School's Out for Summer!

It’s finally time to get out and enjoy the sun – pack your cases, pack up the kids and get out there! But first, how about getting your youngsters involved in some cooking by asking them to help you prepare some healthy snacks! Swerve the normal uninspiring pastries and convenient unhealthy options and boost everyone’s energy for the fun-filled, jam packed weeks ahead with Urban Green Cuisines recipes!

“How do I get my children to eat fruit and vegetables”, I hear you cry. Do not despair! Engage your kids – grab the aprons and pinnies, allocate jobs and encourage them to get involved, The reward? They get to eat the snacks! Your satisfaction is that they are the right kind of snacks.

Fruit Kebabs

A super easy make! You can choose different fruits to suit their preferences, but Pineapple, Mango and Melon is a winning combination!

With supervision, get them to chop up the fruit into squares. Allocate a fruit to each child and assist with any peeling if necessary. Add the fruit to skewers to complete your fresh and fruity kebabs!

You can take these to the next level by BBQing your skewers! Ask your child to make a dip using the following ingredients:

• Chopped fresh basil & mint
• Squirt of Lime juice
• 2tbls Honey or Agarve

Simply stir together and pop into a container with a lid and let the kids dip away! Brush the dip over the fruit and BBQ for 30 seconds each side!

Chips n' Dips

Tortilla Chips – give each child 1 tortilla on a baking tray and ask them to spray it lightly with Rapeseed oil. Using a sieve, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika on top of the tortilla and oil.  Turn the tortilla over and repeat. Carefully and with supervision, cut into 8 triangles and bake until golden brown. Allow to cool before putting in an air tight container

Dips
Kids will love the noise of the blender!

Terrific Tommy sauce: Chop up red pepper and 1 large vine tomato. Add them to a small bender with 1 tsp. of smoked paprika, a squirt of tomato puree, ½ tsp. of coconut sugar and 2 tbsp. water. Blitz together and seasoning to taste if you wish!

Hummus. In a food processor pop in 1 tin of chickpeas, 2tbsps of the chickpea water, 1 tbsp. of Tahini or peanut butter (take out if you have a nut allergy), juice of 1 lemon and some salt and pepper.  Feeling adventurous? Add in some cooked beetroot – it will turn it pink! Looks amazing and tastes great!

Creamy Sauce. Plain yoghurt, chopped mint and chopped cucumber! Simply blitz together.

These are such simple sauces but most importantly they taste great and will provide lots of naturally occurring energy! You can use leftover veg; peppers, cucumber, celery and carrots, alongside your tortilla chips for dipping. Get the kids to chop them and let them dip away!