Lettuce wraps recipe

Our mummy blogger Anneliese says: 'Small children are notoriously fussy when it comes to food. It can be a daily frustration to tempt a child to try a new culinary treat or simply to eat a nutritious meal! Of course, cooking with children and letting them take part in the whole process from start to finish will help to encourage a fussy eater to tuck into their food. However, it also helps if they can create food which ignites their interest. My little boy believes sandwiches to be boring, but these lettuce wraps were something different to try and they were a huge hit!'

Ingredients

• 4 large lettuce leaves (such as the outer leaves from an iceberg lettuce)
• 100g cooked chicken, shredded
• 75g of sweetcorn (optional)
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp water
• ¼ tsp mustard
• squeeze of lemon juice

Method

1. First of all you can make the filling for your lettuce wraps. For this you will need to find a medium sized bowl. Your little helper can then happily fill the bowl with the mayonnaise, water, lemon juice and mustard. When it comes to the mustard, you might wish to watch your child with an eagle eye. Only a tiny amount is used; if too much is added, you and your family may end up gasping for water!!
2. Now it's time to hand your child a spoon and ask them to give the wet ingredients a good mix. Your dressing is now complete.
3. Simply add the pieces of chicken and sweetcorn (if using) to the dressing mixture and stir to combine.
4. The filling is now ready to be used, but we need to wash our lettuce first. Washing vegetables and fruit is a fun task with which even the youngest toddler can assist. My three year old helped to tear the large outer leaves from our lettuce, then he washed them in water with great gusto. A change of top may have been required afterwards!
5. Now it's time to shake the excess water from the lettuce leaves and then to pat them dry with a clean tea towel.
6. Carefully place a good sized spoonful of chicken filling into the middle of each lettuce leaf. You can use the leaves as a nifty little plate and eat as they are, or you can carry on and make into lettuce wraps.
7. To make lettuce wraps, fold the bottom half of the lettuce leaf up and half way up the filling, then roll up the sides of the lettuce.
8. You can now wrap in a piece of foil (if you wish) and either place in the fridge or eat straight away!