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

We freeze stuff like yogurts, grapes, blueberries and use these as replacements for ice cream.

When we make mashed potatoes, we also put in sweetcorn, peas and carrot. The kids love it as it gives the food more texture and tastes sweeter

I find simple, tasty nicely presented food works best. Small chopped vegetables hidden in baked beans & sausages and wedges do down very well, along with a healthy fruity & beetroot smoothie

My boys one of whom is rather fussy when it comes to eating a selection of vegetables both tuck into my vegetable cous cous and it's great for picnics, summer or winter
Recipe -
200g couscous
1 vegetable stock cube
250ml of boiling water
¼ of each a red, yellow and green pepper
4 spring onions
4 tbsp sweetcorn drained
4 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 tbsp mint, finely chopped
2 tbsp vinagarette dressing or 1 tbsp oilve oil
Black pepper
Prepare the couscous with the stock cube and boiling water. Stir quickly with a fork, so the stock is throughly mixed.
Cover the bowl and leave for 10-15 minutes and allow it to cool.
When the couscous is cold, break it up using a fork and add the vinagarette, vegetables, tomatoes and mint. Then season with black pepper, mix well and serve.

DS is a fusspot but he likes Carbonara sauce so I put lots of things into his dinosaur pasta (it is not shaped like dinosaurs it is the name DD made up to convince him that dinosaurs liked it!) and serve him that. I also make a roast dinner and give him gravy which is basically a thick soup of vegetables blended down. I do insist that he tries new things and he has to try them at least 12 times before discounting them from his diet.

DD will eat anything and everything. She will always try new things on the menu and has a great palate. She is able to discern lots of flavours and is savant-like in her ability to name the ingredients in a dish. We recently had a goats cheese and honey with walnut snack when she said she could taste cinnamon. It turns out I had purchased a cinnamon flavoured honey without realising.

I try to involve them in the cooking and find that when they have helped grow, pick, and prepare food they will be open to trying more.

Mexican Stew. Loadsa of goodness from the variety of beans in it!

I make homemade soup. A particular favourite of my kids is sweet potato & butternut squash - simple to make but full of goodness. Also using any left over soup I add some grated nutmeg & add some cooked diced chicken - the nutmeg adds a korma like taste to it - serve with brown rice & you have the healthiest curry out, even better as the kids don't know how healthy it is

Vegetarian Lincolnshire Sausage & Cheshire Cheese Potato & vegetable bake

1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 red pepper (cut into small chunks)
1 yellow pepper (cut into small chunks)
1 courgette (cut into chunks)
20 cherry tomatoes (halved)
4 large closed cap mushrooms (cut into chunks)
4 vegetarian Lincolnshire sausages (sliced)
500g Charlotte new potatoes (sliced)
50g Cheshire cheese (grated)
3 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp mixed dried herbs
salt
black pepper

Heat oven to 220, gas mark 7
Heat oil in frying pan & add onion & garlic. Fry until soft
Add peppers, courgette, mushrooms, tomatoes & sausage & fry for 10 minutes
Meanwhile place sliced potatoes in boiling water, cover & simmer for 10 minutes, drain & set aside
Stir in tomato puree, herbs, salt & black pepper to sausage & vegetable mix & simmer for 5 minutes
Transfer veg mix to ovenproof dish, top with potatoes, sprinkle over grated cheese & cook for 15 mins

Prep 15 mins
Cook 15 mins
Elec 220, gas 7

This is a favourite with my friends & family, even the meat eaters among them. As a vegetarian myself I don’t like to use meat in my cooking at all so this is a great option to please all & is healthy & nutritious

Mine like soup. Dd1 makes it and she doesn't follow recipes, she just chucks things in until it looks "about right" but favourites are tomato and veg (she sometimes tops this with crispy bacon bits) and leek and potato.

For tomato and veg she asks me to buy:

1lb of tomatoes
4 small to medium carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 large onion
fresh garlic
fresh basil
vegetable stock cubes
double cream

For leek and potato she requires:

Half a bag of potatos or however many are in the cupboard
2 large leeks
1 large onion
occasionally celery if we have any
vegetable stock
double cream

She makes her own bread to dip using wholemeal bread flour and mixed seeds.

We have a soup maker but I suppose you could do it in a pan and blend it.

Berry smoothie/yoghurt drink is also a breakfast hit.

1 handful of frozen mixed berries (redcurrants, black currants and raspberries)
1 handful of frozen blueberries
enough yoghurt to cover the fruit
1 small orange
1 small handful of almonds
If we have fresh spinach she'll chuck a bit of that in too.

Blend well and drink as is or mix with granola or museli.

She's quite into the soup/smoothie maker atm.

"red sauce":

fry chopped red onion, carrot, half a courgette, 5 or so florettes of broccoli, mushrooms, mixed pepper, (equivalent to one small pepper) garlic to taste, when softened, add two tins of chopped tomatoes, 100g frozen peas, 100g frozen sweetcorn, plus a handful of mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, poppy, sesame)

serve with brown basmati rice or whole wheat pasta.

my 3 love macaroni cheese but I like to add to it.....

