Joe Wicks
Serves: 1
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
150g trimmed Brussels sprouts, cut in half
½ red onion, sliced
Drizzle of oil
6-7 pork chipolatas (200g)
Knob of butter
Salt and pepper
200g pre-cooked puy lentils
1 fat clove garlic
A few sprigs of thyme
1-2 tsp wholegrain mustard
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Recipe from 30 Day Kick Start Plan by Joe Wicks which is available to buy now.
Method:
Put the Brussels sprouts and red onion into a microwaveable bowl with 1 tablespoon of water. Cover and zap on high for 3 minutes.
Meanwhile heat a frying pan over a medium to high heat. Drizzle in a little olive oil, add the chipolatas. Cook for about 7 minutes, turning regularly with tongs. Once cooked, turn down the heat to low and keep warm.
Melt most of the butter in a second non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. When bubbling, carefully uncover the microwaved sprouts and onion and tip into the pan. Season with a little salt and pepper, fry for 5 minutes until all the water has evaporated and the sprouts are starting to crisp.
Dump the lentils into the sprout pan. Crush in the garlic clove, strip the leaves off the thyme sprig. Add the final bit of butter and crank up the heat. Mix everything together, cook for 1-2 minutes until the lentils are warmed through, then stir in the mustard and balsamic vinegar.
Once the balsamic has bubbled off, season the lentils to taste then spoon into a bowl and pile the cooked chipolatas on top.
Veggie Swap:
Swap the chipolatas for ready-cooked beetroot, cut into wedges and fried in a little olive oil for 2-3 minutes until warmed through.
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
Let the kids prep the halved sprouts by putting them in a microwaveable bowl and adding the water. Help them put them in the microwave and push the button. Let them strip the thyme leaves and toss the cooked veggies in the mustard and vinegar.
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.
Joe Wicks
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