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<p>With some health issues diagnosed late last summer, H began the South Beach Diet (I hate using the term diet, because it’s really about lifelong eating habits). He lost about 35 pounds, lowered his cholesterol and blood pressure. I have adapted most of the South Beach Diet suggestions and will find out what my latest cholesterol is sometime this month. Like I said, it’s not a diet… it’s a lifestyle choice.</p>
<p>And beans… from a recipe I found while googling South Beach Diet recipes: </p>
<p>Soak a pound of dry black beans overnight in four times the volume of water to beans. Drain them and put them in a crock pot with the following ingredients:</p>
<p>1-2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (I probably add a bit more)
1 jar of prepared salsa or two cups of homemade salsa (you have to be careful when you buy salsa and find one that doesn’t have sugar as an ingredient)
broth - chicken or vegetable to cover soaked beans
ham bone - optional - leave out for vegetarian beans - you might want to add other flavorings if you leave the ham bone out. I added a couple of slices of bacon.</p>
<p>The recipe calls for high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. However, when I cooked it on low for 8 hours, it wasn’t long enough, so now I basically do it on high for 6 hours. Then we serve it over brown rice, but you could get creative with how you serve it. </p>
<p>I made this Monday night, and it was enough for dinner for the two of us for almost three nights this week. It is one of my new favorite meals.</p>