Friday, July 15, 2011

Full of Beans

Beans, beans, the magical veggie: the more you eat, the more you may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Spurred on by kids' desire to make fudge from beans (done! and delicious...you can't taste the beans and it's an easy no-cook refrigerator recipe), this is the summer of the bean. We made Ranch Hummus and Bean Dip and you may remember at the open house we kicked it all off with Rhubarb Muffins made with a bean puree in place of some of the oil (trust me, it's like using applesauce! No one will even know they're getting more protein and fiber.).



Left: One of these bean bags held by Emily Brekke, JMG participant since 2008, is literally a bag of beans. The bean lessons are not all cooking--there's fun and games, too. For our bean bag game, when kids hear, "good for your eyes and skin," they toss the orange and green bean bags. When they hear, "good for your heart," they get to throw the pinto bean bag.

Yesterday, evals showed 89% (25 of 28 evaluated), knew it was true that orange and green vegetables are good for our eyes and skin. When asked, "What have you learned about dry beans?" 3rd-5th graders wrote:
* "dat it was 4 your heart"
* "there healthy for you"
* "The are good"

For bean recipes, add Ruth Neil on facebook or email neil0047@umn.edu or call 434-2653.

No comments: