When coming up with an idea for a recipe challenge, I would ordinarily spend ages planning and thinking long and hard about what would make a great recipe. This one was totally different and came about when I had to rustle up a quick healthy dinner for the kids.
When I realised that it included healthy red meat in the form of lean beef mince, I just knew it was the perfect recipe to share.
With a few little tips to make it really easy and speedy to cook and some ideas for making it super fun for the kids - this really did turn out to be the perfect #HealthyRedMeat recipe.
My title for it was going to be a rather lengthy and boring sounding "Lean Mince beef and garden vegetable and rice lettuce boats", Miss T thankfully rescued us from that appalling name by calling them "Meaty Boaties" - far more fun, wouldn't you agree?
The really super thing about this dish, is not only does it provide kids with wonderful nutrients that their bodies can sometimes be lacking like iron, zinc, B vitamins, selenium and potassium but it's really great fun for the kids to get stuck in with helping to serve up themselves and make cute little sails from peppers for their lettuce boats which the meat is served up in.
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen chopped onion (using frozen onion just means it's even quicker and easier to prepare this but you can use fresh if you wish)
1 cup frozen sweetcorn
a little rapeseed oil for frying
400g pack of lean mince beef
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 small courgettes - chopped
Beans from the garden (or you can use a tin of kidney beans or chickpeas or haricot beans - anything goes!)
1 and a half peppers (any colour) - 1 to be chopped and cooked in the dish, the half to be cut into triangles and used for the sails
Handful of sultanas
1 pouch (250g) of ready-cooked rice (again this is a shortcut to make things super speedy but you can prepare rice from scratch if you prefer)
1-2 gem lettuces
Toothpicks for the sails
Method:
1. Fry the onion in rapeseed oil until lightly browned. Add the mince and fry until browned.
2. Add the spices, then the sweetcorn, beans, chopped pepper, and courgette. I peeled one of the courgettes to 'hide' it from the kids as they seem to have a dislike for the green courgette skin. I left the other one with skin on as I like it that way. We'd grown these courgettes in the garden but almost any veg would work in this - so if you don't have courgettes, perhaps try carrots for example.
3. Add a splash of water and then the sultanas. This recipe doesn't need any stock added to it as using red meat gives it plenty of flavour.
4. Finally add the pouch of rice and heat through. I tend to buy the rice pouches when they are on offer so I never pay full price for them - helping to keep this meal a cost effective one!
Then you can get the kids involved...My son has been using a knife with supervision since he was very young so he was confident in cutting his 'sails' from the pepper himself. Younger children like Miss T can use kitchen scissors as a safer way of learning to cut. She used to use a smaller pair of scissors but is now happy with the bigger scissors. Always supervise though!
The meat can be served in a sharing dish at the table along with the washed lettuce leaves. Then the kids (and grown-ups) can help themselves by scooping the meat into the lettuce and adding their flags to make their 'meaty boaties'.
As you'll see in this little video, my kids have never been keen on lettuce but here they are truly enjoying it as part of this healthy red meat recipe which is so flavoursome and fun. If you have kids who really can't stand lettuce, then pitta bread pockets would be an alternative fun way of serving up the meat.
With a few little tips to make it really easy and speedy to cook and some ideas for making it super fun for the kids - this really did turn out to be the perfect #HealthyRedMeat recipe.
My title for it was going to be a rather lengthy and boring sounding "Lean Mince beef and garden vegetable and rice lettuce boats", Miss T thankfully rescued us from that appalling name by calling them "Meaty Boaties" - far more fun, wouldn't you agree?
The really super thing about this dish, is not only does it provide kids with wonderful nutrients that their bodies can sometimes be lacking like iron, zinc, B vitamins, selenium and potassium but it's really great fun for the kids to get stuck in with helping to serve up themselves and make cute little sails from peppers for their lettuce boats which the meat is served up in.
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen chopped onion (using frozen onion just means it's even quicker and easier to prepare this but you can use fresh if you wish)
1 cup frozen sweetcorn
a little rapeseed oil for frying
400g pack of lean mince beef
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 small courgettes - chopped
Beans from the garden (or you can use a tin of kidney beans or chickpeas or haricot beans - anything goes!)
1 and a half peppers (any colour) - 1 to be chopped and cooked in the dish, the half to be cut into triangles and used for the sails
Handful of sultanas
1 pouch (250g) of ready-cooked rice (again this is a shortcut to make things super speedy but you can prepare rice from scratch if you prefer)
1-2 gem lettuces
Toothpicks for the sails
Method:
1. Fry the onion in rapeseed oil until lightly browned. Add the mince and fry until browned.
2. Add the spices, then the sweetcorn, beans, chopped pepper, and courgette. I peeled one of the courgettes to 'hide' it from the kids as they seem to have a dislike for the green courgette skin. I left the other one with skin on as I like it that way. We'd grown these courgettes in the garden but almost any veg would work in this - so if you don't have courgettes, perhaps try carrots for example.
3. Add a splash of water and then the sultanas. This recipe doesn't need any stock added to it as using red meat gives it plenty of flavour.
4. Finally add the pouch of rice and heat through. I tend to buy the rice pouches when they are on offer so I never pay full price for them - helping to keep this meal a cost effective one!
Then you can get the kids involved...My son has been using a knife with supervision since he was very young so he was confident in cutting his 'sails' from the pepper himself. Younger children like Miss T can use kitchen scissors as a safer way of learning to cut. She used to use a smaller pair of scissors but is now happy with the bigger scissors. Always supervise though!
The meat can be served in a sharing dish at the table along with the washed lettuce leaves. Then the kids (and grown-ups) can help themselves by scooping the meat into the lettuce and adding their flags to make their 'meaty boaties'.
As you'll see in this little video, my kids have never been keen on lettuce but here they are truly enjoying it as part of this healthy red meat recipe which is so flavoursome and fun. If you have kids who really can't stand lettuce, then pitta bread pockets would be an alternative fun way of serving up the meat.
It's worth mentioning that the quantities in this recipe made plenty - as a family of 5 we ate it for dinner over two evenings. So the photos and video only show a fraction of the overall quantity as the rest way put in the fridge for the next day.
AND THE VERDICT FROM THE KIDS....
I think the video says it all but it was definitely a massive thumbs up on both the taste and the fun aspect of it. And from a parent's point of view getting the kids to eat a healthy meal packed with those all important nutrients that red meat provides, as well as cooking it in next to no time and on budget - this dish certainly gets my seal of approval too - even if I do say so myself.
This post is an entry for the BritMums #HealthyRedMeat, sponsored by the Meat Advisory Panel. I was sent a £10 shopping voucher for the cost of ingredients.
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