally if you can store your
dry pulses in an airtight kind of
container of some sort away from light
that certainly will help maintain the
freshness of them so to speak they will
fade over time if they’re exposed to
light but that doesn’t that doesn’t
affect their nutritional quality and
same with them drying it doesn’t affect
the nutritional quality it’s just more
appearance and um the texture and the
cooking time and the cooking time yeah
yeah oh that’s interesting so on the
other side of freshness if I’m going to
the store and I’m picking up a bag of
dried lentils how long since they were
in the field long did they sit at the
grocery store how long from like point
of harvest to like when it arrives at
the grocery store well once the farmer
harvests his or her pulses they may
store them for a period of time on the
farm um once it gets to the elevator U
from there then it’s shipped out to now
here in Alberta we don’t do that
secondary processing to put it into
those bags which is why you don’t see
product of Alberta on on
pules from the time then that it leaves
let’s say Alberta goes to the company
that is going to be doing the packaging
it’s usually fairly quick it’s not like
they sit around you know the the
elevators don’t want them sitting around
and then once they’re packaged and go
back to the store I I mean I don’t have
numbers to tell you exactly how long
that is I think it’s very accurate to
look at that best before date on that
bag to assertain I mean I would say if
you’re going to the store now and it’s
telling you April 202
that chances are it’s been pretty quick
since they’ve been packaged and now
they’re shipped back okay cool that
would be my
assumption I have no data to back that
up but that would be my logical
Assumption of you know how the supply
chain works for pulses yeah and knowing
the season right like we know that it’s
a summer crop like pretty much
everything here and then it’s probably
packaged sometime between October and
January maybe somewhere in there right
well and and farmers are you know they
can be selling throughout the year so
that’s where you know companies can be
getting Supply throughout the year but
again it’s just it just depends depends
on the year depends on the farming cycle
so how do I know if I’m looking at a
recipe that’s for lentils let’s say or
I’ve decided I have a way I want to
incorporate it into what I’m doing is
there a reason to choose based on the
colors is there a reason to choose a red
lentil versus a green green lentil or a
yellow lentil is there a difference uh
the difference would be depending on
what the texture is that you want in
there so for example a red split lentil
which is those pretty little orange ones
right and they’re kind of teeny weeny
when a pulse is split they remove the
outer hole and now you just have sort of
that inner part of the pulse that’s why
they cook faster but they also the
texture um changes with it so with a red
split lentil as you cook it it turns a
dull yellow and it goes to Mush very
quickly so a red split lentil is great
for applications where you want to puree
it and add it to baking let’s say you
want to thicken a soup you want to
thicken a stew you want to thicken
something in there where you want to add
that lentils are perfect they’re they’re
pretty flavor neutral they add that
extra fiber in there they add the extra
protein but now you’re getting that cuz
pulses have uh a wonderful blend of
complex carbohydrates and starches in
there along with fiber that provide that
thickening so that’s a great application
for you know a red split lentil now if
you wanted to do lentils in a salad and
let’s say you want to roast them a red
split lentil is probably not the best
one because by the time you cook it you
have to be really careful so it’s not
starting to break down you know like
break apart on you so that’s where like
a whole red lentil or a whole green
lentil or a whole yellow or brown
whichever one it still has the hole on
it so it’s going to retain its shape so
where you have um like a roasted lentil
with some spices a little bit of oil and
have it as a crouton on a soup or as
like a almost like a a crouton on a
salad you want something that still has
the has the husk or the skin on it so it
maintains that shape same with peas
right so when you make pea soup and use
a split pea they will as they cook
because we’ve removed that hole they
will start to soften and they can
they’ll go nice and mushy which is kind
of how we like them to do and again you
could use those as well for thickening
but you know a whole pee or a whole bean
or a whole chickpea if if you want to
roast it or if it’s something where you
want that texture in the chili in the
soup in the stew then you want something
that still has that hole on it yes yeah
absolutely I’ve never heard of roasting
lentils and when you said that you
probably I was like oh I want to do that
that’s sounds they go pretty small
compared to like a roasted chickpea but
like it’s just something a little bit
different so let’s say you know a 540
mil can drained and rinsed will give you
two cups of cooked lentil so maybe you
use one cup in a recipe and then you’re
like okay what am I going to do with
this other cup well you know what Pat it
dry toss it with a little bit of oil and
then you’re you know could be chili
powder could be a little bit of cumin
red pepper flakes something like that
and then put it on a baking sheet with
