I Took the Pulse Pledge!

I'm replacing my normal Thankful Thursday post with information about a new venture I'm starting out this week. I decided to take the Pulse Pledge! I'm not talking about the pulse of my blood coursing through my veins-- I'm talking about the small legumes known as pulses in the food/agriculture industries. By taking the Pulse Pledge, I'm planning to incorporate pulses into at least one meal per week for the next ten weeks.

What is a Pulse?
As you can see in the graphic below, pulses are things like dry peas, beans, and lentils... Have you ever heard them referred to as "pulses" before? I hadn't until I moved to the farm. I think the term is used more in agriculture, but part of the goal of the Pulse Pledge is to get everyone more acquainted with what exactly pulses are, and to incorporate more of them into their diets.

Image source: www.pulsepledge.com

I decided to take the Pulse Pledge because, besides being a nutritious food option, we grow pulses on our farm. Jeff and I have raised yellow peas the past few years and plan to do so again this year. I am excited to learn more about pulses through this challenge, and looking forward to expanding my recipe repertoire for these little legumes.

Here's another great graphic showing examples of pulses:

Image source: www.pulsepledge.com

So, to be specific, the peas that we have raised on our farm are "whole yellow." Typically, these peas are ground into flour to be used as a component in another type of dish and not consumed as they are. Sometimes they're used in making different types of snack foods, especially in Asia. The most commonly grown pulse in our area is actually "whole green" peas, and some people also grow chickpeas and lentils as crops.

So far, in the first week of the Pulse Pledge, I'm off to a good start! I've actually had three specific dishes where I've worked pulses into the menu. On Sunday I took a jar of three-bean salad (blackeyed peas, green beans, and green peas in a light dressing) I had canned over the summer and added some extra herbs, chickpeas, and sliced cherry tomatoes to up the pulse oomph even more. It was really tasty, and so handy to have the salad already pretty much made. Just open a can and go!

The next day, I made sort of a skillet hash with diced rotisserie chicken, bell peppers, onions, corn, and black beans. I seasoned it with garlic and about 1/2 cup of salsa. We ate this as sort of a burrito- inside tortilla shells.

Chicken skillet hash with veggies and black beans.
Clearly, I'm not a food photographer...

Tonight (Thursday) I'm hitting up black beans again as a side dish for beef fajitas. I'm combining black beans with stewed tomatoes and chilis, and mixing it with rice for a riff on black beans and rice. As beef ranchers, we LOVE beef in our house! Combining my Pulse Pledge with a favorite beef dish is surely a winner! (Note that this post was written on 2/4 but posted about a week later)

Overall, I'm overachieving in the first week of the Pulse Pledge. Having canned beans on hand makes it really easy to eat more pulses. I'd like to get better at using dry beans and legumes, so hopefully I'll be getting into that more in the coming weeks.

Do you have any favorite recipes involving pulses? Are you taking the Pulse Pledge?