Jennifer John
Jennifer John, a trained home economist and a member of the Guild of Food Writers has been working with the Discover Great Veg campaign for many years, including, developing recipes.
Jennifer’s Creamed Leeks & Poached Eggs on Toast
Jennifer John
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Complexity:
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In season now
Serves: 2
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 5 mins
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced
100g half fat crème friache
Pinch ground nutmeg
100g spinach
2 medium eggs
2 slices (sourdough) bread, toasted
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Method:
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the leeks for 5 minutes, stir in the crème fraiche, a pinch of nutmeg and seasoning.
- Place the spinach in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes until just wilted.
- Poach the eggs in boiling water for 2-3 minutes according to taste.
- Place the spinach on the toast, spoon over the creamed leeks and top with the poached eggs. Season with black pepper and serve.
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
Have older kids help you with adding the ingredients to the pan very carefully and microwaving the spinach. Younger ones can wash the spinach and place it in the microwave-safe bowl and cover – they can even push the buttons. Get them to help you serve it up, too.
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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Vic Borrill (Brighton & Hove Food Partnership)