So i make up a cheese sauce (flour, butter, milk, cheese and a little mustard), and cook macaroni in another pan which i add broccoli florets to the boiling water too. Then in a frying pan i saute some garlic and mushrooms. I then add the garlicky mushrooms, the macaroni, broccoli and some chopped cherry tomatoes to the cheese sauce. Still yummy and comforting like regular macaroni cheese but with some added veggies :-)

I make fish pie and add broccoli and peas along with a grated boiled eggs for the topping I use a sweet potato mash smothered in grated cheese.

My kids love home made fish pie. I make it with creamy cheese sauce and hide grated carrots, onions and spinach in it. also chop acouple of hard boiled eggs in. Lovely and nutritious too.

i like to add marmite to my gravy, its great full of vitamins and you cannot taste it - which is great as the kids hate the stuff. i also make alot of roast dinners with different vegetables each time

Mackerel Fishcakes

A couple of smallish Mackerel Fillets

450g / 1lb Potatoes cooked & mashed

Small bunch of Salad Onions, sliced fine

2 tbsp Plain Flour

2 tbsp oil

Coleslaw with added colourful fine diced veg - any in season.

Method

1. Remove bones and skin from the mackerel, mash the flesh into fine flakes.
2. Mix into the potato with salad onions and flour, season.
3. Mould into eight to ten bite-size fishcakes and chill for 10 minutes.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the fishcakes for 2-3 minutes each side until golden.

Spoon the coleslaw on top of each fishcake or use as a dip. Serve with salad and crispy french breadsticks heated in the oven.

In lasagne, with the mince I put onion, corjette, peppers and mushroom... Dd doesn't notice, but in bolognaise she spots the veg :)

Our slime Smoothie my kids love it. It is basically a green smoothie packed with goodness

Ingredients are:

1 sliced banana
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
150g (5 oz) green grapes
50g (2 oz) fresh spinach leaves
1 (200g) tub vanilla yoghurt

Blend in a blend until smooth and serve

My Chilli and rice goes down a treat with my lot, they are fussy and don't like kidney beans so I replaced them with baked beans instead.

1/2 tablespoon oil
1 Sachet of Chilli Con Carne Mix (I use Colmans)
400 grams lean minced beef
1/4 pint of cold water
1 large Onion (Chopped)
Sliced Mushrooms
1 cup of pasata
1 tin of baked beans
Half teaspoon garlic powder

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan & add the mince, onion cook until brown and then add sliced mushroom. Drain any excess oil.

1. Blend the contents of the sachet with the water and add to the mince, onion & mushroom

1. Add the pasata, baked beans & garlic powder.

1. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously.

1. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until thoroughly cooked.

1. Ensure piping hot and serve on a bed of boiled rice

Fibre muffins!
Kids often hear the word vegetables and turn their nose up. So, add to a basic cake mix of eggs butter flour and sugar, 2 cups of all bran cereal mixed with boiling water to make a paste like substance and then add puréed veg. Looks horrible as a mix, but tastes just like cake!
If there's any green vegetables in there like courgette, just add some sprinkles into the mix and say it's sprinkles rather than veg.

My nephew won't eat any type of veg at all but loves my fairy cakes! -the bran provides all the fibre needed while the veg provides the vitamins all hidden in a fairy cake!

A favourite pudding with my DC has always been a fruit pudding. Depending on the season blackberries in the bottom, sliced apple on top and topped with a spicy sponge mixture (with ground almonds added to it), or a crumble mixture based on ground almonds/oats etc. You can vary it with whatever fruit is in season.

Spicy sponge topping recipe:

5 oz flour
3 oz butter or spread
3 oz brown sugar
3 tablespoons of ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice (adjust to personal taste of child)
1 egg

Beat all together, spread on top of fruit, bake for about 25 minutes at 200.

Adding carrot and other veggies to lasagne, bolognese, etc. has always worked.

Homemade flapjacks with chopped cherries or blackberries, nuts and seeds depending on allergies etc.

chicken, sweet potato, red lentil, pea and spinach curry with brown rice.
couple small chicken breasts cubed,
tin coconut milk,
4 tbsp red lentils,
200 ml chicken stock,
small sweet potato cubes,
handful of peas,
handful chopped coriander,
couple tbsp curry paste,
handful frozen spinach.
Brown the chicken breast and set aside.
Add sweet potato to pan with curry paste and stir to coat add coconut milk and stock and lentils. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cook 15 mins. Add chicken and cook for 10 mins. Then add peas and spinach for the final 5 minutes. Check chicken cooked and potato/lentils soft enough. Then add coriander. Adults may want to add chiili flakes. Serve with brown rice, poppadoms and mango chutney.

Super vegetable spaghetti bolognese! It's a basic bolognese recipe with lots of added veggies like finely chopped carrots, peppers, sweetcorn and green beans :)

Blueberry, banana and fig smoothies with a sprinkling of nuts

My favourite one was adding a couple of chunks of frozen spinach to tomato pasta sauce and giving it a quick whizz, but she has now decided she doesn't like tomatoes... My only other good trick is making a 'salad man' with cucumber eyes, pepper mouth, grated carrot hair etc etc.

Home made chicken and vegetable soup. Just boil a whole chicken with a variety of fresh vegetables finely chopped - remove chicken (roast or fry in butter for a main course) Bring soup back to the boil and add some small noodles and fresh chopped parsley plus salt & pepper to taste. Full of nutrition and goodness!