Kid friendly cannelloni

If like me you're finding it difficult to get your wilful boy child to eat anything resembling vegetables thanks to his never ending quest for a strange mixture of sweets, bread and pasta, help is at hand! I always find it easier to get toddler boy to eat something that he's had a hand in making and that's where cannelloni comes in.

Ingredients

1 onion

some garlic

one or two tins of chopped tomatoes (depending on quantity)

some grated cheese

some more grated cheese

some finely chopped/mixed frozen veg

some cannelloni

I personally find the bag of mixed frozen veg very useful for this as it reduces the prep time to a much more toddler friendly few minutes.

First things first, before introducing your toddler to the mix, pan fry the veg until a bit soft, add a couple of handfuls of the cheese, heat a bit more until the cheese has melted. Set aside for ten minutes until its cooled down to a handleable "warm".

Pop your toddler on a chair by the work top and let the fun begin!

Stuff the cannelloni with as much cheesy veg mix as you can, making a (manageable) right old mess as you do it. Count them out into a square dish, pack them in nice and tightly.

Then tip a tin of chopped tomatoes over the cannelloni. Politely ask your toddler boy to sprinkle the "more grated cheese" over the top.

This will need 25 minutes at 180 degrees (gas mark something or other), during which time you can either clean the kitchen up or decamp to the sitting room and watch Spiderman and his Amazing Friends until you want to hunt down Stan Lee and ask him "Why for the love of God?"

The great thing is, you don't have to oven it immediately, if you want to go out or do something else for a few hours you can.

And there you have it, some great nosh that will get your toddler involved in the cooking, get him handling the ingredients, and hopefully allow them to scoff some covert veggies.

Kid friendly cannelloni