Child-Friendly Vegetable Recipes
We all know that vegetables are an important source of nutrients and can be cooked in many different ways. In this article, you’ll find four child-friendly vegetable recipes that are easy to make.
It isn’t always easy to get children to eat their veggies. But there are several ways to encourage them.
You can make diverse and colorful meals, allow your children to participate in preparing certain dishes, take them food shopping with you, or allow them to choose the vegetable of the week. And you can also use these child-friendly vegetable recipes.
Vegetables are a primary source of carbohydrates and have a high protein content, much like meat. They also contain fiber, B vitamins and lots of minerals, such as, iron, calcium and phosphorus. The most widely used vegetables include beans, lentils, peas, soy beans and chickpeas.
There are many ways to get your children to eat vegetables. For example, you can “camouflage” them in your child’s favorite meal, whatever that might be.
Another idea is to vary the texture of the vegetable. One way of doing this is to have them breaded or fried and incorporate them into a sauce. Another way is to prepare them as a side dish.
4 Child-friendly vegetable recipes
1. Lentil burgers
Ingredients
- 9 oz lentils
- 2 oz wholemeal flour
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Salt
- 1 sprig of parsley
- Olive oil
Method
- Soak the lentils for five hours; to save time, you can buy pre-soaked lentils in the supermarket and skip this step.
- Add the lentils and a pinch of salt into water and cook until tender; strain the lentils and place them in a mixing bowl.
- Mash the lentils until they form a paste.
- In a bowl, mix the grated onion, the finely chopped garlic, the salt, the chopped parsley and the flour.
- Add the lentils and set aside.
- Start shaping the burgers.
- Fry them in preheated oil until golden.
- You can serve them with potatoes or lettuce and tomato.
- The result: a nutritious high-energy meal.
2. Spanish omelette with peas, potato and ham.
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 3 1/2 oz g diced ham
- 7 oz peas, fresh or frozen
- 1 large potato
- 1 small onion, finely sliced
- 1 sprig of parsley
- Oil
- Black pepper
Method
- In a frying pan, fry the cubed potato until golden; place them on kitchen paper and set aside.
- Cook the chopped onion in oil. When it starts to go clear, add the peas.
- Sauté the peas for a few minutes until tender.
- Add the cubed potato and the parsley, season to taste with the salt and pepper.
- Add the ham and stir.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs and add the rest of the ingredients.
- Season again.
- In a frying pan, heat a bit of oil and cook the omelette until golden on both sides.
- Serve with a fresh salad.
“These child-friendly vegetable recipes provide fiber, vitamin B and lots of minerals, such as iron, calcium and phosphorous.”
3. Delicious soy croquettes
Ingredients
- 9 oz TVP (textured vegetable protein)
- 2 cups of soy milk
- 4 1/2 oz wholemeal flour
- 2 leeks
- 1 small onion
- ½ red pepper
- 1 carrot
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Oil
Method
- Soak the TVP for an hour in plenty of water
- Grate the leeks, the onion, the pepper and the carrot and sauté them in oil until tender.
- Add the TVP to the vegetables and leave to rest for a few minutes.
- Return the mixture to the heat and add the milk, the nutmeg and the salt.
- Beat the batter well to mix the flavors, then set aside until cool.
- Shape the croquettes, dip them in egg and breadcrumbs and then fry.
4. Carrot, apple and soy muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup butter
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1/3 cup soybean meal
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 4 apples
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup nuts
- ½ chopped carrots
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200° C (390° F)
- In a bowl, sieve the soybean meal, the cinnamon and the bicarbonate of soda. It’s important to get rid of any lumps so that you have a smooth texture.
- In another bow, mix the eggs, sugar and butter. Then beat the mixture, ideally with a hand whisk, until you have a white-ish creamy mixture.
- Combine the contents of both bowls and mix well, add the vanilla, lemon zest, nuts, apples and carrot.
- Fill the muffin tins and cook for 25 minutes.
- You can tell if they’re done by sticking a wooden toothpick into one of the muffins. When you remove it, it should be clean and dry.
These child-friendly vegetable recipes will help provide many essential nutrients that children’s bodies need for growth.
Remember, it’s best to add new ingredients gradually without forcing your children to eat them, as this will only put them off.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Wong C., Harris PJ., Ferguson LR., Potential benefits of dietary fibre intervention in inflammatory bowel disease. Int J Mol Sci, 2016.
- Landi F., Calvani R., Tosato M., Martone AM., et al., Protein intake and muscle health in old age: from biological plausibility to clinical evidence. Nutrients, 2016.
