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Spinach Ricotta Pancakes

Claire Wright

Featuring:
spinach icon
Spinach
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
In season now

Serves: 4

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

125g plain flour

pinch of salt

2 eggs

250ml milk

25g butter (or use 25ml of a neutral oil like groundnut or rapeseed oil), plus extra for cooking

For the filling:

1x 250g bag of fresh baby spinach, washed

125g ricotta (or use cream cheese if you prefer)

1/4 tsp nutmeg, optional

salt & pepper

Veg Portions / Serving: 1

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Make breakfast an opportunity to get started on your 5-a-day with these deliciously easy spinach ricotta pancakes. Have a breakfast in colour, and save the slightly wilted spinach in the veg drawer from ending up in the bin at the same time!

Method:

To make the pancakes: Mix the flour and salt, then make a small ‘well’ in the centre and crack in the eggs. Whisk gently until it starts to come together, then slowly add the milk, a little at a time, until you have a smooth thin batter, roughly the consistency of double cream. Whisk in the cooled melted butter.
 
To cook the pancakes: heat a small-medium frying pan over medium heat and add a teaspoon of butter or oil, heating until it starts to sizzle. Pour in small ladleful of batter and swirl the pan gently until the batter covers the base of the pan thinly (don’t worry if the first one comes out a little thick – just use slightly less batter on the next one). Allow to cook for a minute or until you can barely see any raw batter on the top, then slide a spatula under the pancake and gently flip it, giving it another 30 secs-1 minute to cook on the other side. Once both sides are cooked and have lightly browned spots, slide the pancake onto a plate and repeat with the remaining batter.
 
To make the filling: wilt the spinach in the pan you used for the pancakes, then mix with the ricotta in a bowl. Add the nutmeg, if using and season with salt & pepper until it tastes right to you. Add a couple of tablespoons of this to each pancake and fold in half or roll. Serve straightaway.
Engaging Kids

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

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

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

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

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

Communications Manager: 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, looking after Veg Power's website and social media platforms.

addsomeveg.com/

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