What are your top child-friendly recipes which are rich in vitamins? £250 voucher to be won!NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

The people at Arla have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters’ clever child-friendly, vitamin-rich recipes are.

Here’s what Arla say, “Arla Big Milk is the only fresh cows' milk enriched with essential nutrients to support your child's growth and development, as part of a healthy balanced diet. Containing added iron, vitamin D, vitamin A, and naturally rich in calcium; Arla Big Milk has been developed to specifically support the needs of children aged from one to five.”

So, what recipes do you have up your sleeve which are full of vitamins and healthy goodness – and which your children will actually eat? Maybe you have a fussy eater who will ONLY eat pasta or chicken nuggets. What are some clever ways you have packed nutrition into their favourite foods? Perhaps you have a delicious smoothie recipe which guarantees a vitamin boost? Or maybe a homemade dip you have with crisps raw vegetables which has lots of vitamins packed into it? Or a fishcake recipe that's chock full of Vitamin D?

We’d love you to share your recipes - everyone who posts on this thread with their recipes will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher!

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

Another spaghetti bolognaise fan here with hidden veggies. I find pasta sauce hides lots of veggies too.

We make pizzas. The children love this and really will eat veggies they would not normally eat if they put them on the pizza. They love getting involved!

Homemade fish fingers. Cut strips from a juicy piece of cod. Roll them in flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs - you can put seeds in breadcrumbs. Shallow fry in olive or rapeseed oil. Serve with homemade potato or sweet potato wedges and strips of raw veg. My daughter doesn't like 'mixed' up food so everything needs to be seen and chunky!

A creamy smoothy with 1 frozen banana, handful of berries, I small avocado and a dribble of maple syrup if needed - topped up with water or milk - makes a very creamy and yummy smoothie packed full of goodness :)

Both of mine tell me they don't like carrots or sweet potato or any root vegetable but if I make mashed potatoes they eat it. What they haven't realised yet is that mashed potatoes also have both carrots and a sweet potato mashed in there. It's my way of varying their vegetable intake even if they don't know it.

My toddler and 10mo love tomato soup. It's a great way of getting fresh vegetables into them. I follow the Jamie Oliver recipe and blend tinned plum tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, celery and carrots. It's great. Packed full of nutrients and tasty especially with a side of cheese on toast.

A fajita normally goes down well.

Aside from the wrap and a little bit of rice it has chicken, onion, peppers (all colours), cheese and the salsa has lots of extra hidden veg too.

I find it hard getting my children to eat a lot of veg, one good way is to put it in a soup. they particularly love carrot soup with chive butter bread (all home made). The great thing is with soup is that you can hide many vegetables and goodness without them knowing they are eating it!

Salmon, some pesto on top rubbed on top of salmon and crumbled feta on top and baked for 20 mins
Served with rice and vegetables. Or baby potatoes. Going to try and serve on a bed of lentils next, or perhaps couscous.
Good source of protein, omega's, easy and quick to make.

Definitely pasta, can sneak a lot of veg in to a blitzed up sauce, I also add gratted carrot and/or courgette to veggie mince and when cooked together you wouldn't really notice unless you knew it was there. Lastly top with some cheese for added calcium

i have to be sneaky with my 22 month old son harry, so when i make a meal i have to hide the goodness lol i.e the vegetables so i get his 5 a day mash it up into a yummy mash and he gobbles the lot, if i gave him brockley for instance he would not eat it but if its mashed up with sweet potato he will eat it without question.

I find it's all in how you label it... I make a very green veggie lasagne... basically a verde lasagne and then in a cheese sauce I wilt spinach, pine nuts, broccoli, and any other green veg I have lying about. I layer up the pasta and sauce and put grated cheese over the top... but the key part is: to my son this is Hulk's lasagne and to my girl's it's Tinkerbell's... something so simple as a word makes it go from inedible to them being desperate to eat it... works for us!

