Ian Taverner
Ian’s Chicken Fajitas
Ian Taverner
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Ingredients:
3 fresh chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 white onion, peeled and cut into half moons
1 yellow pepper, cut into slices (must be fresh as frozen won’t work)
1 red pepper, cut into slices (must be fresh as frozen won’t work)
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
Juice of ½ lemon, or a whole lime
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
8 (gluten free) tortilla wraps
1 small tub crème fraiche or sour cream
1 small tub tomato salsa
1 small tub guacamole
½ iceberg lettuce, cut into shreds
Splash of water
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
Bowl grated Cheddar cheese
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Recipe from Cookfulness: A Therapeutic Approach to Cooking by Ian Taverner
Everyone loves build-your-own food!
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan/gas 6).
In the mixing bowl, put together the coriander, cumin, garlic, ginger, smoked paprika, lemon or lime juice, a splash of water and mix well to combine.
Add in the chicken strips, peppers and onion and mix well to ensure everything is coated in the mix (the longer you can leave this the better but it works if using straight away).
Heat the frying pan to a medium high level and add the contents of the bowl (the chicken mix). There is oil in here already so you don’t need anymore.
Fry for 5-6 minutes, until chicken is cooked through, moving sporadically. Test a bit of chicken if you don’t have a thermometer, just to ensure no pink bits.
Warm the tortillas in the oven as per the instructions on their packet (if no instructions just wrap them in foil and put in the oven on a tray for 2 minutes).
Have the guacamole, salsa, cheese, creme fraiche/sour cream in little bowls.
Put the chicken mix into a serving bowl and the tortilla wraps on a plate in the centre of the table with the above.
Let everyone dig in and fill their tortillas as they see fit!
Ways To Change
- Add some chopped fresh chilli to the veg mix for some spice
- Add mushrooms, but keep them chunky and fry with the onion mix
- Chicken thighs are a great alternative, cheaper too
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
Get the kids to mix the spices together, and let them serve up all the extras in bowls for serving.
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.
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