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Sprouts have often been called the miracle food because they are packed with tons of cancer fighting vitamin C and, because they are still live, tons of youthful enzymes. I often cook with sprouts for a number of reasons, first of all my husband loves them and they are an easy way to load him up with nutrients with minimal effort. Second, they add great crunch to recipes with no fat and very little calories. I'm big on the crunch element of foods and I often find it by adding nuts like cashews and peanuts. While I realize that nuts are an excellent source of protein and often antioxidants, they're calorie dense and can add tons of calories to a recipe before you know it. So I add a crunchy sprout variety instead (my favorite are mung bean sprouts).
It's actually super easy to grow these guys at home as well.
Grow Your Own Sprouts
What you'll need
- mung beans or lentils
- sprouting bag
Method
1. Get your mung beans or lentils from the bulk food section of your health foods store.
2. Purchase a sprouting bag, you can get them from Sproutpeople.com or Sprouting.com.
3. Soak the beans for 8 hours in a jar of water.
4. Pour the beans into the bag and hang in a place that it can drip.
5. Water the beans twice daily. The easiest way is to dunk them in a bowl of water.
6. Bean sprouts are ready in five days and once they are, simply remove from the bag and refrigerate.
Source: Natural Health
