Easy Rocket Salad

Claire Wright

Featuring:

Rocket

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Serves: 4

Prep time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

200g rocket (or similar peppery green salad leaves)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Optional extras: chopped salad veggies (like tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, radishes, avocado, cooked beetroot, spring onions, etc), sliced fruit (strawberries, blueberries, pears or apples work well here), shaved or crumbled cheese (Parmesan, feta, Cheddar, goat's cheese), chopped nuts or seeds, etc

Method:

Wash and dry rocket thoroughly. Place in a mixing or serving bowl and toss with the oil and vinegar and any of the optional additions you are using.

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

Kids can own this side salad – let them choose from a few optional extras (tomatoes, cucumber, Parmesan, feta, avocado, nuts or seeds, etc), drizzle over the oil and vinegar, and toss everything together! Find more ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.

Master these skills:

Washing hands, Cleaning vegetables, Mixing

More about Kitchen Ninja Skills

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

Rocket can be a great veg to explore through sight. Call your child into the kitchen when washing and prepping it and see what they think it looks like – is it like giant grass stalks or tiny bits of seaweed? Maybe it looks like a quill for mice, or a feather from an unusual bird? Have fun exploring it together to encourage positive interaction with this veggie. Find more ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

If your child has taken ownership of making this side salad, let them bring it to the table and encourage them to present it as theirs – perhaps they could even come up with a fun name for it! For more ideas, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Claire Wright

Communications Manager: After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English Literature, Claire worked in various fields ranging from youth work and charities to publishing, before starting up a food-focused website when her first child was born. After being asked to project manage the publication of Veg Power's Crowdfunder book, Claire came on board as a fully-fledged team member in 2018 to take on the role of Communications Manager, looking after Veg Power's website and social media platforms.

addsomeveg.com/

Similar recipes