Growing fruit and vegetables helps children understand where food comes from, plus they’ll love sowing seeds and watering plants, then eating what they’ve grown
recipes CASSIE BEST photographs MYLES NEW
family
GETTING STARTED
You only need a small corner of a garden, balcony or windowsill to start growing your own fruit and veg. Choose easy-to-grow varieties that don’t take a long time to mature. You can pick up many interesting types of seeds in garden centres, such as yellow courgettes, purple or white carrots, or candy-striped beetroot. Kids will enjoy discovering new, colourful produce and may even be tempted to taste it!
Crunchy lettuce salad wraps with sweet satay dip
Replace bread wraps with lettuce for a quick and healthy lunch.
SERVES 2 PREP 20 mins NO COOK EASY
2 Little Gem lettuces, outer leaves only, or loose-leaf lettuce
1 cooked chicken breast, chopped
1 carrot, grated
¼ cucumber, sliced
2 radishes, thinly sliced handful of coriander or mint leaves
For the sweet satay dip
2 tbsp peanut or almond butter
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
½ tsp soy sauce
1 lime, ½ juiced, ½ cut into wedges to serve
1 For the dip, combine the peanut butter, chilli sauce, soy sauce and lime juice in a bowl, loosening with a splash of cold water, if needed, so it’s a drizzling consistency.
2 Lay a couple of lettuce leaves on a plate and pile a little chicken and some of the veg on each piece. Scatter over the coriander or mint leaves, and squeeze over some lime juice. Drizzle over some of the satay dip, then roll the lettuce around the filling. Serve with the remaining satay on the side for dipping, if you like and the lime wedges for squeezing over.
GOOD TO KNOW healthy • low fat • folate • fibre •
vit c • 2 of 5-a-day
PER SERVING 282 kcals • fat 11g • saturates 3g •
carbs 13g • sugars 11g • fibre 6g • protein 30g • salt 1.1g
GROW YOUR OWN LETTUCE
You can grow lettuce in the ground, in pots or on a sunny windowsill. Sow seeds on moist soil or compost in spring. Cover with a thin layer of compost or vermiculite. Thin seedlings out when they’re big enough to handle and keep the compost moist. Protect from slugs and snails if growing outside. Lettuce takes up to 10 weeks to grow – you can pick loose-leaf lettuce varieties from six weeks, and at 10 weeks for hearting types.
Pork burgers with apple & radish slaw
Peppery radishes and sweet apple work perfectly together in the crunchy coleslaw.
SERVES 4 PREP 25 mins plus at least 30 mins chillin
