McCain wrote to me a couple of week’s ago with a suggestion that I might let the kids takeover teatime. Now while we do quite a bit of baking together I have never really let the children loose on anything more than decorating the top of a pizza so I was quite unsure what to cook with them. Our kitchen is tiny (just another reason for our upcoming move) and frankly I like to get in and out as quickly as possible during the week in order to make the whole process of the evening meal go as quickly and fuss-less as possible.

However, neither of my children are particularly fond of eating their evening meal and Jimmy in particular can be very difficult. One night this week was a case in point when we had an utter melt down because he didn’t want what was on his plate. I got so frustrated with him putting his food onto his sister’s plate instead that in the end I just grabbed his dinner and put it in the bin. The upshot was that I was angry, he was angry and hungry and although I’d cooked perfectily good food, that he usually WILL eat (sausage and chips with peas) we all ended up having the meal time ruined.  

I have heard that if you let children help with the cooking then they might just eat a bit more knowing that they were part of the preparation process… So this Kids Takeover Teatime with McCain didn’t sound a bad idea to give a go. McCain want to champion the simple joys of real family teatimes this Autumn by hijacking one night of the week (they suggested Thursday but that’s a bad night for us so we changed it up a little) where families can connect over food by simply swapping roles and encouraging kids to takeover the helm in the kitchen. It sounded like a nice idea in principle and to have just one meal where everyone sits down and eats together is certainly appeaking. McCain say that all to often teatime can be overlooked and go by in a flash so are on a mission with their campaign to provide families with a fun and enjoyable meal with an interactive experience for the children too.

We decided upon a home made lasagne with all the veggies blitzed up as I normally do so that you can’t see them. I personally prefer it that way for the texture anyway but I wondered how Florence and Jimmy would feel after helping to cook and knowing they were in there, albeit disguised? For myself and anyone else eating I add a sprinkling of fresh spinach to each layer of the dish which doesn’t get blended in but that would be far too green looking for the children! With all the veggies that DID go in I had my doubts that they’d want to actually eat it and realising my subterfuge when cooking it might scupper future meals too but I was willing to try it and see!

Usually what they see on their plate is of course JUST the lasagne and chips that I might serve with it for them. I don’t have to add any vegetables on the side to make myself feel better even though they won’t get eaten so on paper it’s a dish they should find appealing. I didn’t know if I was mega shooting myself in the foot by SHOWING them all the goodness going in but to be honest, Florence had such a good time being let loose with a knife to chop that she didn’t seem at all concerned it was all going into her supper.

Jimmy helped to sprinkle the cheese and pine nuts on top which he enjoyed and then we popped it in the oven with some McCain 5% fat chips and both of them seemed to be looking forward to eating their creation. I love a lasagne because really, I just use it as a vehicle for eating bechamel sauce and the one I make, an adaption on a Jamie Oliver one, is perfect even if I do say so myself. Florence even grated the nutmeg ever so carefully for it and I think her proudness at having helped made her extra excited to eat!

The result was a meal we could all enjoy and yes, they ate it. On the plate without any visible greenery and it could have been a freezer meal full of rubbish but it wasn’t and even THEY knew it after helping to cook. It didn’t seem to matter though and they ate it with relish! The Mccain chips of course got a thumbs up but this time, so did the lasagne!

So the end result is that they enjoyed cooking and they enjoyed eating, there’s a thing to remember there for me for sure! Kids Teatime Takeover success so thanks McCain and the chips are pretty awesome too. We will join in more often. If you fancy joining in on a Thursday then I hope you have as much fun as we did and if you fancy trying out our lasagne then here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:

Dried Lasagne Sheets, 500g Lean Steak Mince, Handful of chopped mushrooms, 2 peeled and chopped carrotts, 1 sweet onion peeled and chopped, 2 garlic cloves peeled and chpped, 1 tin of tomatoes, 1tbsp of tomato puree, 1 big glug of balsamic vinegar, 2 handfuls of fresh spinach, 1ltr of whole milk, 1 nutmeg finely grated, 100g pf salted butter, 100g of plain flour, one mozzerella ball shredded, 1 handful of grated parmesan cheese and 1 handful of fresh pine nuts.

Method:

Prepare the vegetables and fry until soft with the garlic. Add the mince and brown it all over before adding the tinned and purreed tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar. Simmer for 30 minutes then use a hand blender to blend and hide all the vegetables. Set aside.

To make the bechamel sauce melt the butter then add the flour to make a paste. Stirring constantly over the heat with a wooden spoon slowly add the milk bit by bit until it is encorporated. The sauce should be thick like yogurt. Add the nutmeg and stir in.

Drizzle oil in the bottom of a medium sized lasagne pan and cover with lasagne sheets. Add a layer of the meat, a sprinkling of fresh spinach and cover in the becamel sauce. Repeat the layer again and top with a final layer of lasagne sheets. Finish with bechamel sauce, parmesan, mozzarella and pine nuts.

Bake in the oven on 200 for half an hour and serve.

Tips: Add the spinach to the meat mixture before blending if your children don’t like to see anything green and freeze the remainder of your pine nuts packet as this keeps them fresh for longer.

We were sent a kit from McCain to take part in the Kids Teatim Takeover.