get the kids in the kitchen: Three easy recipes

We all have different tactics for getting our children to discover new food and eat their greens. Here are a few top tips and three simple, healthy recipes you can cook with them below.

Cook one family dinner

Cook one dinner for your entire family, not separate meals. Keep the flavours mild, but have add-on ingredients such as fresh herbs, seeds, nuts or a spicy sauce. These are designed to enhance your own dinner, but it may get them interested in trying these different flavours in small amounts. 

Many hands make light work

Let kids help out in the kitchen. If you don’t have the patience, let them taste the food as it cooks. Ask if it needs any more of anything, such as more salt, a squeeze of lemon or some sweetness. This will help teach them to be more involved and provide more constructive feedback than ‘I don’t like this’. 

Make food the topic of conversation

Talk about food as much as you can. Don’t frame it in terms of good and bad, but as something that will help their bodies grow, give them energy and make them stronger. Talk about how different coloured vegetables have different nutrients and what they need those nutrients for. Talking about food is also another way of introducing different cultures to them, that they may not be able to experience first hand. There are so many different ways food is eaten (using hands or chopsticks, or even sitting on the floor rather than on chairs) that are fun and important for them to learn about. 

Surprise them with something new

Switch things up and cook things in a different way to what they’re used to. If you normally boil broccoli, sweet potato and cauliflower, try roasting them instead. Replace crisps with carrots and nut butter as an after-school snack. Boost a blueberry smoothie with frozen cauliflower or add kidney beans to homemade energy bars.