Pulses! Both yours & the edible kind. Don't know what a Pulse is? Read on!

Browsing through twitter, Edmonton Journal tweeted a link to this article by Mari Sasano. In turn that brought up the fact that there is the Savouring Pulse festival coming up at some local eateries, (some of my favourites), May 9-15th! I can't wait to try out their creations.

Mari's article covers excellent reasons that pulses and Gluten Free eating should go hand in hand, but in our western culture, we just don't know what to do with them!

So what's a Pulse? Start off with a definition well-put by the Edmonton Journal article: Pulses — beans, peas, chickpeas, & lentils.

I'll say honestly, I like good peas and beans, but before I met lentil pulses used well, I didn't like them one bit. However, my friend, Dr. Janice Dacyshyn, N.D. introduced me to eating salad with either a small can of flavoured tuna, or some canned lentils (or dried if you planned ahead and soaked them overnight - hahaha). Lentils provide protein and many other essential nutrients. I've been known to put both tuna and lentils on my salad at the same time. CRAZY!

Did you know that pulses make a great snack too? Packing in great nutrition, in a nice handful. Crispeas (available in 4 flavours - Hot BBQ, Ranch, Salted & Wasabi) are locally grown (Grassy Lk, AB) and produced. Available through Kinniknnick (online and in store) and Growing Nuts at the 104 St Downtown market in Edmonton.

Alberta Pulse Growers released a FREE downloadable PDF cookbook for you!

Click here to download Pulses and the Gluten-Free Diet
compliments of Alberta Pulse Growers

Great for your health, great for the environment, we should all eat them more often, even just adding them to a regular meal is a step in a great direction.

UPDATE ALERT! There's a link on here somewhere about how to not pre soak your dried beans AND use them right away. Several options in fact. 

1) From Bonappetite.com Place beans in a pot and cover with water by three inches. Bring to a boil and simmer briskly for two minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for one hour. Drain. Your beans will be ready to use in your favorite recipes.–Kay Chun  

2) Pressure cooker! If you have one.

3) Buy an electric bean/pressure cooker! Amazing object. You might find you use it more often than you thought.