My two little darlings (ages 5 & 7) have suddenly decided upon the return of "warm food season" that they don't like beans.

No way. No how. I know it's a stage, but this is getting annoying. It makes for testy mealtimes, too, as hubby is a "your mother worked hard to make this meal, EAT IT" kind of guy, and I simply cannot make two separate meals every dinnertime. We have always eaten many different kinds of beans in many different ways -- but unfortunately, in the dishes I cook, the beans are readily recognizable.

Does anyone have any good recipes where the bean doesn't LOOK like a bean? I have a recipe for hummus, but we cannot eat that twice a week! Any ideas -- please???

-- Beanless in Alberta (aka:Tracy) (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001

Answers

I am wondering if you could grind them or put them in a blender, like for chili, or tacos, or anyplace you would use ground beef?

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 30, 2001.

Dear Beanless, Try using lentils as a soup base for stuff like veggies and whatever. You get the protein and it tastes great too. They usually aren't recognizable as beans. Or maybe pulverize them in a blender after cooking and add to spagehti sauces and stuff like that. And one trick I use is to put a lot of different condiments on the table. Mixing different beans with differnt pastas and calling the dish by the pasta and sauce name sometimes fools them. lol Boy, you do have a problem. lol I'd just about die without my beans. Good luck, Iris

-- Iris (Sar_India@msn.com), October 30, 2001.

I mash pintoes to make burritos. Top anything with cheese and my kids like it!

-- Jo (mamamia2kids@msn.com), October 30, 2001.

Hi,My parents merely said "this is what is for supper". If we didn't like it we didn't eat. Needless to say when we realized they meant it suddenly what ever was on the table was wonderful. No picky eaters in our family. Ditto for my childern,funny how a few hunger pains cure most eating problems. Daryll

-- Daryl in NW FLA (twincrk@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

Daryl -- I admire your parents -- mine were similar.

I do try -- unfortunately, I have two of the most stubborn little cusses in the universe as children -- they take after their father (LOL). We HAVE tried the "you're not eating that? Fine -- you're not eating" and the "You're not leaving the table until that's done", but unfortunately, it doesn't work. As I said, they're stubborn. They'd rather not eat than give in.

If I could find some recipes that don't LOOK like beans, we could get past this little impasse which is making mealtime wartime around here.

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

Tracy, let them go hungry if that is their choice. It won't kill them! Right now, it is a power struggle between you and them and they think you will not let them be hungry. Just don't let it upset you...keep it casual. Once they figure out that you are going to allow their little tummies to rumble until the next meal, beans are going to look wonderful! Been there, did that! Oy vey, am glad I am a grandma!

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

I am not a picky eater and was raised if you don't like it, there's always PBJ. Have raised my son this way. He tries everything and sometimes has PBJ.

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), October 30, 2001.

Tracy, I know you asked how tomake beans look like anything but what they are, yet my advice is to fix whatever you need to fix for supper. If the children refuse to eat what id for supper, they can stay at the table for company and then go to bed hungry. They will not starve and it will not put them into therapy years from now. Once you , as "MOM" give in to little folks and their demands at the supper table, you will either be cooking like a hotel chef with five entrees a night or filling your freezer with stuff you can pop in the microwave. At my age, you find yourself saying "When I was...." alot......so, when I was a child in a Catholic family, every Friday night was supper without meat. That would not have been so bad, but my grandmother (a first-generation American Irishwoman)did all the cooking. Every Friday night for 23 years we had codfish cakes, mashed potatoes, and spinach. Sometimes I wonder if I didn't get married at age 23 just to get out of the house on Fridays!!!!! That was what was for supper. There was no question of challenging it. It was not up for discussion. you ate it and shut up, period. I have truly enjoyed the last 30 years without codfish cakes in my life! Give your kids a lesson in life rather than hiding beans.....life is not always fair and the parents run the show. God bless.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 30, 2001.

Lesley, I use a little of your advice and the Peanut butter advice as well. I fix a good nutritious meal and everyone has to try at least 2 things, if they are still hungry or just can't stand the food they can always eat peanut butter! Now my kids will eat most anything, but I don't force them to eat things they just don't like.

I have noticed that their hunger needs change as they grow and they will go through periods where they could eat a horse with ketchup smeared on it (just kidding!!) or times when they just don't want to eat even if it is their favorite food.

My son is 8 and he eats a lot early in the day. He will eat 3 full meals before noon, and then not want much to eat the rest of the day. I know that kids won't starve themselves, and if they get hungry they will eat what is available.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 30, 2001.

Oh, Tracy, don't give in, this is only the first of MANY battles!

There are only 2 things about a kid we, as parents, have no control over. What goes in and what comes out. Don't make a big deal out of either one you won't win!

If they won't eat beans, then offer them ketchup to put on them. If they don't eat their beans, there is no desert, no bedtime snack (except beans). And remember, if they don't like beans, they probably REALLY hate tofu as a dinner option!

In my house if someone even says they don't like something I'm cooking, I don't even dish it up for them. If they want to eat any, they will have to ask or help themselves! We've seen too many lean years to play food games.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), October 31, 2001.

When my step-son was little he refused to eat beans. Not being willing to cut them out completely, I one day blended them and added them to the meat for whatever it was we were having. It was good, and Littlebit was doing fine until his dad remarked that it tasted like there were beans in it!! haha

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 31, 2001.

Mary, I think at that point I would have strangled dad. sally

-- sally stanton (mallardhen67@hotmail.com), October 31, 2001.

Don't think it didn't occur to me;)

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 31, 2001.

My folks would make us eat one or two spoonsful of something and then we didn't have to eat any more. Might not work with the stubborn kids.

What if you called them peas? Or legumes? Or frijoles (free-HOLE- ees), Spanish for beans? Or are they too old to be fooled by this?

If you blend them up, be sure to brief your husband so he doesn't give the game away! We went to South Dakota when I was a kid. The milk tasted different from what we got at home. Dad told me it was buffalo milk. I drank it that night, but by the next day, I decided I didn't like it and wouldn't drink milk the rest of the trip. Mom was peeved. I was only 5, but have heard the story many times.

Dried beans can be ground into "bean flour" and added to many things to boost the nutrition. That's another possibility for bean usage. But you probably have certain bean dishes that you like to make. I think that mashing or blending and then calling it Barbecued Frijoles or Lentil Casserole or what ever phrase you think will fly is the way to go there.

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), November 01, 2001.

My two little darlings (6 and 8) made a similar decision, oh, about a year ago (amazingly similar). I simply ground up the beans in a coffee grinder before cooking the meal, then cooked as usual. They ate them without a hitch. Over the summer we don't eat as many bean meals and this fall they are eating beans without a hitch. Just one of those stages I guess. At my house, everyone has to eat 3 bites of whatever is for dinner. Since we usually have 3 or 4 things for each meal, that's enough to sustain them by itself so if that's all they eat, so be it. It's a limited quantity to them, so they can deal with it. Life's too short to fight over what's for dinner! (There are so many more interesting things to fight about....!!!)

-- sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), November 03, 2001.