Jennifer John
Jennifer John, a trained home economist and a member of the Guild of Food Writers has been working with the Discover Great Veg campaign for many years, including, developing recipes.
Jennifer’s Florentine Pizza
Jennifer John
Featuring:
Spinach
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 mins + resting time
Cook time: 15-20 mins
Ingredients:
500g pack ciabatta bread mix
150g passata
3 tomatoes, thinly sliced (200g)
200g grated Cheddar & mozzarella cheese mix
260g bag Spinach
2 medium eggs
Veg Portions / Serving: 2
Wilted spinach and egg make for a delicious pizza topping – simply add with any of your other favourite ingredients and enjoy.
Method:
Mix the bread mix with 280-300ml warm water to form a soft dough. Using a food mixer with a dough hook, knead for 8 minutes (or knead by hand for 10 minutes). Place in an oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200oC/gas mark 6.
Knock back the dough and divide into 2. Roll each out into a rough 28cm circle and place each on a greased baking tray. Spread with the passata and top with tomatoes. Sprinkle over the cheese.
Place the spinach in a large bowl, cover with clingfilm and microwave for 2 minutes, squeeze out the excess liquid and scatter over the pizzas.
Make a slight well in the centre and crack an egg into the centre. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.
Cooks tip:
Try using a wholemeal or mixed grain bread mix. Add a pinch of chilli flakes to the passata for an extra kick.
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
The kids will love making the dough – get them to mix the ingredients and to knead by punching, stretching and folding the dough. They can spread the passata over the dough with the back of a spoon, and let them do the toppings (older kids can crack the egg, younger ones are probably best just doing the other toppings).
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.
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Complexity:
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Vic Borrill (Brighton & Hove Food Partnership)
