Aaron Craze
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Ingredients:
2-3 medium turnips, peeled and halved
1 small pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed and chopped into chunks
1 garlic clove, peeled
4 bay leaves
Zest and juice of one orange
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
150g soft goat's cheese
Pinch of salt
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Recipe donated by Aaron Craze from loveyourgreens.co.uk
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Cut the garlic clove in half, then rub the inside of an oven-proof dish with it.
3. Parboil the turnip and once softened slightly, drain and put to one side.
4. Mix together the orange juice, zest, honey and oil.
5. Put the turnip and pumpkin into the oven dish, and then pour the orange glaze over the top, mixing the vegetables until completely coated.
6. Add in the remaining garlic, scatter over the bay leaves and add a pinch of salt.
7. Put the dish into the oven for 25 minutes, or until the vegetables look roasted and ready. Remove from the oven, crumble the goat’s cheese over the top, then let it melt a little before serving.
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.
Aaron Craze
Aaron Craze was one of the second group of trainees from Channel 4's Jamie's Kitchen programme. Aaron left school with no formal qualifications and worked in several jobs before applying to become a trainee in Jamie Oliver's London restaurant, Fifteen, graduating from its Chef Training Programme with merit. Since then Aaron has worked at restaurants including London's The Ivy and has appeared in television programmes including Junior Bake-Off.
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