Sausage & Mash

Claire Wright

Featuring:

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Ingredients:

Sausages or veggie alternative (1-2 per person is the aim, but it may take some time to get there if you are used to more)

Potatoes (1 large or 2 medium per person)

Optional gravy or condiments

Optional frozen peas, sweetcorn or green beans

Method:

Cook the sausages according to package instructions (usually 20-30 mins in the oven or until golden and cooked through in a pan or under the grill – make sure they are cooked all the way through).
Peel and chop the potatoes (the size of the chunks doesn’t matter as much as the fact that they are all very roughly the same size). Bring a pan of water to the boil. Once bubbling, add the potato chunks and cook until soft (depending on the size of the chunks, usually 5-15 mins or until a knife inserted into a chunk cuts through easily).
Drain the potatoes, leave for a minute to dry out slightly, then mash, adding a little seasoning and oil or butter or milk if you feel it needs it.
Cook the frozen veg according to package instructions, if using.

There is no need to go any further with this recipe until you are confident with it and feel up for the next step.

Feeling ready? Let’s see how you can get your next small victory without battles…

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.

addsomeveg.com/

Similar recipes

There are currently no similar recipes, keep an eye out for future recipes here

Search for more recipes