parchment paper throw it in the oven you
know anywhere from 350 375 400 higher
the temperature watch them they do
shrink up a little bit but wow do they
ever pack a flavor punch we’ve got a
recipe for a a lime and black pepper
flavor wow yum that’s so you know you
can throw that into a granola if you’re
making your own granola or like I say
it’s a wonderful Chopper on a I just
love adding them to salads where I want
a little bit of texture perfect I’m
going to be making this week because I
just bought some kale cuz it looked so
good at the store and I was like o I
want to make a salad with like a nice
crunchy I was going to make a homemade
granola with it mix them like Deborah
just said mix it into your granola and I
think it’s interesting because people
only think of roasting chickpeas
chickpeas do lend themselves to that
because of their size but you can roast
beans as well like pinto beans roast up
really nice black beans roast really
nice like they they will all roast
really really well just a different
flavor and a bit of a different texture
but you know you still again you’re
getting that that protein and that fiber
in another fun format that people may
not have thought about again like I say
if you have these extra pulses kicking
around you don’t know what to do with
them roast them up you can put them in
an airtight container and you know
you’re looking for that little snacky
thing while you’re watching TV in the
evening you can pull those
out yeah I’m thinking like where you’d
use breadcrumbs like on a mac and cheese
something like I’ve got all kinds of
ideas now roasted lentils would be would
be such a nice crumble on there yeah
yeah for sure this episode is paain for
itself already okay then then you know
what I’m doing my job your work is your
work is done the rest is just gravy here
you
go okay well we’re getting into all this
food and cooking stuff already but uh
let’s take a quick break and then we’ll
come back and discuss the recipes that
we did
make so join us on the second half hey
listeners have you heard of the method
of planting corn beans and squash
together it’s referred to as the three
sisters and comes from traditional
planting practices from indigenous
people here in North America the corn
Sprouts first and provides structure for
the Bean to grow on the bean as a legume
is is a nitrogen fixer and provides
nutrients to the soil and the Squash
protects the soil and retains moisture
together these three plants mutually
support each other’s growth we
referenced these explanations from
braiding sweet grass by Robin wall
kimmerer and if you’d like to read more
about it check out her book now back to
the show we are back talking with
Deborah from Alberta pulse Growers and
now that we know what pulses are how
they’re growing them how they get to our
store you’ve touched on it a little bit
but maybe let’s highlight why we should
be eating pulses well there’s a number
of different reasons so uh from a
nutrition standpoint pulses are an
excellent source of plant-based protein
and I know we’re seeing more and more
people looking for ways to add more
plant-based protein into their diets so
pulses can be a really uh fun delicious
and affordable way to do that we are
certainly as Canadians very low in fiber
in our diets pulses provide not only
that protein but also fiber pulses are
also a really great source of iron
folate potassium magnesium and zinc I
mean there are nutrition powerhouses
that are a wonderful way to again bump
up sort of the nutrient quality of any
meal that you add them to so from a
nutrition standpoint you certainly can’t
go wrong adding pulses to any of your
meals and we have lots of fun and cool
recipes for all of the meals and snacks
pulses are also uh a very sustainably
grown crop and they contribute to you
know promoting positive effects with our
soil Health they are you know can grow
in a number of different climates you
know for people who are looking for
foods that are sustainably grown pulses
can certainly um fit that bill and they
don’t need a lot of synthetic nitrogen
fertilizer they just have a one you know
a number of wonderful qualities are
pulses um indigenous to North America or
or were they brought here at some point
I know a little bit about this but I’m
not going to say I’m the expert pulses
were brought to Alberta I think sometime
in the
1980s I know if you look at history our
indigenous peoples have grown beans as
part of you know the three sisters
cropping system that they’ve used so
there were some beans there but as a
whole it’s a crop that was brought over
um to North America and has been growing
by Leaps and Bounds ever since right I
was just curious because when you’re
talking about sustainability and locally
grown I just wondered for those folks
who are interested in eating things that
are indigenous to the land here and I
mean just curious yeah I I had the same
question very cool yeah okay I have a qu
I have a question um since we’re sort of
talking about nutrition and preparing
them beans have a reput beans in
particular have a reputation of
producing a gassy effect when we eat
them
Is that real Aon Aon was like maybe it’s
just in our minds it’s not real
psychosomatic or something is that real
and is there anything we can do when
we’re preparing these things to minimize
that effect on the digestive system well
that is an excellent question and no it
is not
