Beans

            My daughter loves beans. I was hesitant to try them at first since I thought they would upset her tummy but when she was 9 months she was diagnosed as anemic and at 12 months it still hadn’t gotten better, even with supplements. The doctor recommended beans for their iron content. I keep hearing people say that beans are hard to cook. I even had a lady at the supermarket ask how to make them, lol. It’s actually very easy, it’s just that it takes a while.

            The first variety of beans I tried was small red beans. To make them you need to soak them first. You can soak them overnight if you remember the day before, just fill a large bowl with water and pour them in. They’ll be ready to cook by morning. If you forgot to soak them though, no worries. Put them in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Let them boil for 2 minutes then turn off the heat. Cover the pot and let them sit for one hour. Whichever method of soaking you use, I recommend you wash the beans first in a colander and shift through them to make sure they all look good. Take out the ones that are too wrinkly or don’t look right.

             Once your beans have been soaked put the pot on the stove and bring them to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let them simmer for about an hour and a half. DO NOT add anything to them until the hour and a half is over, especially not salt. If you add the salt before they’re fully cooked they won’t be tender and the skins will probably be hard.

            After they’ve simmered until cooked, add salt to taste. Since this is for FPIES kids you don’t really need to add anything else, but if your child is okay with olive oil you can add a bit of that. If your child has a safe meat add a few chunks of that meat to the pot and let it simmer for another half hour or until the meat is fully cooked. Adding a meat gives the beans a really awesome flavor. I usually put in some beef or pork. If your child is okay with potatoes cut some up and put it in at the same time as the meat so it can all cook. If your child is okay with onions or garlic, fry a bit in a separate pan and then pour it in to the beans and let simmer a while. I haven’t tried onions or garlic yet with my daughter but when I make beans for the rest of the family I add them in. You can also add peppers and I’ve seen some people put in chunks of squash.

            If your beans are cooked and you have a lot of liquid still that makes them more like soup, save it. You can use it to make a yummy gravy. I’ll put that recipe next.