Garlicky Green Beans

Claire Wright

Featuring:

Green beans

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

Serves: 4 as a side

Prep time: 2 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

500g frozen green beans

1 tbsp (olive) oil

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced (or to save time, just use the smallest holes on a grater)

Handful of flaked toasted almonds and ½ tsp lemon zest, optional

It doesn’t get much simpler than these garlic green beans: 4 ingredients, one pan, ready in 15 mins and so packed with delicious sweet flavors that the whole family will enjoy it! Make it while your roast is resting for a perfect simple side.

Method:

To speed things along, defrost the beans in the microwave if you can (about 3-4 mins) and drain as much water as possible.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then add defrosted beans (or frozen and add a few extra mins to cooking time) and fry for 3-5 mins until starting to brown.

Add 2 tbsp water and cover with a lid – simmer until softened to your liking (2-3 mins for firmer or up to 10 mins for softer beans – add a little more water if it starts to brown again). Remove lid, allow any remaining water to fully evaporate for a minute, then add butter and garlic and cook for another 30 seconds until fragrant. Serve with toasted flaked almonds and/or lemon zest, if you like.

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.

Claire Wright

Editor: 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, then Editor, looking after Veg Power's website, content, recipes and social media platforms.

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