imaginary the magical the magical fruit
as we like to say right that’s
right you know what you have to
knowledge the elephant in the room
and so there’s a couple of things that
are going on with when and it’s not just
beans It’s seems to be more prevalent
with beans but it’s not it can be with
all of the pulses part of it has to do
with fiber if you don’t have a lot of
fiber in your diet you’re not consuming
a lot of fiber in your diet as you start
to eat more fiber foods or you do a big
overload of fiber in a meal as it hits
your digestive tract it’s going to go
whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa and so right so
in those instances what I suggest to
people is that if you are not eating a
lot of pulses now and then tomorrow you
decide you’re going to eat it three
times a day you may want to be staying
home for the day because you’re not
going to be feeling to great but ideally
you should start introducing them slowly
it has to be a consistent intake you
know you can’t just do it once a week
and then expect it to be better it needs
to be something on a fairly regular
basis so you know three four times a
week and then slowly increase the amount
and then that way you’ll start to see
your body if if that’s if it’s the fiber
that’s causing the the issue the other
thing is that pulses um I talked a
little bit about complex carbohydrates
so pulses the the other carbohydrate
that you find in there is starch and
it’s a healthy starch that is very
beneficial to our digestive system
there’s a resistant starch and a slowly
digestable starch and both of those
starches same thing sometimes if again
if you haven’t been eating pulses and
all of a sudden you started eating them
maybe it isn’t the fiber maybe it’s just
the these starches your digestive tract
is going whoa whoa whoa whoa wait a
second this is not what is this I’m not
really happy with this right now so
again starting small and and then your
body starts to build up that oh okay yes
we’re we’re prepared for this start
we’re prepared for this fiber and then
that helps reduce the the gas that’s
formed um during digestion in in the
intestine the other thing to look at is
if you’re using canned pulses you’ll
notice when you crack open that can the
water’s kind of Cloudy that’s the starch
from the pulses ah okay so for our
purposes drain and rinse those pulses
really well and when I say rinse really
well till it’s no longer foamy you know
like when you put it and you run the
water and it’s kind of foamy yeah so
once that it stops the those little
bubbles in that foaming then what you’ll
find is you you’ve rinsed off uh that
that starchy kind of liquid so that
helps again reduce the starch content
which can help with digesting those
pulses the other one is if you work with
dry pulses as you soak your pulses a
little bit of that starch does leech out
into the soaking water I will suggest to
people change the soaking liquid often
so don’t do the quick soak method do the
overnight soak and then don’t use that
soaking liquid drain and rinse the
soaked pulses put them in a pot with
fresh water and again so it’s just a way
to help reduce some of that starch
that’s there that potentially could be
an an issue that typically will solve
the
problem or reduce the incidents it’s our
bodies adapting to the fiber and the
starches well that makes sense yeah okay
well we’re all different right yes
exactly like I I personally don’t find
it that it bothers me really but my
husband complains about it and so maybe
I just need to work them into the
rotation more often and maybe it’ll get
better there you go I think that’s some
that’s some good advice there
yeah for sure should we talk about what
we made yeah yes I want to hear how how
you guys made out neither of us had
realized you could puree something like
a lentil and bake it into a muffin we
were like no idea mind blown this is
amazing we love them so much I made a an
orange cranberry uh muffin that’s on the
website and Aon you made a pumpkin chai
pumpkin chai I mean who knew we didn’t
know didn’t know and now I’m just adding
Blended up lentils into anything that I
bake because I’ve noticed like it fills
up my family better if they’re a little
bit more filling and a little bit more
substance to them it fills them up it
runs them for longer I think it’s all
around good and I did not hear the gas
complaints from baked goods so
bonus that’s right well I’m so glad that
that you enjoyed working with them and I
I mean if you go to our website we have
Ting recipes but I wanted to choose some
that I thought you people would go what
really why would I do that and that’s
exactly the reason why yeah pure a
lentils uh white beans is the other one
you can use in a baking application
because the white beans are they’re
flavor neutral color neutral as well but
they are fantastic to add to a baked
good because
um I don’t know if you noticed in those
recipes it helps you reduce the amount
of fat that you would add so the oil or
the whatever is a little bit less but
you still have like nobody knew right
nobody knew there were lentils in those
muffins no there’s no little chunks in
there nothing like that but it adds
protein the other thing is it adds fiber
and nobody knows they’re getting fiber
right everybody needs it exactly and you
know they’re so cost effective like it’s
such a budget friendly addition to to
add to a muffin and it’s so easy and
even like if you Pate up that whole you
