Kids in the kitchen eat their veggies. Lucia’s roasted carrots with feta & mint

Peek-a-boo, we have carrots for you! And her own recipe, in fact: Lucia’s roasted carrots with feta & mint! Growing veggies in our garden mean that little hands connect with the earth. What she grows, she eats…usually straight from the garden. She pops cherry tomatoes into her mouth as she checks her garden beds. Lemon cukes are eaten like apples, sorrel leaves get stripped & munched by all the neighborhood kids (they’re planted on the path for that very purpose). We’re in raspberries & strawberries all summer long, and now into September. Hooray!

Lucia’s especially proud of her just-harvested rainbow carrots. She plucked just one bunch out of the ground today. I know, I should have separated these guys when they were sproutlings to give them more room to grow, but will you just look at this crazy overcrowded mutant bunch of carrots? Lucia is over-the-moon delighted. So let’s proceed:

Lucia’s been handling knives in the kitchen from a very young age. Gasp as you like, but she’s never cut herself (knocking wood.) I teach her safe handling techniques — “chop, chop, hand on top.” Giving her autonomy in the kitchen (plus her own garden patch) helps her connect and get really excited about veggies.

In the picture above, veteran Hipcooks will observe that Lucia is demonstrating what I call the “Draw with Press.” Can you dig it?

This dish works with monochrome carrots, but “Why,” asks Lucia, “when you can eat a rainbow?”

A close-up of the mutant beauty, before I toss in some red and yellow beet segments*.

*Not Lucia-approved.

She covers the veggies in olive oil, using the thumb-over-the-spout technique for perfect dispersal. Roasted veggies are adorned with crumbled feta and mint, salt and pepper.

Lucia’s roasted carrots with feta & mint.Lucia’s roasted carrots with feta & mint. Tested and approved!

Find more of Lucia’s recipe’s here.

Lucia’s roasted carrots with feta & mint

Print Recipe

 : 1 hungry child & 1 approving adult Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes 20 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

1 large bunch of carrots (Lucia recommends rainbow carrots, homegrown mutant variety!)
2 peeled beets, cut into segments (snuck in by a sneaky parent, not required)
a swirling of olive oil
a smattering of crumbled feta cheese (about 1 cup's worth)
1 bunch of mint leaves, cut into pieces with scissors in a child's hand

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400.

Peel and trim the carrots, and cut into long, pretty segments. Place them on a Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet. Add beets, if using.

Scatter olive oil over the veggies: you can teach your child how to hold their cute little thumbs over the spout to get small amounts. (Lucia demonstrates in the picture above.) Season with salt and pepper, and pop into the oven.

The veggies will roast quickly! Depending on their size, they'll take 15 - 30 minutes until just tender. Remove the pan from the oven, let cool, and then top with feta and mint.