Fussy kids sausage casserole

Today I experimented with a recipe for fussy kids. A client of mine has two kids who aren't big veggie eaters and we are trying various recipes with somewhat disguised veggies in  them. She mentioned trying a sausage casserole and this is what I tried today. I have added the veggies to a white sauce in a pureed form, so as to disguise them in a texture and taste they already like. I used chicken sausage as this is my favorite at the moment. 


My housekeeper and I just had it for lunch and she agrees that her fussy four year old would love it. So fingers crossed. Any feedback from the Moms who read my blog would be much appreciated. 

Chicken sausage casserole

Makes enough for about 4 kids

1 cup of cooked rice (try brown basmati and add a small amount of lentils to the rice while cooking)

3 Tbsp of white flour

3 Tbsp of butter

350ml of milk (more if needed)

½ a chicken stock cube (or 2 tsp of stock powder)

½ a cup worth off pureed very lightly steamed – try using yellow, orange and white veggies (a little tomato is fine too) just to keep the colour easily disguisable.

4 chicken sausages, microwaved and chopped into small pieces

¼ - ½ a cup of grated cheese of choice (optional)

Pre heat your oven to 230˚C and place the rack in the middle.

Get your rice (and lentils) cooking and your veggies steaming.

Heat the oil and flour in a small pan or pot. Allow it to fry for a minute while stirring the paste with a whisk. Remove it from the heat and add the milk. Stir this with your whisk until the paste and milk have combined, then return this to the heat and stir it with your whisk slowly while waiting for the sauce to thicken. If it starts thickening very fast, remove it from the heat and continue stirring it until the thickening has settled down. It will reach a point where the thickness stabilises. Add more milk if it gets too thick. Add the chicken stock and whisk it into the sauce.

Layer the rice (and lentils if using) at the bottom of a small casserole dish. Then combine half the white sauce with the pureed veggies and spoon that over the rice. Add a little water to the veggies if they are too thick. Scatter the chicken sausage pieces over this, then spoon the white sauce over everything and lastly scatter with cheese. Bake in the oven until bubbling and golden brown, about 10 minutes.  

Try to serve this with the some raw veggies of your child’s choosing too. If your child is seriously fussy about veggies, start with less veg puree and add more and more as they get used to the taste.