Bettina Campolucci Bordi
Serves: 2
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: No cook
Ingredients:
240g (8½ oz) drained tinned black beans
1 tablespoon fajita spice mix
1 tablespoon plant cream
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
1 squeeze of lemon juice
Salt
Corn chips and lime wedges, to serve
For the fresh salsa:
300g (10½ oz) cherry tomatoes, halved
30g (1 oz) coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
½ shallot, finely chopped
½ chilli, chopped
1 pinch of salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Take 10 minutes out of your time to make this plate of deliciousness, put on a great movie, relax and indulge yourself.
Method:
To make the black beans, put the drained beans in a blender with the fajita spice mix and a pinch of salt and pulse until well mixed. Scoop out on a plate and spread evenly. Next mash the avocado with the squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of salt and put on top of the black beans.
To make the salsa, put the tomato halves in a bowl and add the remaining salsa ingredients. Toss gently.
Put a dollop of salsa on the plates, scatter the corn chips around the edges and add some lime wedges for extra zing. Enjoy straightaway!
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
Bettina Campolucci Bordi
Bettina is a self-taught chef and passionate advocate for plant-based and free-from cooking. She develops recipes for brands, hospitality, and cookbooks, including Happy Food, 7 Day Vegan Challenge, and Celebrate. Bettina also runs a Retreat Chef Academy, teaching sustainability, waste-free cooking, and seasonal, feel-good food principles.
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