1 Food on sticks
The way you present food to children can make a difference — especially if you have a fussy child. One thing I do is put fruit on a kebab or a straw. You can do the same with salad: cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls, chicken Tikka and cucumber, melon and ham or cheese and ham. They’re small portions, they look attractive and they’re also the kinds of foods that kids really like. They work well for a picnic or a snack, and you can even get children to make them up themselves.
2 Pre-prepared pasta salads
In the summer it’s nice to have foods in the fridge that kids can help themselves to whenever they’re hungry. Things like pasta salad are really good. Cook pasta twirls with some steamed broccoli, some chicken, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes and spring onions and cover it in a really nice dressing – I do things like light olive oil with honey and soy sauce which is really nice.
3 The healthy shelf
Instead of letting your children snack on a chocolate biscuit or a packet of crisps, make a ‘healthy shelf’ in the fridge so they can help themselves. You can have mini cheeses, or raw cut up vegetables and dips.
4 It’s a wrap
Wraps are very popular with children and they like to make them up themselves. They’re so simple to make: mix together some mayonnaise, ketchup and a few drops of lemon juice and spread it over a wrap. Add shredded lettuce and then drape cooked chicken strips and cherry tomatoes on top and roll it up. You can have bowl of different things – mayonnaise mixed with pesto, cherry tomatoes mixed with mozzarella, or prawns in a cocktail sauce. It’s a nice way to give your child a snack they can assemble themselves and it’s great for picnics, too.
5 Branch out
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut and give your child nothing but chicken nuggets and pizzas and burgers, but in the summer think about things like chicken satay on a stick, or salmon teriyaki on a skewer, or enchiladas. These kinds of foods are very popular with children, and they’re quick and easy to put together. If you want to make it extra fun you could make a stir-fry and give them child-friendly chop sticks which join at the top which even very young children can use.
6 Throw a shrimp on the barbie
Children love BBQs and it’s a lovely thing to do at the weekend. The only worry — especially with young children — is that the meat is cooked through properly. What I always suggest is that you put things like drumsticks in the oven until they’re part cooked, and slice chicken breasts in half and then cook them on the BBQ. Also make sure you light the coals in plenty of time because it takes about half an hour to get hot.
7 Griddle
The other way of cooking that comes into its own in the summer (or all year round actually) is the griddle, because it’s so healthy. So I would marinate something like a chicken breast in sunflower oil, balsamic oil, honey, sesame oil and a bit of soy sauce,
and I would bash it out until it was quite thin and then cook the chicken on the griddle. Vegetables like corgettes and peppers work well on the griddle too.
8 Stay ice cool
A really nice idea is to make your own fresh fruit lollies – it’s a great way to get children to eat fruit. You can buy ice-lolly moulds very cheaply in the supermarket. Puree some strawberries or watermelon, and maybe add a little icing sugar, or puree some mango and add some orange juice, and then pour into a giant ice-lolly mould. Smoothies work well too, they’re a great snack and children enjoy making them with you.
9 Have a tea party
In the summer holidays, when you have more time, it’s really nice to get a group of friends together and have a tea party. You can let them choose recipes from my book, Get Kids Cooking. Maybe help them a little bit but the let them get on with it themselves — that’s their afternoon’s entertainment, and they love it. If you’re going on a picnic it’s quite nice if the children made something too, like a flapjack, and you can share them with the rest of the family.
10 Be prepared
If you’re going anywhere it’s always a good idea to have something on you for your child that’s healthy — grapes are great, or raw carrots or cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes or a wedge of melon or mango. It’s a good idea to wrap them in damp kitchen paper to keep them fresh. My snacking range (Disney & Annabel Karmel Snacks) has lots of delicious things like apple crisps and flavoured raisins, which are really healthy and good for a plane ride or the car. You don’t want anything that’s messy - but if you are going to give them something messy then it’s essential you have a packet of wet wipes with you. And I’d take a change of clothes as well – then you’re prepared if a whole juice carton falls down them and you’re on an airplane…
Annabel Karmel’s new book Top 100 Pasta Dishes (Ebury Press, £9.99) is out now. For more information visit annabelkarmel.com.
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