beans and chick peas

[Anonymous]

How do you recommend serving these to a 13 month old?
I'm veggie, husband and older toddler are not, baby is not liking meat but doesn't seen to like beans and chickpeas either.
Eats a lot of eggs and cheese. Would like to get her to eat beans (with me) and other veggie foods, any recommendations would be great.

[Anonymous]

I've found that DS (11mo) will only eat what I would eat: meaning, if I wouldn't eat it because it's too plain, too dense, too whatever, then he probably won't either. We eat a lot of black beans and brown rice (with salsa and some sour cream mixed in), falafel, hummus, etc. DS does just fine with all of those. He gobbled up tofu parmesan the other day. HTH!

[Anonymous]

I'm a vegetarian (not vegan) and my kids aren't...but DD eats lots of beans, too. Basically, I mix them with mild salsa, shredded cheese and a bit of dressing. You can also make casseroles. I don't think DD started liking this stuff until she was closer to two and it was more about wanting what was on my plate. DS (6) still won't touch the stuff.

[Anonymous]

We do a lot of soups with lentils and beans and they seem to go down well that way. Another idea is soups that you then puree--the lentils or beans give a nice velvety texture.

[Anonymous]

Do you guys used canned beans or boil them yourself? My husband and I eat lots of canned beans but are worried about the salt. But finding time to cook beans seems to elude us...

[Anonymous]

Everyone who is feeding beans with salsa to their older infant (11-13 month olds), do you just put it on their tray and have them feed themselves? Or do you dice it in a food processor and then spoon feed? At what age can you stop breaking their food into little pieces?

[Anonymous]

Mom to an 11 month old who loves cooked beans. I soak them overnight and but them in the slow cooker. 10 hours later, they are soft and ready to eat. I dish out a few for her and then prepare the rest for me. she loves kidney and northern beans. Canned beans are too high in sodium for adults let alone kids.

[Anonymous]

Thanks fir the slow cooker tip, i will try it. I do beans mixed into other dishes, but the best thing seems to be hummus or pureed black beans.

[Anonymous]

I buy only Eden Organic canned beans--no salt added but more importantly, the sole canned food sold in the US without BPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I buy only Eden Organic canned beans--no salt added but more importantly, the sole canned food sold in the US without BPA.

Same. I find that canned beans are the only ones soft enough for DD (although I will give the slow cooker a try!) OP, maybe you want to consider the texture. Are the beans you're trying soft enough?

DD liked all sorts of beans and chick peas plain at that age. And yes, I often cut kidney beans and chick peas in half before serving them to her back then. Probably overprotective, but she didn't cut her first tooth until her first birthday.

At some point soon after, I started giving her beans mixed with some rice and a bit of sauce (sweet and sour or BBQ or whatever else happened to be in the fridge.) She also grew to like lentils -- either plain or in those boxed Indian food mixes from Trader Joes -- and burrito filling (I make it with lots of beans, some rice, salsa, cheese etc.)

[Anonymous]

DS prefers beans seasoned-- so while he will eat them plain to an extent, he'd much rather they be included in a dish with peppers, spices, etc.

[Anonymous]

i just cook them and puree with olive oil and a bit of salt.

[Anonymous]

if you rinse the beans really well, does that get rid of the extra salt/BPA? It's not that easy to find those Eden organic beans so I'm not sure what to do... DD loves beans so much.

[Anonymous]

Rinsing beans will significantly reduce the sodium. I don't know about BPA.

I soak and cook my own on the stove. I've used a slow cooker, but I find it easier to get the texture I want when I do it on the stove. I do a quick soak (bring to boil for a couple of minutes, take off the heat and let sit for an hour or two), drain the soak water, add new water and then cook. I usually do this on a weekend morning when we're going to be home and just let the beans simmer a long time, probably at least an hour. I honestly never pay attention to the time other than to periodically check on them. Cooked beans freeze really well, so I cook a lot about every 4-6 weeks or so and then freeze in smaller containers.

[Anonymous]

I actually order the Eden by the case from Amazon.com. All of the beans are really good--except the refried beans. The whole beans are great. The refried beans are just gross (I'll bet because they have no salt and I'm trained to think of salty refried beans).