Les Petits Chefs make Jamie Oliver’s veggie chili

This week, the Petits Chefs made Jamie Oliver‘s #5DayVeggie Challenge Veggie Chili with Sweet Potatoes, Peppers and Beans. Sounds delish, right? And what kid wouldn’t like a bowl of that topped with sour cream, guacamole or avocado and tortilla chips?

Actually, if I’m being honest, this was a little bit of a hard sell for some of the boys. While they enjoyed prepping all of the ingredients, when it came to actually taking some home, there was definitely some reluctance. A few of them thought it might be too spicy, others told me they didn’t really like chili (!). Huh.

They did a GREAT job prepping the ingredients, chopping onions…

Mincing garlic…Chopping hot peppers!

And sweet peppers…

They flexed their muscles and chopped sweet potatoes into small pieces to roast…

And prepped them for the oven…

They came out smelling “just like sweet potato fries” (imagine that!)

Meanwhile, we prepped a LOT of cilantro…

And got cooking! The chili is full of all sorts of good ingredients – including a mix of beans – as well as the sweet potato and takes under an hour to prepare (much of which is hands off). While you’re waiting for it to cook you can prep your toppings – we had sour cream, tortilla chips, cilantro and avocado cubes.

Isn’t this a wonderful, colourful meal?

So, as I said, there was some reluctance around this dish, to my surprise. In club, though, we never force anyone to eat any of the food (mostly they just take it home, we’re happy to let them taste as they go and at the end but the eating part we try to encourage happening at home – as opposed to on the way out the door, in the car on the way home or even in the subway!), but we do make them take it home.  I’m sure there were a few happy mums, dads and siblings the other night!

The truth is, cooking with kids isn’t always going to be Instagram pretty (this session made a HUGE mess in the lab!) or the idyllic experience that is sometimes depicted on social media (sure, cooking with kids is a lot of fun but it’s also messy and time consuming and sometimes hard. Worth it in the end but it’s work, for sure!) and the dishes you make won’t always be a win…

BUT:

I’m certain that the more you expose kids to different foods (even if just in the preparation, not necessarily eating), the more likely they are going to be to try. In the meantime, there have been some fab leftovers for my own lunches and dinners this week. So… a win all round, right?

(In other news, check out Jamie’s #5DayVeggie Challenge here for a week’s worth of vegetarian meals, shopping lists and more! Some truly delish dishes and while I haven’t got to making them all this week, I’m excited to try them all eventually!)