You can stack them up, you can knock them down, and you can eat them! These carrot and runner bean towers are great fun for kids to get involved with making, and they’re a fantastically healthy and delicious snack to see them through to tea time.
If you’re looking for ways to get your children involved and enthusiastic about healthy eating, read on!
This is a super fun carrot and runner bean stack, complete with yummy, creamy mint and yogurt dip and building the tower up is almost as much fun as munching it away!
One quick but vital tip to mention before we get started that while carrots are absolutely fine to eat raw, runner beans may contain toxins prior to being boiled and should never be eaten uncooked.
Ingredients
- 3 carrots
- 4 runner beans
- 250g (8.81oz) Greek yoghurt
- 1/2 clove of garlic
- A pinch of fresh mint leaves
Instructions
Prepare the veg
Place the runner beans in a colander and wash thoroughly with water. Do the same for the carrots. This is a fun, easy job for little hands.
Peel the carrots, making sure to use a child-friendly peeler, and helping children to get used to peeling away from their other hand and not towards.
Cut the peeled carrots in half to give two 7cm lengths. From here, a grownup can take over to slice them into 1cm batons with a knife, or you can use a child-safe potato chipper which I love because it only costs a few points and allows the children to take charge as they press down and watch the batons pop out the end.
Run the peeler down the length of both sides of the runner beans and snap off the very tops and bottoms, then snap roughly into 7cm lengths.
You can use a ‘guide’ piece of carrot to help get all of the pieces roughly equal. This is a good chance to about the snapping noise the beans make as you break them up. What do they smell like? Can you see the little beans inside?
If you notice any stringy bits remain after peeling you can remove them by pulling on them.
Fill a pan with cold water, add the runner beans and bring to the boil. A grown up will need to deal with this part as it will get hot, but children can be in charge of timing the 3-5 minutes needed to cook the beans until slightly soft. Drain the beans, run under cold water and leave to dry.
Make the dip
While the beans are drying, peel and grate the cucumber. You can use a standard grater, just be cautious of catching little knuckles. We love to use a child-friendly rotary grating tool as again, it puts the kids in charge.
After grating, squeeze any excess water out of the cucumber over the sink with your hands – do your hands smell different now?
Finely chop the mint and garlic (a job for a grown up, or use a garlic mincer), then add it to a bowl along with the yogurt and grated cucumber.
Mix together and then place into serving bowls.
Assemble your tower
Begin to assemble the tower, with two pieces per layer, alternating between green beans and carrots.
Keep going until you’re six layers high.
Enjoy! Or see how high you can stack your tower before gravity wins!
Look out for more uses for the produce you grow at home: home grown carrot and mango curry and homegrown carrot soda bread egg and cress sandwiches. Are you tempted?
If you’d like to print this carrot and runner bean towers recipe, just click ‘PRINT’ on the recipe card belo
Carrot and runner bean towers with mint yogurt dip
Ingredients
- 3 carrots
- 4 runner beans
- 250 g (8.82 oz) Greek yoghurt
- 1/2 clove (0.5 clove) of garlic
- A pinch of fresh mint leaves
Instructions
Prepare the veg:
- Place the runner beans in a colander and wash thoroughly with water. Do the same for the carrots. This is a fun, easy job for little hands.
- Peel the carrots, making sure to use a child-friendly peeler, and helping children to get used to peeling away from their other hand and not towards.
- Cut the peeled carrots in half to give two 7cm lengths. From here, a grownup can take over to slice them into 1cm batons with a knife, or you can use a child-safe potato chipper which I love because it only costs a few points and allows the children to take charge as they press down and watch the batons pop out the end.
- Run the peeler down the length of both sides of the runner beans and snap off the very tops and bottoms, then snap roughly into 7cm lengths.
- You can use a 'guide' piece of carrot to help get all of the pieces roughly equal. This is a good chance to about the snapping noise the beans make as you break them up. What do they smell like? Can you see the little beans inside?
- If you notice any stringy bits remain after peeling you can remove them by pulling on them.
- Fill a pan with cold water, add the runner beans and bring to the boil. A grown up will need to deal with this part as it will get hot, but children can be in charge of timing the 3-5 minutes needed to cook the beans until slightly soft. Drain the beans, run under cold water and leave to dry.
Make the dip:
- While the beans are drying, peel and grate the cucumber. You can use a standard grater, just be cautious of catching little knuckles. We love to use a child-friendly rotary grating tool as again, it puts the kids in charge.
- After grating, squeeze any excess water out of the cucumber over the sink with your hands - do your hands smell different now?
- Finely chop the mint and garlic (a job for a grown up, or use a garlic mincer), then add it to a bowl along with the yogurt and grated cucumber.
- Mix together and then place into serving bowls.
Assemble your tower:
- Begin to assemble the tower, with two pieces per layer, alternating between green beans and carrots.
- Keep going until you're six layers high.
- Enjoy! Or see how high you can stack your tower before gravity wins!
Let me know if you try a tower of your own, and how high your tower got!
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Jessi says
What a fun way to keep the kids busy!!! Love this great recipe!!