Mine has to be our 'everything you need in one bowl' porridge.
My lo has allergies so we make it dairy free using a fortified coconut milk but normal milk will do nicely. I blitz porridge oats (which contain amongst others b6, magnesium, potassium, zinc & iron) with chia seeds to make a smooth porridge. I do a big batch once every few weeks and keep in a sealed jar. Chia seeds are very nutritious and a good source of calcium, magnesium and fibre.
Make porridge on the hob with 4 tbsp of the oat/ chia mix, 1 tbsp ground almonds for vitamin e, fat and protein, 1 heaped tsp virgin coconut oil for those healthy fats and yummy coconut taste, 1 tbsp honey, enough milk to thin (lots more lovely calcium) and a handful of whatever fruit we have (chopped strawberries, chopped banana, blueberries etc). Delicious and healthy.

I make meatloaf with Turkey mince, sage and onion stuffing mix, an egg, squirt of tomato purée and lots of blended veg, usually pepper, carrot, leek mushrooms and anything else that needs using. It can be served as part of a meal or we unite often make it the night before a day out and have it cold with a picnic.

I've discovered that my two really like falafels;

Chick peas, spices, lemon, juice, garlic, breadcrumbs and olive oil blended into a thick batter and lightly fried. They're a good source of non animal protein and served with yohurt and mint sauce, salad and wholmeal pitta it makes a pretty healthy meal .

Breakfast smoothie perfect before school
1 cup milk
Handful spinach
1 banana
2tblsp oats

4 dates
5-6 strawberries
Few walnuts
Cocoa or Nutella

Blend till smooth

My little ones love homemade fruity ice lollies, I whizz up lots of their fave fruits with a couple of extra added vitamin D drops and then freeze!

Sweetcorn pancakes
7oz sweetcorn
1 egg
1oz plain flour
75ml milk

Liquidise then fry

Baked bean fritters
Blend tin of beans
Few slices brown bread
Plain flour
1egg
Some walnuts
Seasoning

Then fry

Pasta in tom sauce
I always add a tin of beans eg chickpeas, black eyed beans, cannelini so it is expected as standard and a good source of protein.

Gluten free porridge oats with almond milk and creamed coconut to make it extra creamy. Then just add goji berries, milled flaxseed, any fruit, and the children seem to love it whilst starting day really well. Don't feel so bad about the mid afternoon biscuit if they've had a good breakfast!

Peas pasta!
Fry some garlic with butter, cook a load of peas. Whizz up half with the garlic, some parmesan or other cheese and some parsley or mint, then mix through cooked pasta with a spoonful of cooking water and the unwhizzed peas. Peas are an unsung vitamin hero!

I make granola.

3 cups oats
1 cup ground nuts (any nuts, I grid them to powder as dd doesn't like)
Cinammon
Sunflower seeds
LinSeeds
Brown sugar (about Tablespoon)
Vanilla, half teaspoon
2 tablespoons oil
Fruit juice till it's got some lumps in it sticking together
Toast in oven at 160 to golden brown and dried up. Remove from oven. Add half cup raisins, chia seeds, flax seed. Store in airtight box. Eat with yoghurt or milk or mixex with cheerios.

I made chicken noodle soup the other day which DS loved, used carrots spring onions peas and whatever else I could find with some lovely stock and a small amount of chicken, my fussy eater gobbled it up!

Another quick veg fix is 'green spaghetti' - essentially pimped up pesto pasta using fresh spinach, peas, and whatever other green things I can find in the fridge.

Various smoothies - e.g. Strawberry, apple and banana.

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni my girls love! Fry onion and garlic, add tub of ricotta. Cook spinach in separate pan and to ricotta mixture. Stuff cannelloni, cover with chopped tomatoes or passata and a cheese sauce. Oven bake for 40 mins or so. Serve with salad for extra nutrition!

My daughters love spinach and ricotta cannelloni! Very easy to make and really tasty, served with salad!

Broccoli and cauliflower cheese

In a very large saucepan, cook the cauliflower in boiling salted water for 5 mins. Then add the broccoli and cook for 3 mins more. ...
To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a small pan. ...
Pour the sauce over the vegetables and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Or Fish pie

Set the timer for 8 mins, cook, then drain and cool in a bowl of cold water. Peel, slice into quarters and arrange on top of the fish, then scatter over the chopped parsley. Make the sauce. Melt half the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook for 1 min over moderate heat.