Mini mash ups

I once said something utterly ridiculous to my eldest son. He was three at the time and dipping his potato wedges into a glass of milk, sucking the milk off and watching in amazement as potato debris sank to the bottom. An experiment in flavour and physics. All I saw was mess and silliness. I was having a bad day. I confess I said, “You need to grow up, Charlie.” And I was wrong. He didn’t need to, for that comes all too soon. He was only doing what he’d seen Mummy do with a biscuit and a cup of tea. I made a pact with myself not to say anything quite so idiotic again and to make meal times experimental. Here’s a suggestion for introducing new foods to children where they control the exploration – there will be wastage but try and see it as an exercise in increasing repertoire. If they don’t like mashed potato, use rice or cous cous instead.

INGREDIENTS

1 portion mashed potato

VARIOUS FOODS TO MASH AND GOBBLE UP, SUCH AS:

bacon, grilled

or olives

or green beans

or broccoli

or baked beans

or cheese, grated

or cherry tomatoes

or ham

or butternut squash, roasted

or peppers, sliced

or raw carrot

or chickpeas

or pesto

or mini sausages, cooked

METHOD

Have a look in your fridge and pull out anything that could be mashed into the potato. Try not to enforce your own tastes. You may not like broccoli but your offspring might, especially given that they make excellent trees for a mashed potato woodland scene complete with olive bugs. I always explain beforehand that this is still dinnertime, so they need to eat as well as have fun. Put everything you can find into separate little dishes (old yogurt pots are perfect) and let your children pick what they want to mash into the potato at the table.

#normalmum #potato #mashed