Pretend Baked Beans for Baby!

Celia in the UK wrote to us this weekend with a BRILLIANT tip for creating a nutritious alternative to traditional baked beans! Celia told us that her husband is addicted to baked beans and eats them all the time – so their 13 month old son Tyler wanted to eat them too. But – although baked beans are healthy in some ways (being high in protein and fibre), they often contain lots of salt and sugar. There are low salt and low sugar varieties available – but low sugar baked beans tend to contain artificial sweeteners – just as undesirable in foods for babies!

Celia tried making baked beans herself using a base of tomato puree – but the tomatoes gave Tyler a rash on his bottom! So then she came up with another idea…

Instead of making tomato sauce, I cooked a sweet potato in the oven, then I pureed it. It was a bit thick, so I thinned it with a bit of broth, until it was more like a sauce than a puree. I soaked a handful of haricot beans (navy beans) overnight, then boiled them up until they were soft. Finally, I stirred the beans into the sweet potato puree and added a good pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. It might sound weird, but Tyler loved it and it looked (almost) like Daddy’s baked beans! Thought you’d like to share this with your readers!

Thanks, Celia – we love your inventive recipe idea and we’re glad little Tyler loves his ‘baked beans’!

Have you devised a clever way of making a healthy version of a convenience food? Please do share your ideas!

You can find more ideas for cooking with sweet potato here!