How do I get kids to eat beans?

[debmom]

The doctor recommended that we add beans to the kids diets. Any suggestions, they don't like mushy stuff! Can I roast them?

[Jimmy]

How do you get Kids to eat beans ? EASY ! Just think like a kid ! Make a big pot of Heinz Pork and Beans then have them watch " Blazing Saddles " Works every time :)

[Flour Child]

Good one Davwud! I got my young nephews to eat asparagus by telling them that their pee pee would smell funny, it worked!!

[pancake]

if you use the canned refried beans, you can spread them on a tortilla, top them with cheddar cheese, and put another tortilla on top. Bake it so the cheese melts. Yummy, almost like grilled cheese.

I have always liked baked beans - the maple flavour is sweet - would probably appeal to kids.

As a child, I loved beans dressed with oil and vinegar, like a cold salad. Just rinse canned beans, dress them and cool them. Usually white/red kidney beans - they are a little mushy though.

[Davwud]

Tell them they'll make them fart

DT

[MakingSense]

My kids loved Beanie-Weenies. Pork and Beans with hot dog rounds mixed into them. They even learned to do them themselves when they were very small, cutting the hot dogs with table knives. The beans were slightly sweet and I gradually bought less sweet beans.
Once you break the "bean barrier" you can move on to other kinds.
This dish is also a busy mom's dream for a quick meal since you can nuke it. Especially if they'll eat any kind of green salad.

[NYchowcook]

My young nieces, ages 7 & 3 like what are called quesadillas, but are actually beans w/ cheese inside tortillas.

[piccola]

Chili, burritos, daal (and other Indian food), hummus.
If you want to be stealthy about it, try bean pie, or hide puréed beans in baked goods.

[ashwood]

btw, if you eat beans regularly, they won't give you gas. and they also don't actually have to be soaked overnight, generally- just rinsed.

[toodie jane]

seriously, your kids don't eat chili beans? wow

are they little kids and still fussy, or teenagers who don't like the gas? Maybe beano is the answer....

Disguise them for little kids--blend them into soups, or use the dehydrated flakes available at the health food store to incorporate them into casseroles--give the big kids bean-o and cook them on Fri and Sat so they won't have digestive problems during the school week. My husband loves beans but works with the public so we eat beans Fri Sat only.

[birddogfoodie]

Cash reward?? Duct tape and a funnel?? (Obviously, I don't have any kids...)

[miss louella]

thanks birddogfoodie, you made me laugh out loud!

[marieber]

My girls love canned refried beans and baked beans (Heinz vegetarian). They wouldn't eat the cannellini yesterday (and there was bacon involved). I think for mine, they like mushy...

[Yaxpac]

add bacon

[chowser]

You can roast chickpea. They're good, like nuts.

You can grind canellini beans and since they don't have texture or much flavor add them to things like homemade pizza, lasagne, be creative.

[soupkitten]

tacos, soup, marinated in a yummy dressing and served with toast cutouts, boston-style with molasses & real or fake pork, red beans & rice, whizzed in food processor to make into a yummy dip, 7 layer dips, hot bean & cheezy dip, hummus. . . try vegetarian recipe sites geared toward kids & you'll get great ideas, or ask your favorite vegetarian parent

[ptrefler]

Don't know if this will help, but I used to grind them up and put them into the liquid when I made tacos or soup or other things where they were "invisible" after a while, they caught on and were willing to try them whole. They all eat beans now. I had the least success with kidney beans, I did better with black and navy beans.

[Karl S]

Soup.

It helps to use dried beans that haven't sat for years on a shelf. The best and cheapest way is online shopping, btw.

http://www.purcellmountainfarms.com/H...

Their dried beans are very fresh (ignore the seeming oxymoron) and a very good buy.

[Eat_Nopal]

Even if you are using canned beans you can make crispy bean "cakes"... they serve them in Central Mexico as a side with some suacy dishes because they can hold up to the sauce very well.

Take a can of white beans & let them drain for a long time... then using a Potato Ricer (or masher).... pulverize them into a paste... finally putting some corn meal or flour on your hands form bean patties (about 4 inches in diameter).... then sear both sides on very hot oil (bacon fat or high quality lard). They will have a pleasant crust on the outside... & will be tender on the inside without being mushy.

I typically serve these with Costillas en Salsa Verde (Pork Spareribs braised in seared green salsa... with "melted" chopped greens)

[morebubbles]

As in baked beans? They are very delicious, made baked beans just last week.
There are also bean salads, you can add some to soups or make a bean soup.
It's what you get used to eating; we grew up eating beans and we liked them.

[ddelicious]

if you use dried bean instead of canned they won't be mushy. you just have to soak them overnight.

[shana]

Yah we grew up eating baked beans all the time - my mom also made tea biscuits to go along with them and cut them out using different cookie cutters to make it more fun for us. We always had baked beans and bunny shaped biscuits!

[Main Line Tracey]

I don't like mushy things either!

I took dried red beans and simmered them for 1 hour, then removed from heat and let them soak for 2 hours, then drained and put into the fridge. The next day I used them for beans and rice and they were not mushy, but firm with a nutty flavor. They were the really inexpensive Goya beans and they were great.

Kids usually like eating foods that they make, so maybe do the simmer, soak and drain, and the next day let the kids put them into a pot with minute rice, tomatoes and some red/green pepper for sweetness. You can always then top that w/parm cheese. Everything is better with cheese.