by Roelien Steenkamp

Created on: July 10, 2011   Last Updated: July 11, 2011

Roasted Veggies that Kids will Love

The image of a young child scraping the peas and the carrots to the side of his or her plate, is so common, it’s a cliché. So cliché, that it’s almost not an annoyance to the parent anymore. So what does a parent do? They are likely to drench the fresh veggies in cheese sauces or hide them under a layer of refined  pastry. Or they fry from frozen, using fatty oils, MSG-infused spices and high-sodium, non-traditional soy sauces.

Does that not defeat the purpose?

How can we get our toddlers and teenagers , and even young adults to consume organic, nutrient-rich vegetables? How can we get these earthy foods to be tasty, sweet, saucy and downright delicious, without stripping them of their goodness?

Below is an easy, healthy recipe of roasted veggies that you can serve to your vitamin-and-mineral deprived children. What is great about this recipe, is that it can never get boring: it can be experimented with, and it can be served to your dinner guests at the same time (without them feeling that they are implicated in the experiment). 

Specific measurements and guidelines are tossed out of this recipe, simply because you are the cook and you know your children’s  preference best, and because it’s a recipe that demands variety.

Roasted Veggies For All

Preheat the oven to 180-200 degrees Celsius.

Take an oven-proof dish and spray it with organic, cholesterol-free olive spray. If you wish to leave this step out (because you will be using olive oil to throw over the veggies), do so. Cut into chunks/cubes, a variety of fresh (always try to use organic where possible) vegetables. The interplay of colours not only provides a burst of flavour and nutrients, but looks great. Here are some examples: Courgettes (baby marrows), patty pans, red onions, sweet potato, potato, wild/brown/shiitake/portebellini mushrooms, rosa tomatoes, red/yellow/green peppers, pumpkin, beetroot, butternut, mango touts, brussels sprouts, aubergines.

To try something completely new, throw in some pieces of fresh pineapple to add sweetness. Throw a small amount of organic, raw brown sugar (you can also add yacon syrup as a substitute). The brown sugar is chosen for this recipe simply because it allows for a ‘caramelized’ taste. The sugar thickens and enhances the natural juices of the veggies and the olive oil. Add a generous amount of ground nutmeg (you can experiment with cinnamon, too, although nutmeg works the best) over the veggies. Add some ground rosemary herbs (kids don’t really like the fresh twigs, you can reserve them for the dinner-guests). Add fresh garlic. If you have used a lot of olive spray, toss only a small amount of organic, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil over the veggies, otherwise be generous. Mix and toss all the ingredients in the dish. If you have a minimal amount of time, place tin foil over the dish to speed up the roasting-time, otherwise place it as it is in the oven. It should be finished between 40min to an hour, maximum time being 1h and 15min. Prick the vegetables with a thin knife to test. Keep the veggies in the dish and serve.

The result should be warm, tasty, caramelized vegetables, which can be eaten as a separate dish or tossed over couscous or brown rice. Kids should love this, otherwise try again and again, adding and subtracting certain ingredients. The number one guideline with this recipe, as your child would tell you, is to have fun! From personal experience, this recipe had children lining up for seconds.

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