Grated Carrot Salad with Easy Jar Dressing

Claire Wright

Featuring:

Carrots

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

1 tsp of Dijon mustard

2 tbsp red wine or apple cider vinegar

8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the salad:

4 large carrots

fresh herbs of choice (parsley, coriander, basil, mint or chives all work really well)

Veg Portions / Serving: 1

Recipe created for Veg Power by Claire Wright. Food photography by Claire Wright | addsomeveg.com

Claire Wright from addsomeveg.com shares 3 simple ways to prepare carrots that the whole family will enjoy.

This recipe is barely a recipe it is so easy. A popular starter for French families, this grated carrot salad is an easy affordable snack, starter or side. The next time you hear the “Muuuuuuum, I’m hungry” whinge, have a go at serving this up to fill their bellies with veg.

Method:

To make the dressing, add mustard to a lidded jar. Pour in the vinegar and olive oil. Season with a little salt & pepper and screw the lid on tightly, then shake the jar until the dressing is combined. Coarsely grate the carrots and mix with the dressing and a handful of roughly chopped fresh herbs. Serve as is or add a handful of pumpkin seeds.

You can change things up by replacing one of the carrots with grated raw beetroot, celeriac or even apple. Use pesto instead of dressing and skip the herbs for a different flavour. Serve as a starter to the kids to fill them up with veg first.

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

This French dressing is an easy one to teach kids and get them to make by themselves when they get the hang of it. Show them how to measure and mix the ingredients, make sure the lid is on tight and let them shake, shake, shake! Show older kids how to grate the carrots, and let them mix everything together at the end.

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Claire Wright

Editor: After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English Literature, Claire worked in various fields ranging from youth work and charities to publishing, before starting up a food-focused website when her first child was born. After being asked to project manage the publication of Veg Power's Crowdfunder book, Claire came on board as a fully-fledged team member in 2018 to take on the role of Communications Manager, then Editor, looking after Veg Power's website, content, recipes and social media platforms.

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