know like let’s say if it was a can you
Pate the whole can take out what you
need you can freeze the rest for another
time yeah I made a big batch of lentils
I whizzed them up I put them in the
fridge in cans and as we cooked through
the week going to toss this into the
spaghetti sauce that I make up and then
the kids won’t even notice and they
didn’t even say a thing about it and
they can be a little bit oh is this the
lentil soup again when I make a lentil
soup but if I just hide them a little
bit they don’t say anything and I mean
we used Less meat in there because we
had this alternative in there and it was
a great cost-saving and it does nice
things to your sauce it creamies it yeah
exactly like it doesn’t change the
flavor no but it does it contributes to
to that that thickening and that texture
of it and you the other thing you’ve hit
the nail on the head is that with pulses
you know there’s such a budget friendly
way to extend a recipe you know now it
takes your recipe from serving four to
six people let’s say to maybe 8 to 10
and if it’s a can all it’s cost you is
like what 250 dry even less right and
you can feel good about it because
because from a nutrition standpoint
you’re adding protein you’re adding
fiber iron you know vitamins minerals
like it’s just as you can see I’m very
enthusiastic about
it we love it because just the other day
we were saying oh my gosh these kids are
we’ve got kids who are pre-teen that are
starting to eat more and more and
Heather was saying I I can’t make enough
at night for there to be leftovers and
so if you add this in to your spaghetti
sauce now you can make leftovers maybe
yeah
maybe yeah the other thing I like about
that you said it made more of a creamy
texture is to put this into a soup I
have dairy uh sensitivities so if it’s
but I love a creamed almost anything
this is like why body why do you not
like the cream when I enjoy it so much
um so to to use like say a white bean
blend it up make my soup a bit creamy
without the dairy that I can’t digest
it’s like bonus I love that there’s so
many interesting ways that you can use
pulses outside of like beans in a chili
or like peu hummus is like hummus is the
other one right like you can make hummus
with any kind of bean oh yeah yeah like
it’s it’s amazing I mean we’ve got on
our website we’ve got a a roasted carrot
and red lentil dip we’ve got a pickled
beet and white bean de just like
essentially it’s a hummus oh another one
you can add black beans we have a
wonderful Black Bean Brownie recipe oh
yeah that’s always a good one right so
it’s there’s a lot of Versatility with
pulses pulses provide that satiety
because of that protein and that fiber
and those complex carbohydrates because
they digest much slower yes that’s
exactly what Erin said because I had
baked first and I shared with her the
the orange cranberry muffins and it’s
exactly what she said to me was I F I
felt full but like a good full after I
ate it like not a heavy full but like a
satisfied full yeah yeah those uh fully
digestible starches that complex carbs
the protein the fiber it’s everything in
there that gives you that that full
feeling without recognizing that you’re
feeling so full and it can be with
whatever flavor you like fruit chocolate
whatever it is that because you can’t
taste it yeah genius you can sneak it in
exactly exactly yeah yeah well this has
been really educational I certainly have
learned a lot so many questions answered
yes yeah so hungry for
more absolutely and I mean if listener
if you heard our previous episode where
we were like we don’t know what we’re
talking about with lentils well now we
feel so much better informed and ready
to cook them like I feel like I can Gra
gradually work them into the menu so
that I don’t get the complaints and that
we’re getting the benefit of it I’m
going to do it right thank you very much
for
that we encourage everyone to go to the
website and we will link it it’s in the
show notes have a look link to it it’s
um so many good recipes and tips and
just pictures and explanations of the
different pulses and such good
information it’s a really great website
oh thank you yeah I worked I i’ like to
have as much information as I can there
but you can also through our website um
I’m the one that gets the questions I
come through the website so if it’s a
nutrition or you know cooking or
something like that yeah by all means
you can put it you know put the question
in through the website and uh I’ll get
back to you as quick as I can this is my
role with Alberta pulse Growers is to
encourage people to eat more pulses and
if I can answer any questions to make it
easier to help overcome some of those
little roadblocks or stumbling blocks
that we’ve got um I’m certainly here to
to help to encourage them to get more of
them on their plates awesome thank you
so much for that yeah I’m just so
thankful that you joined us today to
share all this information it’s
certainly inspired me I think you’ll
have some more lentil lovers coming up
it’s all good so look forward to any
feedback or questions you guys have
that’s for sure awesome thank you so
much you’re very welcome thanks for
having me and now for the fine print for
links to recipes and many other random
things we talked about in this episode
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listening okay it’s all back up here
getting all excited here oh my god um