Nourishing your children – easy child-friendly recipes

Looking for some healthy inspiration to keep your children nourished? Nutritionist, Christine Bailey, shares some recipes from her book, My Kids Can’t Eat That: How to Deal with Allergies & Intolerances in Children (www.christinebailey.co.uk).

Oven baked Mediterranean risotto

Full of Mediterranean flavours, this is a simple vegan dish to prepare and as it is baked in the oven, there is minimum effort involved. For protein, I have added a can of beans at the end of cooking. Red peppers are one of the best vegetable sources of vitamin C, which can help lower histamine and reduce allergy symptoms.

Nut free, soy free, egg free, vegan, vegetarian

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 courgette, diced
• 300g risotto rice
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 3 roasted red peppers from a jar, drained
• 600ml vegetable stock
• 1 x 400g can cannellini or butter beans, drained
• Handful parsley, chopped

Method:

• Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.
• Heat the oil in an ovenproof pan, then fry the onion and garlic for two to three minutes until softened. Add the courgette and fry for a minute, coating in the oil.
• Tip in the rice, stir, then fry for one minute more. Pour in the stock, tomatoes, peppers and bring to a simmer, stirring well. Cover and bake in the oven for 25 minutes until the rice is tender and creamy. Stir in the beans and allow to sit for a couple of minutes before serving. Top with the chopped parsley to serve.