At last! Some leafy green my son will eat!
As a health journalist I'm incredibly aware of the value of green, leafy vegetables in my diet, yet as a parent, I'm extremely aware of the lack of them in my teenage son's diet! But now I have discovered, in Asda's Extra Special range (of all places), young pea shoots. And while my 16 year doesn't think they are the best thing since being free to head into Manchester on his own, he will eat them as part of meal.
I suppose I can't complain or worry too much, he is a big fan of avocado, which is probably one of the best green growing things you can eat. But other than that, green peppers, cabbage, broccoli, rocket, watercress and so on, are all off the menu.
When he was a baby, he ate broccoli with gusto, thinking the florets were mini-trees. He seemed to go completely off this wonder-veg at around age 7. For years, he has eaten green pepper so I haven't been too bothered - but about 1 year ago, he decided he hadn't liked it for ages and could I please stop feeding it him now?
My boy hates courgettes with a vengeance, no matter how hard I try to disguise them. But on the whole, he will eat lots of raw red pepper, celery (a very light green, I suppose), carrots, roasted parsnips and cooked spinach (as long as it's spread through a dish, not in a big, soggy lump).
So I might be getting too hung up on the 'green issue', I think? But I am happy I have found pea shoots - it makes me feel altogether a better parent when I see him eating a salad made with them, and I know all that green goodness is doing its work.
Links to pea shoot recipes:
Fried chilli prawns with pea shoots
Welsh rarebit with pea shoots and mustard leaf
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