I get a lot of people asking what meals I can suggest that can be eaten by the whole family. One thing I love making for everyone in my house is ratatouille and I make it in 3 different textures to suit the varying palates in my house. For me and Mr. MMM I make it a bit spicy and very chunky. For Little Lady I make it with less seasoning and chopped finely. For The Boy (who as you know by now won’t touch anything that looks remotely like a vegetable) I puree it and he thinks its just pasta sauce! I also add in some chickpeas to bump up the protein content and serve it with rice, couscous, pasta, mash potato or at the moment I am loving courgette spaghetti! Its so easy to make and tastes completely delicious.

1 Aubergine (Eggplant)

200g Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)

1 Large Courgette (Zucchini)

1 Large Onion

6 Mushrooms (any kind)

1 Large Carrot

1 clove garlic

1 Bell Pepper (any colour – or 1/2 of one colour and 1/2 of another)

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

300ml vegetable stock made with either a baby stock cube or low salt stock cube

1-2 tbsp Sweet Smoked Paprika

3 tbsp tomato puree

Other seasoning (for adults I add in a tsp of cayenne pepper and some salt and pepper).

Chop all the veg into chunks and crush the garlic. Fry the onion in some olive oil with the garlic until it is translucent then add in all the other vegetables. Fry for about 5 minutes until the veg are starting to soften. Add the tomato puree and stir well. Then add the tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, stock and paprika. Bring to the boil then simmer for 30-40 minutes until all the veg are nice and soft. At this point you can take out some for the children. If you want you can then add in some cayenne, salt and pepper into the adult’s portion and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

If you are making this for a baby who doesn’t eat lumps (or a fussy 6 year old like mine!) you can now puree the ratatouille like this:

For babies or children who can eat lumps you can chop the veg into smaller pieces like this:

For adults leave as is and enjoy!