Fussy Little Eaters: “Baked” Beans Recipe

I regard myself as a foodie. I love food.

I told my mother this as she continued to pester me about being “fat”. I can’t help but like anything to do with food, even the cleaning up after a cooking frenzy. So the thought of starting the little man on solid is exciting but also nerve-wrecking. Especially when he had a lot of gagging reflex in the beginning! There is also the expectations of giving him healthy food, with no added salt or sugar or preservatives or whatever else that’s bad for babies.

Being time poor as well, I am constantly on wits end trying to find new things to give him that is fast, that he can feed himself with and still healthy. So that’s a fast healthy food that won’t choke a baby, that he actually likes and would eat. Unfortunately for me, Little E hates bananas and yogurt. He also showed a slight allergic reaction to avocado. That’s the three easiest food you can give to a baby crossed off my list! 😦

I know that I am not the only one having this confusion so here’s a short list of food I have had success with. Hopefully it can give you some ideas for your little one 🙂

• Steamed broccoli and cauliflower florets, carrot sticks, green beans and pumpkin sticks
• Boiled Sweet Corn on Cob
• Scrambled eggs
• Fritatta soldiers
• Corn fritters
• Quiche without the pastry
• Cheese bits
• Roast chicken – thigh
• Chewed up bits of steak or any red meat
• Cheerios or Weetbix pre-soaked in milk
• Toast soldiers with PB or Vegemite
• Pastabake bits
• Watermelon, Rockmelon and Apple sticks
• Mini meatballs in Bolognese Sauce
• Tinned fish (rinsed out of the springwater) or freshly cooked
• Egg yolk
• Arrowroot biscuits (on occasions)
• Homemade bread slices with butter (including sourdough!)
• Ravioli
• Coconut sago (this is dessert, so have only given it to him twice)
• Sticky Rice
• Chinese BBQ pork buns (I try to give him least amount of the sauce inside as possible, as it is normally pretty salty)
• Vegetarian savoury muffins
• Dahl with rice
• Sweet muffins (with half sugar that most recipe calls for)
• Piklets/Pancakes (also with less sugar)

Another food that we found out Little E likes is Baked Beans. However, I didn’t really want to give him the tinned ones as they have added salt and preservatives. So tonight, I made some myself for dinner. I used this recipe as inspiration, but I used what I have in the pantry and added more vegies.

A baby-friendly “Baked” Beans Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup of shredded ham
• 1/4 cup of diced capsicum
• 1/4 cup of diced carrots
• 2 big tomatoes (diced)
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• 2 tsp Hot English mustard
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1.5 tbs Maple Syrup
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 440g can of Butter Beans, drained and rinsed

 Method:

1. Sautée onion, garlic, ham, capsicum, and carrots until the onion is soft.
2. Add tomatoes,mustard, sauce and syrup, let simmer with lid on for 30 minutes. At this point, if you don’t want chunky sauce, you can blend everything together before adding in the beans.
3. Throw in the beans and cook for further 10 minutes.

I didn’t add salt or pepper as the original recipe, and I used an extra half a tablespoon of maple syrup as the tomatoes I used were a little tart.  Next time, I will add a grated zucchini to include another serve of vegies and use mixed beans instead 🙂 The dish was supposed to be a side dish for us and the majority was for Little E to have for the next couple of meals. (Un)fortunately we liked it so much, we had seconds and only have small amount left for Little E! What’s even more awesome, this is also a cheap budget recipe that you can cook in a big batch and freeze for later use! Yay! 🙂

I hope this is useful for some of you, please do comment below if you have any suggestions on what other things we can give Little E 🙂 We have some papaya to give him in the morning, as I think he needs to eat more fruit.